Syria announces ceasefire in Aleppo; Israel kills 13 in Gaza; Iran protests mount

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Syria's defence ministry announced a ceasefire in several neighbourhoods of Aleppo on Friday after deadly clashes with Kurdish fighters.

"To prevent any slide towards a new military escalation within residential neighborhoods, the Ministry of Defence announces ... a ceasefire in the vicinity of the Sheikh Maqsud, Alashrafieh, and Bani Zeid neighbourhoods of Aleppo, effective from 3:00 am," the ministry wrote in a statement.

Syrian government forces have been fighting the Kurdish-led SDF force in Aleppo, where at least 21 people have been killed in several days of clashes.

(AFP)

Gaza's civil defence agency says that Israeli attacks on Thursday killed at least 13 people, including five children.

Four people including three children were killed when a drone struck a tent sheltering displaced people in southern Gaza.

In the north of the Gaza Strip, an 11-year-old girl was killed near the Jabalia refugee camp and a strike on a school killed one person, while a drone near Khan Younis in the south killed a man, the agency added.

Two more Gazans, including a child, were killed in other attacks.

(AFP)

Syrian security forces began to enter Aleppo's Kurdish-held suburbs on Thursday evening, the third night of fighting between the army and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Syria TV reported that residents have handed over parts of Ashrafieh and Sheikh Maqsud to government forces.

Aleppo Governor Azzam al-Gharib claimed that large numbers of SDF fighters have defected to the army.

Authorities earlier imposed an indefinite curfew on the two districts and four other areas of the city as the violence continued.

Protesters in Tehran massed on a key avenue in the northwest of the Iranian capital on Thursday in a major protest that is part of a nationwide movement sparked by anger over the cost of living, according to images on social media verified by AFP.

Crowds of people, as well vehicles honking in support, filled a part of the vast Ayatollah Kashani Boulevard, images from Tehran showed, as Persian language TV channels based outside Iran and other social media outlets posted images of significant protests in other cities, including Tabriz in the north and the holy city of Mashhad in the east.

(AFP)

The United States on Thursday called for an end to clashes between government troops and Kurdish fighters in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, saying it was gravely concerned by the situation.

Tom Barrack, Trump's special envoy for Syria, said the United States and its allies were ready to help efforts to de-escalate tensions between government troops and Kurdish forces, which include the Syrian Democratic Forces group.

"We therefore issue an urgent appeal to the leadership of the Syrian government, SDF, local authorities in Kurdish-administered areas, and all armed actors on the ground: pause hostilities, reduce tensions immediately, and commit to de-escalation," Barrack said in a post on X.

(Reuters)

US President Donald Trump on Thursday threatened to take severe action against Iran if its authorities "start killing people" who are protesting in the country, where an economic crisis has led to mounting civil unrest.

"I have let them know that if they start killing people, which they tend to do during their riots - they have lots of riots - if they do it, we are going to hit them very hard," Trump said during an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.

Local media and official statements have reported at least 21 people, including security forces, have died since the unrest began in late December.

(AFP)

Syrian authorities on Thursday announced a curfew in six Aleppo neighbourhoods including two Kurdish-majority districts, on the third day of heavy fighting between government and Kurdish-led forces.

The internal security command in Aleppo province in a statement announced "a full curfew" in the Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh districts and four nearby neighbourhoods, "starting this evening until further notice".

(AFP)

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday called for "utmost restraint" in handling demonstrations against the rising cost of living, which have lasted for 12 days and in which clashes have been reported in several locations nationwide.

"Any violent or coercive behaviour should be avoided," said Pezeshkian in a statement on his website, urging "utmost restraint" as well as "dialogue, engagement and listening to the people's demands".

(AFP)

Gaza's civil defence agency said Israeli attacks in the Palestinian territory on Thursday killed nine people, including five children.

Four people including three children were killed when a drone struck a tent sheltering displaced people in southern Gaza, agency spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told AFP.

In the north of the Gaza Strip, an 11-year-old girl was killed near the Jabalia refugee camp and a strike on a school killed one person, while a drone near Khan Younis in the south killed a man, the agency added.

Two more Gazans, including a child, were killed in other attacks, the agency said.

