HEBRON, Ky. (AP) — Vice President JD Vance cast doubt on Friday whether the Pentagon will livestream the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan in December but told reporters that if it is livestreamed, “I’m not going to be watching it.”
The Republican vice president said, “I don’t know that that’s actually going to happen,” when asked about the plans that the Pentagon confirmed on Thursday. But Vance then tried to set aside the controversy over the shocking plans for a public execution and said Hasan’s crimes should not be forgotten.
Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people and injuring 32 others in a shooting spree at the military base in 2009.
“So whatever the controversy is about the method of the execution, I hope that people don’t forget that this is a guy who brutally murdered a lot of innocent people,” Vance said.
“Now, that said, I mean, look, if it’s ultimately livestreamed, I’m not going to be watching it,” he added.
Vance is a convert to the Catholic Church, which has long opposed capital punishment.
Earlier Friday morning, the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops condemned the U.S. government’s decision to livestream Hasan's execution.
“It is with shock and great sorrow that I have learned of the Department of War’s decision to publicly livestream the execution of Nidal Hassan. Our God is the God of life. In no way can Hassan’s actions be condoned but this decision is a barbaric promotion of a culture of death and must be reconsidered,” said Archbishop Paul S. Coakley, president of the Conference, in a statement.
Earlier, President Donald Trump told a White House event that Hasan will be getting “the death penalty through firing squad. And he deserves it.”
Trump, who approved Hasan's execution, called him “a maniac.”
The president approved the method of execution by firing squad days after a failed attempt to execute Christa Pike by lethal injection late last month pushed Tennessee’s governor to halt further executions in that state this year.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the military hasn’t executed a service member by firing squad since World War II. The last military execution took place on April 13, 1961, when Army Pvt. John Bennett was executed by hanging.
Trump, who has long been a vocal supporter of capital punishment, didn’t mention the plans that the Pentagon has announced to livestream the execution so that the broader public can see it.
This story has been corrected to show the military base's name is Fort Hood, not Ford Hood.
Associated Press writers Will Weissert in Washington and Holly Meyer in Nashville, Tennessee contributed to this report.
Vice President JD Vance speaks to members of the media at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, Friday, Oct. 9, 2026 in Hebron, Ky., as he departs for a rally in Lima, Ohio. (Samuel Corum/Pool Photo via AP)
Saudi Arabia's aviation authorities said Friday that attacks targeting the international airport in Riyadh and an aircraft there the previous day killed three Saudi citizens.
Residents of Yemen's capital reported explosions, and Lebanon reported a drone strike that wounded six people along the border with Syria.
Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Friday. Read our full coverage here.
The attack on an airport in the Saudi capital and an aircraft there killed three Saudi nationals and injured other people on Thursday, Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said.
Friday's statement from the authority did not identify those responsible for the attack, though Iran-backed Houthi rebels in neighboring Yemen have claimed they targeted the airport with a ballistic missile.
According to Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation, the two strikes targeted the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and a Saudia airlines aircraft. It did not specify the types of weapons used or those responsible.
FlyDubai announced it was canceling flights to the Saudi cities of Riyadh and Yanbu through Saturday and Abha through Sunday. Pakistan International Airlines also suspended flights to Riyadh.
In Sanaa, the rebel-held capital of Yemen, residents heard heavy explosions overnight and into Friday as intense fighting between the Iran-backed Houthis and Saudi-backed government forces resumed.
In the downtown area, witnesses said they heard explosions, but their origin wasn’t clear.
The strikes were so powerful that the house shook and it felt as if the entire structure was collapsing, one Sanaa resident told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity in fear of reprisals.
Anees al-Asbahi, spokesperson for the Houthi-run Health Ministry, said on X that two of the overnight strikes on Sanaa injured six people, including a child.
The Houthis' military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, claimed Thursday that airstrikes launched from bases in Saudi Arabia targeted multiple rebel-held areas for 24 hours, including in Sanaa and the provinces of Marib, Taiz, Hajjah, Saada, Lahj, Ibb and al-Baydaa.
He did not provide any evidence for the claim and the AP couldn’t independently verify Saree’s claims.
— By Fatma Khaled
An Israeli drone strike on northeast Lebanon wounded six people, including two women, Lebanon’s Health Ministry said.
Five of the six people wounded in Friday’s drone strike near the village of Hawsh al-Sayed Ali along the border with Syria were Syrian citizens, the ministry said.
The Israeli military said it targeted a man named Yusuf Ali al-Hassoun, who planned attacks against Israeli forces in southern Syria “under the direction of the Iranian regime.” The Israeli military has occupied a strip of land in southern Syria since December 2024.
The drone strike was the first to take place deep inside Lebanon since Lebanon and Israel announced a “framework agreement” on June 26, laying out a plan for Israeli forces to withdraw from southern Lebanon in exchange for the disarmament of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group.
A vessel was struck by an “unknown projectile” off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, the British military said on Friday, causing a fire that it said had since been extinguished.
The attack took place 13 nautical miles west of Al-Jazeera in the UAE, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Center, which did not identify the vessel. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, and the status of the crew was not immediately known.
Separately, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed without providing evidence on Friday it had struck a large liquefied petroleum gas carrier attempting to use an illegal shipping route south of the Strait of Hormuz.
The British military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Iran’s claim.
A Palestinian man said Israeli settlers attacked him and his 5-year-old son and stole their car Friday in the West Bank village of Yabrud, east of Ramallah.
Video of the incident shows settlers surrounding their vehicle and both the man and the little boy running away before settlers drive the car off.
Fadi Atef al-Barghouti, 43, told the AP that two vehicles carrying settlers surrounded his car and forced him to stop. He said a settler pepper-sprayed him while he was inside. He and his boy were taken to the hospital and are OK.
The Israeli military said troops in Yabrud removed Israeli civilians and conducted an initial inquiry. It said soldiers received footage documenting violence by “Israeli rioters” and police opened an investigation to identify and arrest suspects, the military said.
Separately, Israeli police said Friday they arrested a 15-year-old suspect in connection with an assault with clubs and a car theft in the Yabrud area of the West Bank. They said the assault and robbery had nationalist motives and that the investigation was continuing.
This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
Murid Akhziq, 43, lights a fire for cooking inside his home, which was destroyed during the Israel-Hamas war, in Gaza City, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Palestinians walk along a street surrounded by buildings destroyed in Israeli military strikes during the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza City, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
