Israel strikes Gaza, violates ceasefire as Trump unveils controversial foreign 'Board of Peace'

 The Trump administration wants nations to pay $1 billion to stay on his peace board, Bloomberg News reported on Saturday, citing a draft charter.

United States President Donald Trump would serve as its inaugural chairman and each member state shall serve a term of no more than three years from this charter's entry into force, subject to renewal by the chairman, the report said.

The US State Department responded to Reuters' question on the matter by referring to previous social media posts about the board by Trump and his special envoy Steve Witkoff, which did not mention the number.

 The Syrian military captured the northern town of Tabqa and its adjacent dam, the largest dam in the country, from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Syria's state news agency said early on Sunday.

The move comes despite Washington urging the army to halt its advances through Kurdish-held territory.

There was no immediate comment from the SDF.

Syria's army has said it captured the Tabqa military airport in Raqqa province, previously held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Earlier Saturday, they said in a statement to the SANA news agency that their troops had begun entering Tabqa and encircling SDF fighters.

Their latest statement confirmed they had seized the airport pushing out the SDF.

US military forces on Friday killed an al-Qaeda affiliate leader linked to an Islamic State attack on Americans in Syria last month, US Central Command said in a statement on Saturday.

Iranian schools are set to reopen Sunday, media reported, following a one-week closure as the country was gripped by protests.

"Schools in Tehran and other cities which were announced closed since January 10 will be resumed from tomorrow (Sunday)," the ISNA news agency said, adding that university exams that had been postponed would be held on January 24.

The Syrian army said on Saturday it had begun entering the city of Tabqa in Raqqa province, adding that it was "encircling" Kurdish-led SDF forces at their military airport.

"Syrian army forces have begun entering the city of Tabqa via various axes, in parallel with encircling the PKK terrorist militias inside Tabqa military airport," the operations unit of the army told the official SANA news agency.

The Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad on Saturday criticised the composition of the Board of Peace set to oversee governance in Gaza, saying it served Israel's interests.

The board "came in accordance with Israeli criteria and to serve the interests of the occupation, in a clear indicator of preexisting bad intentions over the implementation of the terms of the (ceasefire) agreement", the group said in a statement.

US Central Command on Saturday urged Syrian government forces to cease offensive actions between Aleppo and Tabqa in northern Syria, as Syrian troops clashed with Kurdish forces after a dispute over a withdrawal deal.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said on Saturday that the announcement this week from the Trump administration about a governing council in Gaza was not coordinated with Israel, and went against Israeli policy.

Gideon Sa'ar, Israel's foreign minister, would raise the matter with his counterpart, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the prime minister's office said.

France's President Emmanuel Macron and the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Nechirvan Barzani, in telephone talks on Saturday urged a cessation of fighting in Syria, the French presidency said.

They "called on all parties for an immediate de-escalation and a permanent ceasefire," it said, after fighting in recent days between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and government troops in the country's north.

The SDF control swathes of Syria's oil-rich north and northeast, much of which they captured during the civil war and the battle against the Islamic State group.

The Islamist-led authorities in Damascus are seeking to extend their control over all of Syria, after toppling former president Bashar al-Assad a little over a year ago.

Both sides signed a deal in March last year to merge the semi-autonomous Syrian Kurdish administration and its forces into the new government, but implementation has largely stalled.

Macron and Barzani said they backed "the immediate resumption of talks on integrating the SDF into the Syrian state," the French presidency added.

Syria's Kurdish force accuses Ahmed al-Sharaa government of betrayal, amid reports of clashes in the Raqa province.

Kurdish authorities in north and northeastern Syria on Saturday ordered a curfew for the Raqa region "until further notice", as government forces advanced and threatened to bomb sites in the area.

After taking control of territory outside Aleppo city earlier Saturday, the army designated a swathe of Kurdish-held territory in Raqa province southwest of the Euphrates River a "closed military zone", warning it would target what it said were several military sites in the area -- one of them near Raqa city.

Argentina's President Javier Milei said on Saturday that US President Donald Trump had invited him to join the "Board of Peace" meant to oversee post-war Gaza.

Sharing an image of the invitation letter, Milei wrote on X that it would be "an honour" to participate in the initiative which is chaired by Trump and already has US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and former British prime minister Tony Blair among its members.

US-led coalition planes flew over flashpoint towns in northern Syria where army troops and Kurdish factions were clashing on Saturday, a Syrian security source and a Turkish defense source told Reuters.

The Syrian security source said the planes had launched warning flares over the area. There was no immediate response from the U.S.-led coalition to questions from Reuters. 

Syria's army said on Saturday it had seized the oil fields of Sufyan and Thawrah in northern Syria, where Kurdish fighters have been withdrawing from dozens of towns and villages under an agreement meant to avoid a bloody showdown.

