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Anti-government chants filled the streets of Iran’s capital on Saturday night, as protesters pressed the biggest movement against the Islamic republic in more than three yearsdespite a deadly crackdown under cover of an internet blackout.Iran has blamed the United States for the demonstrations, which ignited in Tehran two weeks ago over economic hardship and have since fanned nationwide with calls for ousting the clerical authorities. Rights groups have reported dozens of deaths and expressed alarm on Saturday that authorities were intensifying the crackdown.Little information is filtering out after an internet shutdown, with monitor NetBlocks showing virtually no connectivity since Thursday.US President Donald Trump said his country was “ready to help” the movement, after warning Iran was in “big trouble” over its efforts to suppress the protests. “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social Saturday. According to the New York Times, Trump was recently briefed on options for possible military strikes.US officials, speaking to the Times anonymously, said Trump has not yet made a final decision about another intervention, after Washington joined Israel’s 12-day war against the Islamic republic in June. Crowds gathered again on Saturday in the north of the Iranian capital, setting off fireworks and banging pots as they shouted slogans in support of the ousted monarchy, according to video verified by AFP. Other videos, that AFP could not immediately verify, showed demonstrations in other parts of the capital where protesters shouted anti-government slogans.Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of Iran’s deposed shah, urged Iranians to stage more targeted protests over the weekend.”Our goal is no longer just to take to the streets. The goal is to prepare to seize and hold city centres,” Pahlavi said in a video on social media.The demonstrations have posed one of the biggest challenges to the theocratic authorities who have ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution.After initially calling for “restraint” and acknowledging economic grievances, they have since hardened their stance. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a defiant speech on Friday, lashed out at “vandals” doing Trump’s bidding.- ‘Not safe’ -Amnesty International said it was analysing “distressing reports that security forces have intensified their unlawful use of lethal force against protesters” since Thursday.Norway-based Iran Human Rights group has said at least 51 people have been killed in the crackdown so far, warning the actual toll could be higher.It posted images it said were of bodies of people shot dead in the protests on the floor of Alghadir hospital in eastern Tehran. “These images provide further evidence of the excessive and lethal use of force against protesters,” IHR said. On Friday in Tehran’s Saadatabad district, protesters chanted anti-government slogans including “death to Khamenei” as cars honked in support, a video verified by AFP showed. Other images disseminated on social media and by Persian-language television channels outside Iran showed similarly large protests elsewhere in the capital, as well as in the eastern city of Mashhad, Tabriz in the north and the holy city of Qom.In the western city of Hamedan, a man was shown waving a shah-era Iranian flag featuring the lion and the sun. The same flag briefly flew over the country’s embassy in London after protesters reached the building’s balcony, witnesses told AFP. On Thursday and Friday, an AFP journalist in Tehran saw streets deserted and plunged into darkness. “The area is not safe,” said a cafe manager as he prepared to close the shop around 4:00 pm. – ‘Price to pay’ -Authorities say several members of the security forces have been killed, and state television aired images on Saturday of funerals for several members of the security forces killed in the protests, including a large gathering in the southern city of Shiraz.It also aired images of buildings, including a mosque, on fire.Iran’s army said in a statement that it would “vigorously protect and safeguard national interests” against an “enemy seeking to disrupt order and peace”.Global leaders have urged restraint from Iranian authorities, with European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen saying Europe backed Iranians’ mass protests and condemned the “violent repression” against the demonstrators.On Saturday, the start of the working week in Iran, one man in Tehran said he was unable to check his work email.”This is the price to pay before the victory of the people,” he said.

