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Israeli monitoring detected movements at the site that led officials to suspect the new Syrian government was reneging on understandings and attempting to access the nuclear material; there was also concern that Turkey might be helping the Syrian government obtain the material.

The Al-Kibar reactor was the center of a secret nuclear program developed by the Assad regime. After Israel bombed the reactor in 2007, the Syrian nuclear program was mostly destroyed, though several research-and-development and storage sites, including Site 99, remained.

Shortly after the fall of the Assad regime, the Israel Defense Forces bombed the entrances to Site 99 to prevent access to the facility.

The Trump administration reached understandings with both Syria and Israel to secure the material and prevent an escalation involving Israel, Syria, and potentially Turkey. After Israel threatened to bomb the site again due to suspicions that the new Syrian government was attempting to access the material, the Trump administration asked Israel not to take action and instead brought the IAEA into the negotiations, resulting in a removal agreement.

Courts have frozen an administration attempt to pare the federal list of recommended childhood vaccines and otherwise limit who can obtain some shots.

Vaccine supporters say that splitting up the MMR shot by definition requires more doctor visits, which raises the chance of missed visits and skipped immunizations.

Last fall, vaccine advisers handpicked by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called for splitting up the MMR shot and overhauling a central component of childhood immunizations.

Karoline Levitt tweeted that President Trump would sign the executive order on the afternoon of the announcement.