(AFP and TNA staff)

Yemen's Saudi-backed presidential leadership council has dismissed Defence Minister Mohsen al-Daeri in the internationally recognised government, the state news agency Saba reported on Thursday.

The move comes amid a fast-moving crisis in Yemen that erupted last month when United Arab Emirates-backed separatists swept through parts of the south, including the port city of Aden, advancing to within reach of the Saudi border. 

(Reuters)

Online watchdog Netblocks on Thursday reported a nationwide internet blackout in Iran on Thursday as economic protests continued into their twelfth day.

"Live metrics show Iran is now in the midst of a nationwide internet blackout. The incident follows a series of escalating digital censorship measures targeting protests across the country and hinders the public's right to communicate at a critical moment," the group said.

Clashes between Syrian government personnel and Kurdish forces raged into the night Thursday on the third day of fighting, as Syrian Kurdish leader Mazloum Abdi warned the violence undermined talks with Damascus.

Both sides have traded blame over who started the violence on Tuesday, which comes as implementation stalls on a deal to merge the Kurds' administration and military in the northeast into the government.

The worst violence in Aleppo since Syria's Islamist authorities took power has also highlighted regional tensions between Turkey, which says it is ready to support Syria's authorities, and Israel, which condemned what it described as attacks against the Kurds.

An AFP correspondent reported fierce clashes across the Kurdish-majority Ashrafiyeh and Sheikh Maqsud districts into the night, including the sound of artillery shelling.

"We've gone through very difficult times... my children were terrified," said Rana Issa, 43, whose family fled Aleppo's Ashrafiyeh neighbourhood earlier Thursday under sniper fire.

"Many people want to leave" but are afraid of the shooters, she told AFP.

State television, citing a civil defence official, said some 16,000 people fled the two neighbourhoods on Thursday, with at least 21 people dead over three days, according to government and Kurdish force figures.

Israeli forces arrested three suspects after dozens of Israeli settlers stormed an area near a West Bank village on Thursday, injuring two Palestinians and vandalising property, the military said.

The army said soldiers were dispatched after receiving news of "dozens of masked Israeli suspects vandalising property in the area" of Shavei Shomron, an Israeli settlement near the northern West Bank city of Nablus.

The settlers "set Palestinian vehicles on fire" and "attacked a Palestinian who was inside one of the vehicles," the army said, adding that two Palestinians were injured as a result.

"Soldiers apprehended three suspects", and security forces were searching the area, the statement added.

Hussein Hammadi, mayor of the Palestinian village of Beit Lid near where the incident took place, told AFP news agency that the settlers attacked the main road passing near his village.

"Three cars were set on fire. A deaf person was seriously injured, and there were injuries caused by tear gas," Hammadi said.

The whole incident lasted over an hour before Israeli forces dispersed the assailants with tear gas, Hammadi said.

"We demand that the security and law-enforcement authorities bring this violent handful to justice", said Yossi Dagan, president of the northern West Bank Settlements Council, in a statement.

An Israeli settlement watchdog has denounced the government's publishing of a tender for the construction of some 3,400 housing units in a major new settlement project in the occupied West Bank.

In August, Israel gave the green light to E1, a new construction project covering some 12 square kilometres (4.6 square miles) to the east of Jerusalem.

The E1 plan has been condemned by several international leaders, with the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres's spokesman saying it would pose an "existential threat" to a contiguous Palestinian state.

The move would further separate east Jerusalem, occupied and annexed by Israel and predominantly inhabited by Palestinians, from the West Bank.

The Israel Land Authority published the tender to build 3,401 housing units in the E1 area on its website in December.

"In an alarming display of political recklessness, the Israeli government continues to undermine any prospect for a political solution and a better future for both Israelis and Palestinians," NGO Peace Now said in a statement this week.

"Construction in E1 is intended to create irreversible facts on the ground, leading to a one-state reality, which all indications suggest would take the form of an apartheid regime."

Several hundred people demonstrated Thursday in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey's Kurdish-majority main city, to protest against the Syrian army's offensive against Kurdish fighters in Aleppo, AFP news agency reported.

The demonstrators called for "resistance" while marking the third day of deadly clashes in the northern Syrian city.