Syria’s Kurdish fighters said Sunday that they agreed under a ceasefire to withdraw from Aleppo after days of fighting government forces in the city. Hours earlier, Syria’s military said it had finished operations in the Kurdish-held Sheikh Maqsud neighbourhood with state television reporting that Kurdish fighters who surrendered were being bused to the north. The military had already announced its seizure of Aleppo’s other Kurdish-held neighbourhood, Ashrafiyeh.Kurdish forces had controlled pockets of Syria’s second city Aleppo and operate a de facto autonomous administration across swathes of the north and northeast, much of it captured during the 14-year civil war.The latest clashes erupted after negotiations to integrate the Kurds into the country’s new government stalled.”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 Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (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 Maqsud neighbourhood in Aleppo, heading towards northeastern Syria”.The SDF initially denied its fighters were leaving, describing the bus transfers as forced displacement of civilians. An AFP correspondent saw at least five buses on Saturday carrying men out of Sheikh Maqsud, but could not independently verify their identities.According to the SDF statement, the ceasefire was reached “through the mediation of international parties to stop the attacks and violations against our people in Aleppo”. The United States and European Union both called for the Syrian government and Kurdish authorities to return to political dialogue.The fighting, some of the most intense since the ousting of long-time ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, has killed at least 21 civilians, according to figures from both sides, while Aleppo’s governor said 155,000 people fled their homes.Both sides blamed the other for starting the clashes on Tuesday.- Children ‘still inside’ -On the outskirts of Sheikh Maqsud, families who had been trapped by the fighting were leaving, accompanied by Syrian security forces.An AFP correspondent saw men carrying children on their backs board buses headed to shelters.Dozens of young men in civilian clothing were separated from the crowd, with security forces making them sit on the ground before transporting them to an unknown destination, according to the correspondent.A Syrian security official told AFP on condition of anonymity that the young men were “fighters” being “transferred to Syrian detention centres”.At the entrance to the district, 60-year-old Imad al-Ahmad was heading in the opposite direction, trying to seek permission to return home.”I left four days ago…I took refuge at my sister’s house,” he told AFP. “I don’t know if we’ll be able to return today.”Nahed Mohammad Qassab, a 40-year-old widow also waiting to return, said she left before the fighting to attend a funeral.”My three children are still inside, at my neighbour’s house. I want to get them out,” she said. A flight suspension at Aleppo airport was extended until further notice.- ‘Return to dialogue’ -US envoy Tom Barrack met Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Saturday, and afterwards called for a “return to dialogue” with the Kurds in accordance with the integration framework agreed in March. The deal was meant to be implemented last year, but differences, including Kurdish demands for decentralised rule, stymied progress as Damascus repeatedly rejected the idea.The fighting in Aleppo raised fears of a regional escalation, with neighbouring Turkey, a close ally of Syria’s new Islamist authorities, saying it was ready to intervene. Israel has sided with the Kurdish forces. The clashes have also tested the Syrian authorities’ ability to reunify the country after the brutal civil war and commitment to protecting minorities, after sectarian bloodshed rocked the country’s Alawite and Druze communities last year.

The United States and the European Union on Saturday urged the Syrian government and Kurdish authorities to return to negotiations after days of deadly clashes in the northern city of Aleppo.Conflicting reports emerged from the city, as authorities announced a halt to the fighting and said they had begun transferring Kurdish fighters out of Aleppo, but Kurdish forces denied the claims shortly after.An AFP correspondent saw at least five buses on Saturday carrying men leaving the Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsud district, accompanied by security forces.While the authorities said they were fighters, the Kurdish forces insisted they were “civilians who were forcibly displaced”.AFP could not independently verify the men’s identities.Another correspondent saw at least six buses entering the neighbourhood and leaving without anyone on board, with relative calm in the area.US envoy Tom Barrack met Saturday with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, and afterwards issued a call for a “return to dialogue” with the Kurds in accordance with an integration agreement sealed last year.A statement from the European Union called for an end to fighting in and around Aleppo to protect the civilian population.”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.- Civilians killed -The violence in Aleppo erupted after efforts to integrate the Kurds’ de facto autonomous administration and military into the country’s new government stalled.Since the fighting began on Tuesday, at least 21 civilians have been killed, according to figures from both sides, while Aleppo’s governor said 155,000 people had been forced to flee their homes.On Saturday evening, state television reported that Kurdish fighters “who announced their surrender…were transported by bus to the city of Tabaqa” in the Kurdish-controlled northeast.A Syrian security source had told AFP the last Kurdish fighters had entrenched themselves in the area of al-Razi hospital in Sheikh Maqsud, before being evacuated by the authorities.Kurdish forces said in a statement that news of fighters being transferred was “entirely false” and that those taken included “young civilians who were abducted and transferred to an unknown location”.- Residents waiting to return -On the outskirts of Sheikh Maqsud, families who had been unable to flee the violence were leaving, accompanied by Syrian security forces, according to an AFP correspondent.Men carried their children on their backs as women and children wept, before boarding buses taking them to shelters.Dozens of young men in civilian clothing were separated from the rest, with security forces making them sit on the ground before being taken by bus to an unknown destination, according to the correspondent.A Syrian security official told AFP on condition of anonymity that the young men were “fighters” being “transferred to Syrian detention centres”.At the entrance to the district, 60-year-old resident Imad al-Ahmad was waiting for permission to return home.”I left four days ago…I took refuge at my sister’s house,” he told AFP. “I don’t know if we’ll be able to return today.”Nahed Mohammad Qassab, a 40-year-old widow also waiting to return, said she had left before the fighting to attend a funeral.”My three children are still inside, at my neighbour’s house. I want to get them out,” she said. The clashes, some of the most intense since Syria’s new Islamist authorities took power, present another challenge as the country struggles on a new path after the ousting of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.Both sides have blamed the other for starting the violence in Aleppo.