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Syria’s army told Kurdish forces on Tuesday to withdraw from an area east of Aleppo after deadly clashes in the city last week and as both sides reported fresh armed skirmishes breaking out overnight. Syria’s Islamist-led government is seeking to extend its authority across the country, but progress has stalled on integrating the Kurds’ de facto autonomous administration and forces into the central government under a deal reached in March.In Qamishli, the main Kurdish city in the country’s northeast, thousands of people demonstrated against the Aleppo violence, with some burning pictures of Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, an AFP correspondent said.Syrian state television published an army statement with a map declaring a large area east of Aleppo city a “closed military zone” and said “all armed groups in this area must withdraw to east of the Euphrates” River.The area, controlled by Kurdish forces, extends from near Deir Hafer, around 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Aleppo, to the Euphrates about 30 kilometres further east, as well as towards the south.The Syrian army and Kurdish forces reported fresh armed clashes overnight east of Aleppo.An unnamed military source told the official SANA news agency that the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF): “is targeting army positions and civilian homes in the vicinity of the Humaymah village east of Aleppo, with heavy machine guns and drones, and the army is responding to the fire source”.The SDF said in statements on Telegram that it had repelled an “infiltration attempt” near the village of Zubayda, a little further south, and also reported drone strikes, one of which had injured several of its fighters. On Monday, Syria accused the US-backed SDF of sending reinforcements to Deir Hafer and said it sent its own personnel there in response.The SDF is the de facto army of the Kurds’ semi-autonomous administration and controls swathes of the country’s oil-rich north and northeast, much of which it captured during Syria’s civil war and the fight against the Islamic State group. An AFP correspondent saw government forces transporting reinforcements including air defence batteries and artillery towards Deir Hafer on Tuesday.Kurdish forces denied any build-up of their personnel around Deir Hafer and accused the government of attacking the town, while state television said SDF sniper fire there killed one person.- ‘Bloodshed’ -Elham Ahmad, a senior official in the Kurdish administration, said government forces were “preparing themselves for another attack”.”The real intention is a full-scale attack” against Kurdish-held areas, she told an online press conference, accusing the government of having made a “declaration of war” and breaking the March agreement on integrating Kurdish forces.Syria’s government took full control of Aleppo city over the weekend after capturing its Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsud and Ashrafiyeh neighbourhoods and evacuating fighters there to Kurdish-controlled areas in the northeast.Both sides traded blame over who started the violence last Tuesday that ultimately killed dozens of people and displaced tens of thousands.In Qamishli, shops were shut in a general strike and thousands protested to voice their anger at the Aleppo fighting, some carrying Kurdish flags and banners in support of the SDF and its chief Mazloum Abdi.”Leave, Jolani!” they shouted, referring to President Sharaa by his former nom de guerre, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani.”This government has not honoured its commitments towards any Syrians,” said cafe owner Joudi Ali.- PKK, Turkey -Other protesters burned portraits of Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, whose country has lauded the Syrian government’s Aleppo operation “against terrorist organisations”.Turkey has long been hostile to the SDF, seeing it as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and a major threat along its southern border. Last year, the PKK announced an end to its long-running armed struggle against the Turkish state and began destroying its weapons, but Ankara has insisted that the move include armed Kurdish groups in Syria.On Tuesday, the PKK called the “attack on the Kurdish neighbourhoods in Aleppo” an attempt to sabotage peace efforts between it and Ankara.A day earlier, Ankara’s ruling party levelled the same accusation against Kurdish fighters.The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported 45 civilians and 60 soldiers and fighters from both sides killed in the Aleppo violence.Aleppo civil defence official Faysal Mohammad told AFP on Tuesday that emergency workers had pulled 50 bodies from the two Kurdish-majority neighbourhoods since the end of fighting, without saying whether they were combatants or civilians.mam-strs-lg/ceg/jm