"We urge states to act as they did for the Palestinian people, for our Kurdish brothers who are suffering oppression and hardship," Zeki Alacabey, a 64-year-old pensioner, told AFP.

The violence, which has claimed at least 17 lives since Tuesday, is the most serious Aleppo has seen between authorities and Kurdish fighters since the transitional Syrian government took over in Damascus.

The fighting broke out as both sides struggled to implement an agreement reached in March 2025 to integrate autonomous Kurdish institutions into the new Syrian state following the toppling a year ago of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad.

The agreement has foundered on differences between the sides, including Kurdish demands for decentralised rule.

Thursday's protesters brandished a large portrait of the longtime leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, AFP reported.

Turkey, which has embarked on a peace process with PKK fighters, said meanwhile that it was ready to "support" the Syrian army against Kurdish forces, which hold several districts of Aleppo.

Italy’s aviation authority on Thursday strongly condemned an incident at Milan’s Malpensa airport in which it said Israeli-bound passengers were temporarily blocked from boarding a flight to Tel Aviv by pro-Palestinian activists.

The president of the ENAC authority, Pierluigi Di Palma, offered the condemnation in person during a meeting he requested with Israel’s ambassador to Italy, Jonathan Peled, at the agency’s headquarters, ENAC said.

ENAC had posted a video on its website of the Jan. 4 incident, in which protesters described by ENAC as pro-Palestinian activists locked hands and seemingly blocked passengers from getting past the gate desk to board their flight to Tel Aviv. According to the video, the protesters scuffled with a few passengers who pushed their way through.

The incident led to a two-hour delay in takeoff, ENAC said.

ENAC firmly condemned the protest, announced an investigation to identify the people responsible and vowed to take measures to prevent anything similar from happening in the future. According to Italian news reports, those responsible had been waiting to board a flight to Morocco from a nearby gate.

ENAC called the incident “particularly serious” and one that “contravenes the principles of safety, neutrality, compliance with the rules of the air transport system, and the right to mobility of all citizens.”

Di Palma, the agency head, told Peled of Italy’s “non-negotiable commitment” to ensuring every passenger can move freely and safely in Italian airports.

“Italy is and will remain a country that firmly rejects all forms of hatred and discrimination, and air transport embodies this vision as a meeting place for different peoples and cultures,” Di Palma said.

ENAC quoted Peled as expressing appreciation for the condemnation. Peled said he hoped that prevention measures would be strengthened “and that such events will not happen again,” ENAC said.

Israel said on Thursday it had barred entry to Gaza of foreign medical and humanitarian staff whose organisations were ordered to cease operations unless they register employee details with Israeli authorities and meet other new rules.

Fearing a renewed humanitarian crisis if medical and aid services can suddenly no longer access war-shattered Gaza, some of the 37 international nongovernmental organisations that were ordered to halt work are weighing whether to submit staff names to Israeli authorities, two aid sources told Reuters news agency.

Three of the aid groups said their foreign staff were told by Israeli authorities this week they could not enter Gaza.

Israel's diaspora ministry, which manages the registration process, says the measures are meant to prevent diversions of aid by Palestinian armed groups. NGOs say sharing staff details poses too much of a risk, pointing to the hundreds of aid workers who were killed or injured during the two-year Gaza war.

Israel has shared little evidence of aid being diverted in the Palestinian enclave, an allegation that was disputed in a U.S. government analysis.

The diaspora ministry said that while the NGOs had been granted 60 days to conclude operations, "the entry of foreign personnel into Gaza is not approved". It said international staff with "approved organisations" including the United Nations could continue work as usual.

Three prominent global NGOs - Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), Medecins du Monde Suisse and the Danish Refugee Council - said their international staff were refused entry to Gaza this week. Foreign aid staff had generally been permitted to rotate in and out of Gaza since the start of the war.

"If we don't have somebody in a key position, such as the emergency coordinator in charge of operations, then we either have to compensate, or we have a gap" in aid service, said Anna Halford, Gaza emergency coordinator at MSF.

