Israel continues truce violations with deadly attacks in Gaza, three killed

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said Sunday that they agreed under a ceasefire to withdraw their fighters from the two districts they held in Aleppo after deadly clashes in the city.

"We reached an understanding that led to a ceasefire and secured the evacuation of the martyrs, the wounded, the trapped civilians and the fighters from Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsud neighbourhoods to northern and eastern Syria," the SDF wrote in a statement.

Syria's official SANA news agency reported that "buses carrying the last batch of members of the SDF organisation have left the Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood in Aleppo, heading towards northeastern Syria."

Bangladesh said on Saturday it has told the United States that it wants to join the international stabilization force that would be deployed in Gaza.

Bangladesh said its national security adviser, Khalilur Rahman, met U.S. diplomats Allison Hooker and Paul Kapur in Washington.

Rahman "expressed Bangladesh's interest in principle to be part of the international stabilization force that would be deployed in Gaza," a Bangladeshi government statement added. It did not mention the extent or nature of its proposed involvement. The State Department had no immediate comment.

A UN Security Council resolution, adopted in mid-November, authorized a so-called Board of Peace and countries working with it to establish a temporary International Stabilization Force in Gaza where a ceasefire began in October.

The EU on Saturday urged the Syrian government and Kurdish authorities to restart "political dialogue" after deadly clashes in the city of Aleppo.

"The European Union calls for an end to the hostilities in and around Aleppo, stressing the importance of protecting civilians at all times and easing access for humanitarian aid," a spokesman said in a statement.

"We urge all parties to implement the ceasefire announced today and to return urgently to a political dialogue for a political solution," the statement added.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards' intelligence wing said it had arrested a foreigner suspected of spying for Israel, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday.

Protests have spread across Iran since December 28 in response to soaring inflation and quickly turning political, with protesters demanding an end to clerical rule. Authorities accuse the U.S. and Israel of fomenting unrest.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards' intelligence wing said it had arrested a foreigner suspected of spying for Israel, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday.

Protests have spread across Iran since December 28 in response to soaring inflation and quickly turning political, with protesters demanding an end to clerical rule. Authorities accuse the U.S. and Israel of fomenting unrest. 

A protester briefly replaced the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran on its London embassy with the former flag, flown before 1979, during a demonstration Saturday, witnesses told AFP.

A video posted to social media showed a man on the balcony of the embassy, near Hyde Park, replace the country's current flag with the one used during the rule of the ousted shah to cheers from hundreds of demonstrators below.

The old tri-colored flag with a lion and sun -- used in Iran before the Islamic revolution -- stayed in place for several minutes before being removed, witnesses on site told AFP.

An internet blackout implemented by the Iranian authorities during major protests has now lasted 48 hours, internet freedom monitor Netblocks said on Saturday.

"Iran has now been offline for 48 hours, as telemetry shows the nationwide internet blackout remains firmly in place," the organisation said in a social media post.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday said Europe backed Iranians' mass protests and condemned the "violent repression" against the demonstrators.

"Tehran's streets, and cities around the world, echo with the footsteps of Iranian women and men demanding freedom. Freedom to speak, to gather, to travel and above all to live freely. Europe stands fully behind them," von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, posted online.

"We unequivocally condemn the violent repression of these legitimate demonstrations. Those responsible will be remembered on the wrong side of history," she added.

Tom Barrack, the US special envoy to Syria, said recent clashes between Kurdish and government forces in Aleppo are "deeply concerning" and put at risk a March 2025 integration agreement between the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Damascus government.

"We urge all parties to exercise maximum restraint, immediately cease hostilities, and return to dialogue," Barrack said after meeting with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani. Barrack added that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's team is ready to facilitate engagement between the two sides to advance to integration process. 

Israeli settlers have attacked the villages of Al-Mughayyir and Yabroud on Saturday, local sources told the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Settlers had stormed the Al-Qala'a area eaast of Al-Mughayyir and fired live bullets at residents who confronted them.

Israeli forces then stormed the area, firing sound grenades and tear gas against residents.

In Yarboud, settlers attacked residents after trespassing on Palestinian-owned lands.

Syrian authorities on Saturday began transferring Kurdish fighters from Aleppo's Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood to the country's northeast, state television reported, after days of deadly clashes.

"Fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces who announced their surrender at the Yassin Hospital were transported by bus to the city of Tabaqa under the supervision of the interior ministry," state television reported, referring to the Kurdish-led force.

An AFP correspondent saw at least four buses carrying fighters leaving Sheikh Maqsoud accompanied by security forces.

Iran attorney general warns anyone taking part in protests, which have rocked the country for two weeks, will be considered an 'enemy of God,' a death-penalty charge.