The planet logged its third hottest year on record in 2025, extending a run of unprecedented heat, with no relief expected in 2026, US researchers and EU climate monitors said Wednesday.The last 11 years have now been the warmest ever recorded, with 2024 topping the podium and 2023 in second place, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service and Berkeley Earth, a California-based non-profit research organisation.For the first time, global temperatures exceeded 1.5C relative to pre-industrial times on average over the last three years, Copernicus said in its annual report.”The warming spike observed from 2023-2025 has been extreme, and suggests an acceleration in the rate of the Earth’s warming,” Berkeley Earth said in a separate report.The landmark 2015 Paris Agreement commits the world to limiting warming to well below 2C and pursuing efforts to hold it at 1.5C — a long-term target scientists say would help avoid the worst consequences of climate change.UN chief Antonio Guterres warned in October that breaching 1.5C was “inevitable” but the world could limit this period of overshoot by cutting greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible.Copernicus said the 1.5C limit “could be reached by the end of this decade -– over a decade earlier than predicted”.But efforts to contain global warming were dealt another setback last week as President Donald Trump said he would pull the United States — the world’s second-biggest polluter after China — out of the bedrock UN climate treaty.Temperatures were 1.47C above pre-industrial times in 2025 — just a fraction cooler than in 2023 — following 1.6C in 2024, according to the EU climate monitor.Some 770 million people experienced record-warm annual conditions where they live, while no record-cold annual average was logged anywhere, according to Berkeley Earth.The Antarctic experienced its warmest year on record while it was the second hottest in the Arctic, Copernicus said.An AFP analysis of Copernicus data last month found that Central Asia, the Sahel region and northern Europe experienced their hottest year on record in 2025.- 2026: Fourth-warmest? -Berkeley and Copernicus both warned that 2026 would not break the trend.If the warming El Nino weather phenomenon appears this year, “this could make 2026 another record-breaking year”, Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, told AFP.”Temperatures are going up. So we are bound to see new records. Whether it will be 2026, 2027, 2028 doesn’t matter too much. The direction of travel is very, very clear,” Buontempo said.Berkeley Earth said it expected this year to be similar to 2025, “with the most likely outcome being approximately the fourth-warmest year since 1850″.- Emissions fight -The reports come as efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions — the main driver of climate change — are stalling in developed countries.Emissions rose in the United States last year, snapping a two-year streak of declines, as bitter winters and the AI boom fuelled demand for energy, the Rhodium Group think tank said Tuesday.The pace of reductions of greenhouse gas emissions slowed in Germany and France.”While greenhouse gas emissions remain the dominant driver of global warming, the magnitude of this recent spike suggests additional factors have amplified recent warming beyond what we would expect from greenhouse gases and natural variability alone,” said Berkeley Earth chief scientist Robert Rohde.The organisation said international rules cutting sulfur in ship fuel since 2020 may have actually added to warming by reducing sulfur dioxide emissions, which form aerosols that reflect sunlight away from Earth.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States would react strongly if authorities in Iran started hanging people in their crackdown on a popular uprising against the government.”We will take very strong action if they do such a thing,” he told CBS News in an interview, when asked about hangings potentially beginning on Wednesday.”When they start killing thousands of people — and now you’re telling me about hanging. We’ll see how that’s going to work out for them,” Trump said in a video clip released online.The interview took place as Trump was in the northern US state of Michigan to visit a manufacturing plant and deliver a speech on the economy.In his speech, Trump reiterated a message he had posted earlier on social media, that “help is on its way” for the Iranian protesters.He also said it was unclear what the death toll in Iran actually was.”I hear numbers — look, one death is too much — but I hear much lower numbers, and then I hear much higher numbers,” he said.Later, speaking to reporters on his return to Washington, Trump said he would soon be receiving a briefing on Iran.”The killing looks like it’s significant, but we don’t know yet for certain. I’ll know within 20 minutes — and we’ll act accordingly,” he said.Trump had previously vowed the United States would get involved if protesters were killed, a line crossed days ago.At least 734 people are confirmed to have been killed, though the actual death toll is likely in the thousands, Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) said Tuesday.Fears have also grown that the Islamic republic could use the death penalty to crack down on the protests, after Tehran prosecutors said authorities would press capital charges of “moharebeh,” or “waging war against God,” against some suspects arrested over recent demonstrations.”Concerns are mounting that authorities will once again resort to swift trials and arbitrary executions to crush and deter dissent,” Amnesty International said. IHR highlighted the case of Erfan Soltani, 26, who was arrested last week in the Tehran satellite city of Karaj and who, according to a family source, has already been sentenced to death and is due to be executed as early as Wednesday.

