The collapse of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime sparked nationwide celebrations, as scenes of jubilation and chaos unfolded across the country.

In the early hours of December 8, videos emerged on social media showing groups of people gathering on Umayyad Square in Damascus, a key landmark in the capital. Thousands more joined them throughout the day, with some participants climbing atop a tank.

Social media footage verified by RFE/RL showed people exiting the central bank building in Damascus carrying bags and boxes.

Looting was reported in the capital and in other cities across the country, according to multiple eyewitness accounts.

At the gates of the presidential palace in Damascus, video footage captured jubilant men cheering and firing weapons into the air.

People were seen entering the palace freely throughout the day after Assad fled the country. Russian state media reported later on December 8 that he and his family had arrived in Moscow and been granted asylum.

Video footage from inside the palace showed crowds milling around, as well as people carrying out furniture and valuables, leaving trashed rooms behind them.

Syrians enter presidential palace in Damascus on December 8th after Bashar al-Assad's departure.

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Verified video footage obtained by RFE/RL also showed the building of the Syrian Interior Ministry's immigration and passport department ablaze in Damascus.

Burning of Immigration and Passport Department of Syrian Interior Ministry

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Statues of Assad's late father, Hafez al-Assad, who created the authoritarian system his son inherited, were dismantled nationwide after a lightning-fast rebel offensive.

On Arwad Island, off the coast of Tartus and around 10 kilometers from a Russian naval base, jubilant crowds toppled a statue of the elder Assad, who died in 2000, and climbed onto the monument in celebration.

In Latakia, a coastal town that was a stronghold of the Assad family, another statue of Hafez al-Assad was torn down and dragged through the streets behind a truck as revelers rode atop it.

Images also showed the aftermath of the storming of the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, which appeared to have been abandoned earlier on December 8. Iranian media reported that diplomats had already evacuated the premises.

President-elect Donald Trump said Russia and Iran are in a "weakened state" and called on Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin to end the nearly three-year war in Ukraine.

Trump made the comments in a post on Truth Social on December 8 as Syrian rebels captured Damascus, ending the half-century rule of the Russia- and Iran-backed Assad family.

The incoming U.S. president said Russia and Iran couldn't come to the support of Syrian dictator Assad because they were in a "weakened state right now, one because of Ukraine and a bad economy, the other because of Israel and its fighting success."

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Russia has lost about 600,000 soldiers since invading Ukraine in February 2022, Trump said, adding that Ukraine has lost about 400,000 defending its territory.

"There should be an immediate cease-fire and negotiations should begin," Trump said. "I know Vladimir well. This is his time to act. China can help. The world is waiting!"

The Kremlin did not immediately respond to Trump's comment.

Paris Meeting

Trump said in the post that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy "would like to make a deal."

Trump held talks with Zelenskiy and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on December 7 to discuss the war. Zelenskiy called the trilateral talks "good and productive" and said the leaders discussed the potential for "a just peace."

Trump and Zelenskiy were among world leaders who gathered in Paris on December 7 to mark the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral.

"We talked about our people, the situation on the battlefield, and a just peace for Ukraine. We all want to end this war as quickly and fairly as possible," Zelenskiy said in a December 7 post on Telegram.

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"President Trump, as always, is determined. We are thankful for that," he added.

Macron said, "Let us continue joint efforts for peace, security."

Trump, who will take office on January 20, has criticized the tens of billions of dollars the United States has poured into Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion.

He has claimed he could end the war within 24 hours of retaking the White House, a statement that has been interpreted as meaning that Ukraine would have to surrender territory that Russia now occupies.

Experts say it will be difficult to hammer out a peace deal quickly because there are so many aspects, including security guarantees for Ukraine and sanctions relief for Russia.

In the meantime, the outgoing Biden administration has been accelerating weapons shipments to Ukraine ahead of the transfer of power to Trump to bolster its defenses.

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Washington said on December 7 that it is preparing a $988 million package of arms and equipment to Ukraine, funds taken from the remaining $2.21 billion available in the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative.