Masked Israelis attacked Palestinian-owned vehicles near the West Bank villages of Beit Lid and Deir Sharaf, setting several cars on fire and wounding three Palestinians, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

The attackers reportedly hurled Molotov cocktails at vehicles and assaulted Palestinians in the area. Israeli authorities said three suspects were arrested at the scene and transferred to police for questioning.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said three men aged 64, 50 and 48 were injured, one of them seriously. The Israeli army said four vehicles were set ablaze and that two Palestinians sustained moderate injuries.

An initial military investigation found that around 30 settlers armed with clubs arrived near Beit Lid and launched incendiary attacks on Palestinians and their vehicles.

One Palestinian civilian who was inside a burning vehicle managed to escape, but was then chased and beaten with clubs, according to the findings.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Thursday that Spain is ready to contribute troops to a peacekeeping mission in Gaza if circumstances allow.

Speaking at a New Year reception for Spanish ambassadors in Madrid, Sanchez said he would put forward a proposal to parliament to deploy peacekeeping forces once there is clarity on how to advance ceasefire efforts.

He added that such a step could also support progress towards the recognition of both Israel and Palestine, either in the medium term or sooner.

The UN's beleaguered agency for Palestinian refugees is to open an office in Ankara within weeks, its chief Philippe Lazzarini said on a visit to the Turkish capital on Thursday.

"We have signed the final agreement with the government of Turkey, and this time it has been also endorsed by the parliament," he told reporters, adding that it was "a question of weeks" until it opened.

The move came a day after UNRWA said it was going through a "dire" financial crisis that had forced it to fire hundreds of Gazan staff who had left the territory.

Hamas said on Thursday that it will facilitate the transfer of administrative responsibilities in the Gaza Strip to an independent committee, stressing that it will not take part in the enclave’s future governance arrangements.

In a statement, Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said the movement is awaiting the formation of an independent body to administer Gaza, covering all sectors, as agreed by Hamas and other Palestinian factions.

He added that Hamas would help ensure a smooth handover and has already decided not to be involved in the Strip’s administrative framework.

Students at Tel Aviv University staged a protest on Thursday condemning an Israeli military raid on Birzeit University near Ramallah earlier this week.

According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, Israeli forces fired live ammunition, tear gas and stun grenades during the raid, injuring several students.

The agency said troops also destroyed the university’s main gate, broke into a number of campus buildings and seized materials belonging to student activists.

The Syrian army clashed with fighters from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in parts of Aleppo on Thursday and ordered residents to evacuate, accusing the SDF of using Kurdish-majority areas to launch attacks, according to Syrian state media.

The army released more than seven maps identifying areas it said would be targeted in strikes, urging residents to leave immediately for their safety. Its operations command announced a curfew in the neighbourhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh from 3 p.m. (1200 GMT).

The fighting, which erupted on Tuesday, has driven thousands of civilians from their homes and killed and wounded several people, state media reported.

SDF said their fighters were engaged in intense clashes with Damascus-aligned factions and auxiliaries near Aleppo's Syriac neighbourhood, adding that they had inflicted what they described as heavy losses.

The violence and competing claims over responsibility highlight a deepening and increasingly deadly standoff between Damascus and Kurdish authorities who have resisted integrating into the central government.

The Kurdistan Regional Government's Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said he was deeply concerned by attacks on Kurdish neighbourhoods in Aleppo, warning that targeting civilians and attempts to alter the area's demography amounted to what he described as ethnic cleansing.

Barzani called on all sides to exercise restraint, protect civilians and pursue dialogue.

The SDF accused Damascus-aligned factions of threatening unlawful attacks on civilian areas, saying public warnings of shelling could amount to forced displacement and war crimes under international humanitarian law.

More residents were seen leaving Sheikh Maqsoud and Ashrafieh through designated safe corridors.

The UN's beleaguered agency for Palestinian refugees said Wednesday that a "dire" financial crisis had this week forced it to fire hundreds of Gazan staff who had left the territory.

"On Tuesday, 571 local UNRWA staff, outside Gaza, were informed that they were being separated from the agency with immediate effect," a spokesperson told AFP news agency in an email.

For more than seven decades, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees has provided aid and assistance to Palestinian refugees across Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

But the agency has seen the voluntary contributions it relies on dwindle as it has become the focus of increasingly harsh Israeli criticism and attacks, causing what the spokesperson called an "unprecedented financial crisis".

