Israel launched a wave of airstrikes across the Gaza Strip early Tuesday, saying it was hitting Hamas targets in its heaviest assault in the territory since a ceasefire took effect in January.

Israeli strikes hit several sites in southern Syria overnight, including in the city of Daraa.

The Israeli military said it was hitting “command centers and military sites containing weapons and military vehicles belonging to the old Syrian regime, which (the new army) are trying to make reusable.”

U.S. Homeland Security officials said that a doctor from Lebanon who was deported over the weekend despite having a U.S. visa "openly admitted" to supporting slain Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and attending his funeral.

The department's statement, posted on social media, provides a possible explanation for Dr. Rasha Alawieh's deportation, which has sparked widespread alarm in the U.S., especially after a federal judge ordered that she not be removed until a hearing could be held. Government lawyers have said customs officials did not get word until after Alawieh was sent back to Lebanon.

The Lebanese health ministry says at least seven people were killed and 52 wounded in clashes on the border with Syria that erupted on Sunday night.

President Joseph Aoun said that the Lebanese Army would respond to incoming fire from neighboring Syria that authorities said had killed a child.

Clashes broke out late Sunday at the Syrian-Lebanese border, with the new authorities in Damascus accusing Hezbollah of abducting three soldiers into Lebanon and killing them.

Hundreds of thousands of people packed the streets of Dublin on Monday to watch Ireland's national St. Patrick's Day parade, as crowds in green flooded cities and towns across the country to mark the annual holiday.

Officials said half a million spectators were expected to line the parade route in the capital to watch the colorful floats, performers and dancers. Some 4,000 people and 12 marching bands from across Ireland, North America and Austria were taking part this year to commemorate Ireland's patron saint.

Conan O'Brien is returning to the Oscars stage in 2026. The late-night host and comedian will preside over the 98th Academy Awards, set for March 15, the film academy's leadership said Monday.

"The only reason I'm hosting the Oscars next year is that I want to hear Adrien Brody finish his speech," O'Brien said in a statement.

U.S. shoppers stepped up their spending just a bit in February after a sharp pullback the previous month, signaling that Americans are shopping more cautiously as concerns about the direction of the economy mount.

Retail sales rose just 0.2% in February, a small rebound after a sharp drop of 1.2% in January, the Commerce Department said Monday. Sales rose at grocery stores, home and garden stores, and online retailers. Sales fell at auto dealers, restaurants, and electronics stores.

The United States and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen are both vowing escalation after the U.S. launched airstrikes to deter the rebels from attacking military and commercial vessels on one of the world's busiest shipping corridors.

The Houthi-run Health Ministry said the U.S. strikes killed at least 53 people, including five women and two children, and wounded almost 100 in the capital of Sanaa and other provinces, including Saada, the rebels' stronghold on the border with Saudi Arabia.

A federal judge wants to know why a doctor from Lebanon with a U.S. visa was deported, after he ordered that she not be removed until he could hear her case.

Dr. Rasha Alawieh, 34, had been granted the visa on March 11 and arrived at Boston Logan International Airport on Thursday, according to a complaint filed on her behalf by a cousin in federal court.