The funds will be used to buy precision missiles for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), and for drones, the Pentagon said.

European countries are also stepping up aid in case the Trump administration ends U.S. support for Kyiv.

Zelenskiy announced on December 7 that Ukraine had received a second shipment of sophisticated F-16 fighter jets from Denmark. Copenhagen announced last year it would deliver a total of 19 aircraft to Ukraine.

"The second batch of F-16s for Ukraine from Denmark is already in Ukraine. This is the leadership in protecting life that distinguishes Denmark," he wrote on Telegram.

Syrian rebels led by Islamist militants have entered the central city of Homs as they close in on Damascus while the country’s main allies -- Russia and Iran -- scrambled to protect the regime of authoritarian President Bashar al-Assad and their own assets in the country.

Abu Mohammad al-Golani, a leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group, said late on December 7 that the insurgent fighters were "in the final moments of liberating" Homs, a city of 775,000 people.

HTS is considered a terrorist group by the United States, Britain, Canada, and the European Union.

Experts said the future of the Assad regime was hanging in the balance -- and that, if it fell, it would also represent a major geopolitical setback for the Kremlin which, along with Tehran, has supported the Syrian government through many years of civil war.

Media reports said many residents of Damascus were stocking up on supplies as thousands were attempting to leave the country through the border with Lebanon -- itself a war-torn nation in the increasingly chaotic Middle East.

As fighting on the ground and rebel gains intensified, the foreign ministers of Russia, Iran, and Turkey held emergency talks in Doha, Qatar, on December 7 calling for an end to hostilities in the most serious challenge to Assad’s rule in years.

The U.S. State Department told RFE/RL that Washington was closely monitoring the situation on the ground in Syria.

A spokesperson said the United States and its partners and allies urged that civilians, including members of minority groups, be protected.

The spokesperson said it was time to negotiate an end to the Syrian conflict consistent with principals established in UN Security Council Resolution 2254. The spokesperson added that the refusal of the Assad regime to engage in the process has directly led to the current situation.

The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said that “Assad regime forces have collapsed and Assad’s backers do not appear willing to bolster the Syrian Arab Army by rapidly deploying additional forces.”

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Russia has multiple military sites in Syria, including an air base at Hmeimim and strategic naval facilities at Tartus, which are also used to support the Kremlin’s actions in Africa.

The ISW said that Moscow had not yet begun to evacuate the base, “but it remains unclear whether Russia will keep its vessels at the port as Syrian rebels continue to advance swiftly across regime-held territory.”

The American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats blog said the Assad regime “faces an existential threat given the widespread collapse of regime forces and lack of sufficient external backing to bolster these forces.”

It added that “Russia will face logistic challenges that will undermine its Africa operations if it loses its footprint in Syria.”

Mark Katz, a professor emeritus at George Mason University who focuses on Russia and the Middle East, told RFE/RL that the Kremlin risks losing its air assets in Syria if it can’t agree with Turkey on the use of its airspace.

“In one sense, the Turkish government might be happy to grant permission as the more the Russian Air Force is out of Syria, the happier Ankara will be,” he said.

"Russia would also face difficulties relocating its warships because they would need Turkey's permission to get into the Black Sea. They would have to go through NATO waters," he added.

Meanwhile, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said the United States “should have nothing to do” with the war in Syria, where a small contingent of U.S. forces remain deployed in some areas.

"Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, & THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT,” he wrote on the Truth Social platform.

“THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!”

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Syrian Militants' Capture Of Key City A 'Game-Changer'

Fast-moving developments on the ground were difficult to confirm, but media outlets quoted witnesses as well as rebel and Syrian army sources as saying militant fighters were continuing to make large gains on December 7 in their effort to topple Assad.

Some reported signs of panic in Damascus, with shortages of critical supplies, although the government said Assad was at work as usual in the capital.

Government forces and their Russian allies appear to have failed in their attempt to halt the rebel push toward Homs, which stands at an important intersection between the capital, Damascus, and Syria’s coastal provinces of Latakia and Tartus. Homs is 140 kilometers from the capital.