The United States on Tuesday designated the Muslim Brotherhood branches in Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan as terrorist organizations, fulfilling a long demand of Arab allies and US conservatives.Founded in 1928 in Egypt, the pan-Islamist movement once spread across the Muslim world, but it has been in retreat as it comes under concerted pressure from major Arab powers.”These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence and destabilization wherever it occurs,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Muslim Brotherhood “has a longstanding record of perpetuating acts of terror, and we are working aggressively to cut them off from the financial system.”The designations mean that the United States will block any assets owned by the Muslim Brotherhood in the world’s largest economy, criminalize transactions with its members and severely impede their ability to travel to the country.The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in a statement posted to social media vowed to seek legal channels to challenge the decision, saying it opposed violence and has never threatened the United States.”This designation is both detached from reality and unsupported by evidence. It is a result of foreign pressure on the United States, particularly from the UAE and Israel, to adopt policies that serve external agendas rather than the interests of the American people,” it said.Egypt as well as US-allied monarchies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have long sought to suppress the Muslim Brotherhood, whose vision calls for the creation of a transnational Islamic caliphate. The movement briefly rose to power democratically in its native Egypt through the 2012 election of Mohamed Morsi following the overthrow of longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak, under whom the Muslim Brotherhood was banned, although some of its activities had been tolerated, including its network of social services.Morsi was deposed a year later in a coup by then military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has since pursued a sweeping crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood.Egypt’s foreign ministry hailed the US decision, which was set in motion by Trump in November, as reflecting “the danger of this group and its extremist ideology and the direct threat it poses to regional and international security and stability.”- Turkey is key -Crushed at home, Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood members have focused on building a network overseas of businesses, media outlets and declared charities.A key base has been Turkey, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has deep and longstanding ideological affinity with the Muslim Brotherhood.The US decision will “put a lot of pressure on countries friendly with the United States — do they want to host entities that are designated terrorist organizations by the US?” said Lorenzo Vidino, an expert on the Muslim Brotherhood who directs The George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.”I don’t think that will destroy them, but there’s no question that it puts them under a lot of pressure,” he said.The Trump administration designated the groups in part on the basis of their support for Hamas, the Palestinian armed group long classified as terrorist by the United States.The Treasury Department said that the Egyptian and Jordanian branches of the brotherhood have coordinated with Hamas, whose massive October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered an overwhelming Israeli offensive on Gaza.The State Department said that in Lebanon, the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Muslim movement, had allied itself with Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite militants, in firing rockets into Israel.The Muslim Brotherhood had gained strength in Jordan, where its political wing is the main opposition party in parliament. In April last year, Jordan banned the Muslim Brotherhood, ordering confiscation of its assets, after accusing the movement of stockpiling weapons and planning to destabilize the kingdom, which has a peace agreement with Israel.In recent years, US conservatives have also seized upon the Muslim Brotherhood, with some spreading the unfounded conspiracy theory that the organization is infiltrating the US government with a goal of imposing Islamic sharia law.

US President Donald Trump urged Iranians on Tuesday to keep protesting against the country’s theocratic leadership, telling them “help is on its way” as international outrage grows over a crackdown one rights group said has likely killed thousands.Iranian authorities insisted they had regained control of the country after successive nights of mass protests nationwide since Thursday that have posed one of the biggest challenges to the clerical leadership since it came to power in the 1979 Islamic revolution.Rights groups accuse the government of fatally shooting protesters and masking the scale of the crackdown with an internet blackout that has now surpassed the five-day mark.New videos on social media, whose location AFP verified, showed bodies lined up in the Kahrizak morgue just south of the Iranian capital, with the corpses wrapped in black bags and distraught relatives searching for loved ones.International phone links were restored on Tuesday, but only for outgoing calls, according to an AFP journalist, and the quality remained spotty, with frequent interruptions.Trump, who has repeatedly threatened Iran with military intervention, said Iranians should continue their nationwide protests, take over institutions and record the names of “killers and abusers”.”Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”It was not immediately clear what meetings he was referring to or what the nature of the help would be.European nations also signalled their anger, with France, Germany and the United Kingdom among the countries that summoned their Iranian ambassadors to protest what French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called “state violence unquestioningly unleashed on peaceful protesters”.The European Union also summoned Iran’s ambassador in Brussels.”The rising number of casualties in Iran is horrifying,” said EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, vowing further sanctions against those responsible.- ‘In the thousands’ -The Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights (IHR) said it had confirmed 734 people killed during the protests, including nine minors, but warned the death toll was likely far higher.”The figures we publish are based on information received from fewer than half of the country’s provinces and fewer than 10 percent of Iran’s hospitals. The real number of those killed is likely in the thousands,” IHR’s director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam said.Fears have also grown that the Islamic republic could use the death penalty to crack down on the protests, after Tehran prosecutors said Iranian authorities would press capital charges of “moharebeh”, or “waging war against God”, against some suspects arrested over recent demonstrations.”Concerns are mounting that authorities will once again resort to swift trials and arbitrary executions to crush and deter dissent,” Amnesty International said.IHR highlighted the case of Erfan Soltani, 26, who was arrested last week in the Tehran satellite city of Karaj and who, according to a family source, has already been sentenced to death and is due to be executed as early as Wednesday.Iranian state media has said dozens of members of the security forces have been killed, with their funerals turning into large pro-government rallies. Authorities have declared three days of national mourning for those killed.Authorities in Tehran have announced a mass funeral ceremony in the capital on Wednesday for the “martyrs” of recent days.Amir, an Iraqi computer scientist, returned to Baghdad on Monday and described dramatic scenes in Tehran.”On Thursday night, my friends and I saw protesters in Tehran’s Sarsabz neighbourhood amid a heavy military presence. The police were firing rubber bullets,” he told AFP in Iraq.- ‘Last days’ -The government on Monday sought to regain control of the streets with mass nationwide rallies that supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei hailed as proof that the protest movement was defeated, calling them a “warning” to the United States. In power since 1989 and now aged 86, Khamenei has faced significant challenges, most recently the 12-day war in June against Israel, which resulted in the killing of top security officials and forced him to go into hiding.”When a regime can only hold on to power through violence, then it is effectively finished,” said German Chancellor Friedrich Merz during a trip to India. “I believe that we are now witnessing the last days and weeks of this regime.”Analysts, however, have cautioned that it is premature to predict the immediate demise of the theocratic system, pointing to the repressive levers the leadership controls, including the Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is charged with safeguarding the Islamic revolution.”These protests arguably represent the most serious challenge to the Islamic republic in years, both in scale and in their increasingly explicit political demands,” Nicole Grajewski, professor at the Sciences Po Centre for International Studies in Paris, told AFP.She said it was unclear if the protests would unseat the leadership, pointing to “the sheer depth and resilience of Iran’s repressive apparatus”.

Iranian authorities will press charges punishable by death against some individuals arrested during recent demonstrations, prosecutors said on Tuesday, as concern grew that one man arrested during the protests already risks imminent execution. The office of the Tehran prosecutor said in a statement quoted by state television that an unspecified number would be charged with “moharebeh”, or “waging war against God”, a sharia law term which is a capital offence in Iran and used widely in the past in death penalty cases.”A number of rioters whose charges are consistent with moharebeh will soon be sent to court,” it said.Rights groups have said hundreds, and potentially even higher numbers, have been killed in the protests.Iranian state media has reported that dozens of members of the security forces were killed at the hands of “rioters”.Iran is the world’s most prolific executioner after China, according to rights groups. Last year, it hanged at least 1,500 people, Norway-based Iran Human Rights group (IHR) said.Twelve people were executed over the last major protest wave from 2022 to 2023, according to IHR. Another 12 people have been executed on charges of spying for Israel since a war in June between the two foes.”Concerns are mounting that authorities will once again resort to swift trials and arbitrary executions to crush and deter dissent,” Amnesty International said.It is “extremely worrying to see public statements by some judicial officials indicating the possibility of the death penalty being used against protesters through expedited judicial proceedings”, added UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk.IHR said it feared the Islamic republic “is seeking to conduct rapid trials without observing fair trial standards for detained protesters”.It highlighted the case of Erfan Soltani, 26, who was arrested last week in the Tehran satellite city of Karaj and who, according to a family source, has already been sentenced to death and is due to be executed as early as Wednesday.It is not clear what the charges against him are and the case has not been reported by state media.Amnesty said it was also aware of reports he could be executed as early as Wednesday.”The international community must urgently call on Iran’s authorities to immediately halt all executions, including Erfan Soltani,” said Amnesty, adding it had learnt that his family had been told on Monday he had been sentenced to death.