- ‘Fierce’ resistance -A flight suspension at Aleppo airport was extended until further notice.The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) control swathes of the country’s oil-rich north and northeast, much of which they captured during Syria’s civil war and the fight against the Islamic State group. But Turkey, a close ally of neighbouring Syria’s new leaders, views its main component as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which agreed last year to end its four-decade armed struggle against Ankara.Turkey has launched successive offensives to push Kurdish forces from the frontier.Elham Ahmad, a senior official in the Kurdish administration in Syria’s northeast, accused Syrian authorities of “choosing the path of war”. But he said the Kurds remained committed to agreements reached with Damascus.The March integration agreement was meant to be implemented last year, but differences, including Kurdish demands for decentralised rule, stymied progress as Damascus repeatedly rejected the idea.Nanar Hawach, senior Syria analyst at the International Crisis Group, said the renewed clashes cast doubt on the government’s ability to unite the country after years of civil war.Syria’s authorities have committed to protecting minorities, but sectarian bloodshed rocked the Alawite and Druze communities last year.burs-jj/acb

Rights groups expressed alarm on Saturday that Iranian authorities were intensifying a deadly crackdown under cover of an internet blackout, after another night of mass protests in the biggest demonstrations to face the Islamic republic in years.The two weeks of demonstrations have posed one of the biggest challenges to the theocratic authorities who have ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, although supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has expressed defiance and blamed the United States.Following the movement’s largest protests yet on Thursday, new demonstrations took place late Friday, according to images verified by AFP and other videos published on social media.This was despite an internet shutdown imposed by the authorities, with monitor Netblocks saying Saturday evening that “Iran has now been offline for 48 hours”.Amnesty International said it was analysing “distressing reports that security forces have intensified their unlawful use of lethal force against protesters” since Thursday in an escalation “that has led to further deaths and injuries”.Norway-based Iran Human Rights group has said at least 51 people have been killed in the crackdown so far, warning the actual toll could be higher.It posted images it said were of bodies of people shot dead in the protests on the floor of Alghadir hospital in eastern Tehran. “These images provide further evidence of the excessive and lethal use of force against protesters,” IHR said. – ‘Seize city centres’ -In Tehran’s Saadatabad district, people banged pots and chanted anti-government slogans including “death to Khamenei” as cars honked in support, a video verified by AFP showed.Other images disseminated on social media and by Persian-language television channels outside Iran showed similarly large protests elsewhere in the capital, as well as in the eastern city of Mashhad, Tabriz in the north and the holy city of Qom.In the western city of Hamedan, a man was shown waving a shah-era Iranian flag featuring the lion and the sun amid fires and people dancing. The same flag briefly replaced the current Iranian flag over the country’s embassy in London, when protesters managed to reach the building’s balcony, witnesses told AFP. Reza Pahlavi, the US-based son of Iran’s ousted shah, hailed the “magnificent” turnout on Friday and urged Iranians to stage more targeted protests on Saturday and Sunday.”Our goal is no longer just to take to the streets. The goal is to prepare to seize and hold city centres,” Pahlavi said in a video message on social media.- ‘Big trouble’ -Pahlavi, whose father Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was ousted by the 1979 revolution and died in 1980, added he was also “preparing to return to my homeland” at a time that he believed was “very near”.Authorities say several members of the security forces have been killed, and Khamenei in a defiant speech on Friday lashed out at “vandals” and accused the United States of fuelling the protests.On Thursday and Friday, an AFP journalist in Tehran saw streets deserted and plunged into darkness ahead of any protests. On Valiasr avenue, one of Tehran’s main streets, businesses shuttered unusually early.”The area is not safe,” said a cafe manager as he prepared to close at around 4:00 pm. An AFP reporter saw shop windows broken, as well as security forces deploying.State TV on Saturday broadcast images of funerals for several members of the security forces killed in the protests, including a large gathering in the southern city of Shiraz.It also aired images of buildings, including a mosque, on fire.Iran’s army said in a statement that it would “vigorously protect and safeguard national interests” against an “enemy seeking to disrupt order and peace”.National security council chief Ali Larijani said in comments broadcast late Friday that “we are in the middle of a war”, with “these incidents being directed from outside”.The Norway-based Hengaw rights group said it had confirmed five Kurdish men had been shot dead by security forces in the western city of Kermanshah on Thursday and another man, a former bodybuilding champion, killed in the northern city of Rasht on Friday. Global leaders have urged restraint from Iranian authorities, with European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen saying Europe backed Iranians’ mass protests and condemned the “violent repression” against the demonstrators.On Saturday, the start of the working week in Iran, one man in Tehran said he was unable to check his work email.”This is the price to pay before the victory of the people,” he said.US President Donald Trump again refused on Friday to rule out new military action against Iran after Washington backed and joined Israel’s 12-day war against the Islamic republic in June.”Iran’s in big trouble. It looks to me that the people are taking over certain cities that nobody thought were really possible just a few weeks ago,” Trump said.