Witnesses and army sources told Reuters and other news agencies that rebels had entered Homs amid reports that government forces had pulled out. Celebrations were reported in some areas of the city.

Homs Province is Syria’s largest in size and borders Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan. The city is also home to one of Syria’s two state-run oil refineries.

The AFP news agency quoted security sources as saying hundreds of Syrian government troops, some injured, had fled across the border into Iraq.

The surprising offensive was launched last week by a coalition of rebel groups led by the Islamist HTS faction.

Besides HTS, the fighters include forces of an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army. Turkey has denied backing the offensive, though experts say insurgents would not have launched it without the country's consent.

The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said civilians were fleeing from Homs toward the Mediterranean coastal regions of Latakia and Tartus, strongholds of the government and the site of the Russian air and naval bases.

Russia Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declined to comment on the fate of the Russian bases, saying he “wasn’t in the business of guessing.”

The United Nations said on December 6 that almost 300,000 people in Syria had already been displaced since late November by the fighting, and that up to 1.5 million could be forced to flee as the rebels advance and inflict losses on Assad, as well as his Russian and Iranian allies.

Assad has relied on Iran and Russia to remain in power since the conflict erupted in 2011.

Following the foreign ministers' meeting in Doha, Lavrov said -- referring to HTS rebels -- that it was "inadmissible to allow terrorist groups" to take control of Syrian territory and that Russia would oppose them with all means possible.

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Since the rebels seized control of Aleppo a week ago, they have moved on to capture other major cities with Assad’s forces providing little resistance.

Besides capturing Aleppo in the north, Hama in the center, and Deir al-Zor in the east, rebels rose up in southern Suweida and Deraa, saying on December 6 they had taken control of the two cities and posting videos showing insurgent celebrations there.

Taking Deraa and Suweida in the south could allow a concerted assault on the capital, Damascus, the seat of Assad's power, military sources said.

Video posted online showed protesters in the Damascus suburb of Jaramana chanting and tearing down a statue of Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad, who ruled Syria from 1971 until his death in 2000, when his son took power.

Golani, the HTS leader, told CNN in an exclusive interview on December 5 from Syria that Assad’s government was bound to fall, propped up only by Russia and Iran.

“The seeds of the regime’s defeat have always been within it,” he said. “But the truth remains, this regime is dead.”

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

Iran is poised to significantly increase the production rate of highly enriched uranium, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has warned in a confidential report.

The IAEA report said the effect of the change "would be to significantly increase the rate of production of uranium enriched up to 60 percent," according to news agencies quoting the report on December 6.

This means the rate of production will jump to more than 34 kilograms of highly enriched uranium per month at its Fordow facility alone, compared to 4.7 kilograms previously, the report to the IAEA's board of governors says.

IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi, who spoke to reporters about the report on the sidelines of an international conference in Bahrain, said the increase would represent “seven or eight times or even more," calling the development very concerning.

“They were preparing, and they have all of these facilities sort of in abeyance and now they are activating that. So we are going to see,” he said, adding that it would be a “huge jump” if Iran begins increasing its enrichment.

The report also said Iran must implement tougher safeguard measures such as inspections to ensure Fordow is not being "misused to produce uranium of an enrichment level higher than that declared by Iran, and that there is no diversion of declared nuclear material."

Iran's decision to accelerate production of enriched uranium is in response to recent censure by the IAEA, Grossi told the AFP news agency.

"This is a message. This is a clear message that they are responding to what they feel is pressure," the UN nuclear watchdog's head said.

Tehran was angered by a resolution last month put forward by Britain, Germany, and France, known as the E3, and the United States that faulted Iran's cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.

Britain, Germany, and France have adopted a tougher stance on Iran in recent months, in particular since Tehran ramped up its military support to Russia.

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In addition, there was little progress last week when European and Iranian officials met to determine whether they could enter serious talks on the nuclear program before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House in January.

Trump pulled the United States out of the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers and is now appointing hawks on Iran to his planned administration.