While the work UNRWA was mandated to do cost around $880 million in 2025, the agency received only around $570 million in contributions, the spokesperson said.

"As things stand, we expect a substantial shortfall in 2026," they added.

All of the staff affected by this week's announcement had originally worked in the Gaza Strip, but had managed to leave early in the war followed by Hamas's attacks inside Israel on October 7, 2023.

Hamas on Wednesday slammed the decision as "unjust and a violation of the fundamental rights of these employees".

"We call on UNRWA... to assume its role and responsibilities towards the Palestinian people and its employees," it added.

A relative said Israeli gunfire on Thursday killed an 11-year-old girl whose family had returned to a designated safe zone, adding to more than 400 deaths reported since a ceasefire was reached to halt fighting in Gaza nearly three months ago.

After shells and shrapnel hit her home in northern Gaza’s Jabalia area, Hamsa Housou was taken to Shifa Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. Outside the hospital mortuary, her uncle Khamis Housou told The Associated Press that the family had returned home on Oct. 11, a day after the ceasefire went into effect.

Housou, who said his niece had dreams of becoming a doctor, told how early on Thursday he heard screams as Israeli troops combed the area where shells and shrapnel hit. He ran from his apartment toward the home where Hamsa lived and found her lying on the floor.

He carried the girl to the nearest clinic, only to find the ambulance there had a flat tire. They waited about 15 minutes, he said, before taking her to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

“They say that there is a ceasefire and that the war on Gaza has stopped. Is this only through the media, while every day there are explosions and fire belts?” he asked. “Shooting does not stop. Where is the ceasefire?"

Israel said Thursday that Lebanon's efforts to disarm Hezbollah were encouraging but "far from sufficient", after the Lebanese army announced it had completed the first phase of the process.

"The ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States between Israel and Lebanon states clearly, Hezbollah must be fully disarmed," the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.

"Efforts made toward this end by the Lebanese government and the Lebanese armed forces are an encouraging beginning, but they are far from sufficient, as evidenced by Hezbollah's efforts to rearm and rebuild its terror infrastructure with Iranian support," it added.

Iran does not want war with Israel or the United States, but is ready to fight back if attacked again, the country’s foreign minister said Thursday.

Speaking upon arrival in Beirut, Abbas Araghchi told reporters that Iran is also ready for negotiations with the U.S. over its nuclear program as long as the talks are based on mutual respect rather than “dictation” by Washington.

Araghchi’s comments came as many fear that close U.S. ally Israel will target Iran again as it did during the 12-day war it launched against Tehran in June. Israel killed a slew of top military officials and nuclear scientists, and the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear enrichment sites.

“America and Israel have tested their attack on Iran and this attack and strategy faced extreme failure,” the Iranian official said in Beirut at the start of a two-day visit to Lebanon. “If they repeat it, they will face the same results.”

“We are ready for any choice. We don’t desire a war but we are ready for it,” Araghchi said.

In February, U.S. President Donald Trump reimposed a “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran in an effort to block its development of nuclear weapons. The campaign included U.S. led strikes on three critical Iranian enrichment facilities in June.

Araghchi said Tehran is ready for “negotiations but I say that the negotiations should be based on mutual respect and mutual interests.”

“We believe that once the Americans reach the outcome that constructive and positive negotiations rather than ordering dictation are the framework, then at that time the results of the these negotiations become fruitful,” he said.

Israeli security services have announced that an indictment will be filed on Thursday against a 15-year-old from northern Israel, accused of pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group and planning an attack.

According to the Shin Bet internal security agency and Israeli police, the teenager was arrested and questioned in recent weeks.

Investigators claimed he possessed detailed instructions for assembling an explosive belt, had been in contact with individuals linked to ISIS abroad, and was actively preparing to carry out an attack.

Turkey's military was ready to "support" Syria in its battle with Kurdish fighters in the northwestern city of Aleppo if Damascus asks for help, a defence ministry official said Thursday.

The official told reporters Turkey "supports Syria's fight against terrorist organisations" and was "closely monitoring" developments in the north, adding: "Should Syria request assistance, Turkey will provide the necessary support."

The Israeli military said that it identified a failed rocket launch from near Gaza City on Thursday and subsequently struck the launch site.

A Hamas source said the group was checking the Israeli allegation.