Kurdish forces on Saturday denied the government's claim that it was halting military operations in Aleppo's Sheikh Maqsoud neighbourhood, where the two sides have clashed for days.

In a statement, Kurdish forces called Damascus' announcement "a blatant attempt to mislead public opinion", saying their fighters were still repelling a "fierce attack".

The Israeli military has killed at least three people on Saturday in the Gaza Strip, bringing the total of those killed since the 10 October ceasefire to 441.

The deadly incidents occured in the Bani Suheila area, in central Khan Younis and east of Gaza City's Zeitoun neighbourhood. 

Aleppo governor Azzam al-Gharib said on Saturday that the ongoing clashes in the northern Syrian city's Kurdish-majority neighbourhoods had displaced around 155,000 people.

At a press conference, the governor said "approximately 155,000 people were displaced from the Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh neighbourhoods", heading for other parts of the city and the nearby countryside.

The Syrian army said it would suspend all military activities in Aleppo's Sheikh Maqsoud district starting 3 p.m. local time (1200 GMT) on Saturday and expel Kurdish fighters to the city of Tabqa, state news agency SANA reported.

Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said on Saturday that attacks by Syrian government troops in Syria's Aleppo were backed by Turkish drones.

There was no immediate comment from Turkey.

Iranian authorities are using the "most blatant tools of repression" to crack down on mass protests, two prize-winning filmmakers said in a joint statement on Saturday, calling a more than 36-hour internet shutdown an attempt to mask abuses.

"Experience has shown that resorting to such measures is intended to conceal the violence inflicted during the suppression of protests," Mohammad Rasoulof and Jafar Panahi said on the Instagram account of Pahani, who won the top prize at last year's Cannes Film Festival.

A Palestinian infant has died on Saturday after succumbing to the cold winter conditions which have swept the Gaza Strip over the weeks, Palestinian media announced.

Mahmoud Al-Aqraa, from Deir Al-Balah, was one-week old.

The death toll caused by freezing temperatures has risen to 15. 

Yemen's main separatist group, the Southern Transitional Council, denied on Saturday it was disbanding, according to a statement posted on X.

The statement comes amid conflicting remarks by members on the UAE-backed group's fate, reflecting a feud between Gulf powers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that was blown into the open by a separatist advance last month.

A "nationwide internet blackout" implemented by the Iranian authorities as protesters take to the streets has now been in place for 36 hours, monitor Netblocks said on Saturday.

"After another night of protests met with repression, metrics show the nationwide internet blackout remains in place at 36 hours," it said in a post on X.

The German Red Cross said that the already dire situation for residents of the Gaza Strip has worsened further during the winter months.

Hermann Grohe, president of the NGO, told the German newspaper Rheinische Post: "The winter months, coupled with the poor supply situation, are particularly devastating for children, the wounded, and the elderly."

Grohe spoke of a critical shortage of supplies, saying: "There is still a shortage of everything: sufficient food, medical supplies, medicines, electricity, and water."

The former German health minister added that while the delivery of humanitarian aid has generally improved since the ceasefire, "the amount of aid reaching the Gaza Strip remains insufficient, as the required number of 600 trucks per day is not being met."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview published on Friday that he hopes to "taper off" Israeli dependence on American military aid in the next decade.

Netanyahu has said Israel should not be reliant on foreign military aid but has stopped short of declaring a firm timeline for when Israel would be fully independent from the US.

"I want to taper off the military within the next 10 years," Netanyahu told The Economist. Asked if that meant a tapering "down to zero," he said, "Yes."

Netanyahu said he told President Donald Trump during a recent visit that Israel "very deeply" appreciates "the military aid that America has given us over the years, but here too we've come of age and we've developed incredible capacities."

In December, Netanyahu said Israel would spend 350 billion shekels ($110 billion) on developing an independent arms industry to reduce dependency on other countries.

In 2016, the U.S. and Israeli governments signed a memorandum of understanding for the 10 years through September 2028 that provides $38 billion in military aid, $33 billion in grants to buy military equipment and $5 billion for missile defence systems.

Israeli forces stormed the New Askar refugee camp east of Nablus early Saturday morning, its latest raid in the West Bank.

Local sources told the Palestinian news agency Wafa that the forces raided the eastern part of Nablus, stormed several homes in the New Askar camp, and searched them, deploying extensively throughout the camp's alleyways.

No arrests have been reported.

Kurdish forces denied Saturday that Syria's army had taken control of the last neighbourhood in Aleppo still in their hands, after the military said it had completed a security sweep there.

The government has "circulated claims alleging that it has taken control of 90 percent of the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood. We categorically affirm that these claims are false and misleading," the Kurdish forces said in a statement, as AFP correspondents on the ground reported ongoing shelling in the area.