While Iran maintains its program is peaceful, Iranian officials increasingly threaten to potentially seek a nuclear bomb and an intercontinental ballistic missile. But experts war that the enrichment of uranium at 60 percent is just a short step away from weapons-grade levels of 90 percent, and they say there is no justification for enriching uranium to such a high level under any civilian program.

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The news of Iran's decision to increase uranium enrichment came just hours after Tehran claimed it had conducted a successful space launch with its heaviest payload ever. Official media reported that the launch of the Simorgh rocket took place at Iran’s Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Semnan Province located about 220 kilometers east of Tehran.

Western governments have expressed concern that the Tehran’s ballistic missile program is coming closer to having the ability to launch a weapon against distant foes like the United States.

The Simorgh carried what Iran described as an “orbital propulsion system” and two research systems to a 400-kilometer orbit above the Earth. It also carried the Fakhr-1 satellite for Iran’s military, the first time Iran’s civilian program is known to have carried a military payload.

Iran has said its space program, like its nuclear activities, is for purely civilian purposes.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP

Russian forces bombed a key bridge and highway to try and slow a lightning advance by rebels toward the Syrian city of Homs as thousands fled the area.

The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said civilians were fleeing from Homs towards the Mediterranean coastal regions of Latakia and Tartus, strongholds of the government and the site of Russian air and naval bases.

The United Nations said on December 6 that almost 300,000 people in Syria had already been displaced since late November by the fighting, and that up to 1.5 million could be forced to flee as the rebels advance and deal losses to the country's president, Bashar al-Assad, as well as his allies in Russia and Iran.

Assad has relied on Iran and Russia to remain in power since the conflict erupted in 2011.

A Syrian Army officer was quoted by Reuters as saying that Russian bombing overnight had destroyed the Rastan bridge along the key M5 highway linking Homs to Hama, another city the rebels captured a day earlier.

The rebels, led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), have made major advances over the past several days, including the capture of Aleppo, the country's largest city, as well as 14 central villages and towns, and gotten as close as 35 kilometers from the Russian-operated Khmeimim air base.

HTS is considered a terrorist group by the United States, Britain, Canada, and the European Union.

Hama, Syria's fourth-largest city, is key to the defense of Damascus and the gateway to the coastal cities of Tartus and Latakia, the former being home to a strategic Russian naval base.

In his first media interview in several years, Abu Muhammad al-Julani, the group's leader, told CNN the goal "remains to overthrow the Bashar al-Assad regime, and it is our right to use all available means to achieve this goal."

Besides HTS, the rebels also include an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army.

The foreign ministers of Iraq, Syria, and Iran were to meet on December 6 to discuss the situation, while Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the top diplomats from Moscow, Tehran, and Ankara will meet in Qatar on December 7.

The state news agency TASS reported on December 6 that Russia's embassy in Syria had urged Russian nationals to leave the country due to the situation.

Lengthy prison terms, hefty fines, and travel bans.

Those are among the punishments facing women who violate Iran's new hijab law.

Approved on November 30, the Hijab And Chastity law has triggered uproar in the Islamic republic, where even senior clerics have criticized it.

The 74-article law also calls on the public to report alleged violators to the police and penalizes businesses and taxi drivers who refuse to do so.

"You cannot even call this a law," Nasrin Sotoudeh, a prominent activist and human rights lawyer based in Iran, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda.

Laws are meant to protect citizens, she said, but the new legislation "robs women of their security on the streets."

A growing number of Iranian women have refused to wear the mandatory head scarf -- a key pillar of Iran's Islamic system.

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Iran's 'Ambassadors Of Kindness' Enforce Hijab In New Head Scarf Crackdown

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The hijab was central to the unprecedented protests that erupted across Iran in 2022. The demonstrations were triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who was arrested for allegedly violating the hijab law.

During the protests, women and girls removed and burned their head scarves.

The authorities waged a brutal crackdown on protesters, killing hundreds and arresting thousands.

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Sotoudeh said many Iranians want those responsible for the deaths to be "punished." Instead, she said, "lawmakers passed a bill in a vengeful act against women and men."

She warned that critics "will take steps" if the law is not repealed, suggesting that protests may be planned.