The Lebanese army announced Thursday that it had completed the first phase of its plan to disarm Hezbollah, covering the area between the Israeli border and the Litani River.

In a statement, the army said it had "achieved the objectives of the first phase" of its plan, with an intention to extend it to the rest of Lebanon.

Hezbollah, weakened after a deadly war with Israel in November 2024, refuses to surrender its weapons in the rest of Lebanon.

The army said it now controls the area in Lebanon south of the Litani River "with the exception of territory and positions still occupied by Israel" near the border.

Despite a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel in place for over a year, which stipulates that Israel must withdraw from Lebanese territory, Israel continues to occupy five strategic points near the border.

The Israeli army is still conducting operations against Hezbollah, which it accuses of seeking to rearm, and is questioning the effectiveness of the Lebanese army's disarmament efforts.

Under the ceasefire agreement, Hezbollah must withdraw its forces north of the Litani River and have its military infrastructure dismantled in the evacuated areas.

The Lebanese army said its operations will continue south of the Litani to "complete the disposal of unexploded ordnance" and search for tunnels dug by Hezbollah.

It added that it will take measures to "permanently prevent armed groups from rebuilding their capabilities".

Army Commander Rodolphe Haykal is scheduled to brief the government Thursday afternoon on the progress made.

A pro-Palestine activist group has cancelled a planned protest targeting an event hosted by pro-Israel organisation Nefesh b’Nefesh in New York.

PAL-Awda NY/NJ announced on Wednesday that it had called off the demonstration scheduled for that evening. In a social media statement, the group claimed that the prospect of a protest prompted organisers to impose what it described as “extreme vetting” measures on attendees, effectively pushing the event “into the shadows”.

 

 

 

 

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Israel's defence ministry said Wednesday it had begun demining the border area with Jordan as part of construction works for a new barrier it says aims to stem weapons smuggling.

"A total of approximately 500 old anti-tank mines, which had been laid in the area since the late 1960s, were destroyed," the ministry said in a statement.

Footage from the ministry showed workers setting up and detonating a linear explosion to take out mines in the Jordan Valley, along an already existing border fence.

In a previous statement, the ministry said the new border barrier would run roughly 500 kilometres (310 miles) from the southern Israeli-annexed Golan Heights to Samar Sands, at Israel's southern tip.

The first phase of works will focus on the Jordan Valley, including the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.

A barrier runs along nearly all of the West Bank's border with Israel, including sections along which an eight-metre concrete wall has been built.

When construction in the Jordan border area officially began in December 2025, Major General Eran Ofir, the defence ministry official in charge of the project, said the finished barrier would be "a smart border".

He said the barrier would include "both a physical fence and collection systems, radars, cameras, and advanced communications systems".

Currently, a simple fence topped with sensors is visible from the West Bank's route 90 along the border with Jordan.

Planning for the border barrier began in November 2024, shortly after Defence Minister Israel Katz was sworn in.

Katz said after the project was officially approved in May 2025 that the barrier was a "critical strategic step against Iran's attempts to turn the eastern border into another terror front".

Katz and other Israeli political figures accuse Iran of smuggling weapons across the Jordanian border to supply Palestinian groups in the West Bank's refugee camps.

Israel on Thursday condemned the Syrian government over what it described as attacks against the Kurdish community in Aleppo, just days after the two sides agreed to establish a joint mechanism aimed at lowering bilateral tensions.

"Attacks by the Syrian regime's forces against the Kurdish minority in the city of Aleppo -- are grave and dangerous... Systematic and murderous repression of Syria's various minorities contradicts the promises of a 'new Syria'," Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on X.

Deadly clashes erupted this week between Syrian government forces and Kurdish fighters as the two sides have so far failed to implement a March deal to merge the Kurds' semi-autonomous administration and military into Syria's new Islamist government.

The Kurds are pushing for decentralised rule, an idea which Syria's new authorities have rejected.

Despite assurances from Damascus that all of Syria's communities will be protected, minorities remain wary of their future under the new authorities.

Saar said the violence in Aleppo could increase if the international community remained silent.

"The international community in general, and the West in particular, owes a debt of honour to the Kurds who fought bravely and successfully against ISIS," Saar said.