Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance knocked presumptive Democratic vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s “shameful” exit from the Army National Guard before his deployment to Iraq during a Wednesday press conference.

Veterans who served in the Army National Guard battalion with Walz accused him of abandoning them upon learning of their upcoming deployment to Iraq in 2005, according to a 2018 letter posted to Facebook. Vance said Walz should be ashamed of allegedly “lying” about his military career.

President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed in the White House Situation Room on Monday after a suspected rocket attack against a military base in Iraq left a number of US personnel injured. 

Biden, 81, said he discussed “developments in the Middle East” with his national security team, according to a post on his X account which did not acknowledge the latest attack on US troops in the region. 

Iraq’s parliament has passed a law banning same-sex relations and transgenderism. The measure was condemned by the US and UK, but the speaker of the parliament described it as “a necessary step to protect the value structure of society.”

Iraqi social media star Ghufran Sawadi, better known as Umm Fahad, was shot dead outside her home in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, on Friday night, a Baghdad police source told CNN.

The attack took place in the Zayouna area east of Baghdad, and was captured on video by a surveillance camera and shared on social media. The video shows a gunman riding a motorcycle shooting and killing Sawadi on the spot. A Baghdad police source confirmed the authenticity of the video to CNN.

U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria faced two separate rocket and explosive drone attacks in less than 24 hours, Iraqi security sources and U.S. officials told Reuters on Monday, the first reported after a near three-month pause.

At least one armed drone was launched at the Ain al-Asad air base that hosts U.S. troops in the western Iraqi province of Anbar, a U.S. official said.

That followed five rockets fired from northern Iraq towards U.S. forces at a base in Rumalyn in remote northeastern Syria, on Sunday, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials.

Israel carried out limited strikes in Iran early Friday in retaliation for Tehran firing a barrage of missiles and drones at Israel last Saturday.

Here are the key facts you need to know about the latest escalation of violence between the two countries.

1. Where did the strike hit?

Fox News confirmed there have been explosions in Iran's Isfahan province, which is where Natanz, one of Iran's nuclear facilities, is located. 

A well-placed military source has told Fox News that the strike was "limited."

Israeli official security and governmental sources told The Jerusalem Post on Friday: "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Israel retaliated where they were attacked.”

Israeli forces appear to have carried out a counterstrike on Iran five days after Tehran targeted Israel with a barrage of drones and missiles in an unprecedented attack in retaliation for Israel's bombing of an Iranian diplomatic compound in Syria.

The extent of the damage from the strike, which neither the Israeli nor Iranian governments commented on but was confirmed by two people familiar with the situation, remained unclear.