Kurdish forces still control some of Syria's largest oil fields in the Deir el-Zor province further east. Syria's government says those fields must be managed by central authorities. 

Egypt is reviewing an invitation by US President Donald Trump to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to join the so-called "Board of Peace" for Gaza, the foreign minister said in a press conference on Saturday.

The board is set to supervise the temporary governance of Gaza, which has been under a fragile ceasefire since October. 

US President Donald Trump has invited Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to join the so-called Board of Peace that will oversee post-war Gaza, Turkey said Saturday.

Erdogan received the proposal in a letter sent Friday by Trump inviting him to "become a founding member" of the board, Turkish presidential communications director Burhanettin Duran posted on social media.

Former UK prime minister Tony Blair said Saturday he was "honoured" to be tapped by US leader Donald Trump to a fledgling board to help rebuild Gaza.

"I thank President Trump for his leadership in establishing the Board of Peace and am honoured to be appointed to its Executive Board," the veteran politician and former UN quartet Middle East envoy said in a statement sent to AFP.

Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that Iran considers US President Donald Trump a "criminal" for inflicting casualties, damage, and slander on the Iranian people during the protests.

"The latest anti-Iran sedition was different in that the US President personally became involved," Iranian media quoted Khamenei as saying.

US special envoy Tom Barrack and the head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi, arrived in Erbil on Saturday for a meeting, a source in the presidency of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region told AFP.

Barrack will first sit down with Iraqi Kurdish political leader Massoud Barzani, then with Abdi, then with the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Nechirvan Barzani, the source said.

The meetings come after clashes between Kurdish forces and the Syrian army in and around Aleppo in recent days.

Syria's army said two soldiers were killed Saturday in an attack by Kurdish forces as the military deployed in an area east of Aleppo after Kurdish personnel agreed to withdraw.

In a statement to state media, the army said the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces "violated the agreement" and targeted a patrol near the town of Maskana, "killing two soldiers".

The SDF instead accused Damascus of violating the agreement, saying the army entered the towns of Deir Hafer and Maskana "before our fighters had fully withdrawn, creating a highly dangerous situation", and reported clashes in Maskana "as a result of violations committed by the Damascus government".

More than 3,000 people have died in Iran's nationwide protests, rights activists said on Saturday, while a "very slight rise" in internet activity was reported in the country after an eight-day blackout.

The US-based HRANA group said it had verified 3,090 deaths, including 2,885 protesters, after residents said the crackdown appeared to have broadly quelled protests for now and state media reported more arrests.

The capital Tehran has been comparatively quiet for four days, said several residents reached by Reuters. Drones were flying over the city, but there were no signs of major protests on Thursday or Friday, said the residents, who asked not to be identified for their safety.

A resident of a northern city on the Caspian Sea said the streets there also appeared calm.

The protests erupted on December 28 over economic hardship and swelled into widespread demonstrations calling for the end of clerical rule in the Islamic Republic, culminating in mass violence late last week. According to opposition groups and an Iranian official, more than 2,000 people were killed in the worst domestic unrest since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

"Metrics show a very slight rise in internet connectivity in #Iran this morning" after 200 hours of shutdown, the internet monitoring group NetBlocks posted on X. Connectivity remained around 2% of ordinary levels, it said.

A few Iranians overseas said on social media that they had been able to message users living inside Iran early on Saturday.

Israeli forces carried out overnight across the West Bank's Hebron governorate, wounding at least one Palestinian, local media reported.

The affected towns were Idhna, Beit Ummar, ad-Dhahiriya, and the al-Arroub refugee camp.

Eyewitnesses told the Wafa agency that Israeli forces stormed the center of Idhna town, west of Hebron, and carried out patrols through its neighbourhoods.

The forces also stormed the al-Tariqa area in the town of Beit Ummar, north of Hebron, and injured a Palestinian with live bullet shrapnel during their incursion into al-Arroub refugee camp.

Israeli forces further stormed the town of ad-Dhahiriya, firing sound bombs and tear tear gas canisters at residents and their homes in the town centre.

A Palestinian infant died on Saturday due to the extreme cold in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, medical sources said.

The death of Aisha Ayesh al-Agha, who was 27 days old, brings the number of children who have died in Gaza due to freezing temperatures since the beginning of the season to eight.

Most Palestinians in the enclave are living in inadequate shelters and housing, with little access to humanitarian aid.

Syria's army said it took control of the town of Deir Hafer outside Aleppo city on Saturday, a day after Kurdish forces agreed to withdraw from the area following recent clashes.

In a statement to state television, the army said it had established "full military control" of Deir Hafer, while an AFP correspondent on the ground saw troops deploying inside the town.