Sotoudeh has been in and out of prison for years for her activism and taking up sensitive legal cases, including women detained for peacefully protesting the mandatory hijab.

'Unimplementable' Law

In recent years, the authorities have doubled down on their enforcement of the hijab.

They have reintroduced patrols by the so-called morality police that were suspended in the wake of the 2022 protests.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has also established a new unit in Tehran to enforce the hijab. Its members are called "ambassadors of kindness."

In November, the Tehran Headquarters for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice announced the creation of a "clinic" to offer "scientific and psychological treatment" to women who refuse to follow the Islamic dress code.

In response, Iranian psychologists raised the alarm about the consequences of "labeling healthy people as sick."

Sotoudeh and Sedigheh Vasmaghi, a rights activist and Islamic scholar, slammed the new hijab law as "shameful" and "medieval" in a joint statement issued on December 1.

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The new legislation has proved so controversial that President Masud Pezeshkian said on live television on December 2 that "it cannot be easily implemented." He also questioned the new penalties for convicted hijab violators.

Even several senior clerics have warned against enforcing the new law.

"Not only are large parts of this law unimplementable...but it defeats its purpose and will lead to the youth hating religious teachings," Ayatollah Mostafa Mohaqeq Damad wrote in an open letter to top clerics on December 2.

In a joint statement on December 4, three prominent guilds representing the entertainment industry said any law that "turns your homeland into a big prison is meaningless" and urged the authorities to repeal it.

Britain’s counterterrorism police say they are awaiting the extradition of two Romanian men who are suspects in the stabbing in March of a journalist working for a Persian-language media organization in London.

Britain's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on December 5 that Nandito Badea, 19, and George Stana, 23, had been arrested in Romania and charged in the attack on Pouria Zeraati, a London-based TV host for the Iran International news network.

Badea and Stana appeared in a Romanian court after their arrest on December 4 for the start of extradition proceedings," a CPS spokesperson was quoted by Reuters as saying.

"We continue to work closely with Romanian authorities, to ensure that our extradition request is progressed through the courts."

British authorities have authorized charges against both of "wounding and wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm," according to a statement issued by the London Metropolitan Police.

Zeraati, a British-Iranian journalist, suffered injuries after being stabbed near his home on March 29 in southwestern London.

Counterterrorism police have led the investigation into the attack over concerns he had been targeted because of his job at Iran International, which is critical of Iran's government.

“We now await the extradition process to progress so that the men can face prosecution here in the U.K.,” Acting Commander Helen Flanagan of the Counter Terrorism Command said in the statement.

Flanagan said the command planned no further comments on the investigation and urged others not to speculate about the case, given criminal proceedings are now pending.

Officials had previously said that the Romanians were suspected of being associates of an Eastern European crime network hired to carry out an attack directed by Iran’s security services.

The suspects were likely hired to carry out the attack and had arrived in Britain shortly before the incident, according to British police sources quoted by The Guardian newspaper.

British police, security officials, and politicians have issued a number of warnings about what they say is Iran's growing use of criminal proxies to carry out attacks abroad.

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The U.S. Justice Department last month unsealed criminal charges that included details of a plot allegedly backed by Iran to kill President-elect Donald Trump before the November 5 election.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said at the time that the charges exposed Iran's “continued brazen attempts to target U.S. citizens” and dissidents who criticize the Iranian regime, which has rejected accusations that it is involved.

One of the targets of the alleged plot was dissident journalist Masih Alinejad, who said on X that she was shocked to have learned of the conspiracy from the FBI.

Alinejad, who has criticized Iran's laws requiring women to wear a hijab, was the target of a kidnapping plot in 2021 according to U.S. prosecutors, and in 2022 a man was arrested with a rifle outside her home.

Britain and the United States have imposed sanctions on Iranian officials who they say have been involved in threats to kill journalists on their soil.

Iran International said the network is pleased that the police investigation has made progress.

“It is reassuring for our journalists, as for others in organizations under similar threat," said Adam Baillie, a spokesman for the network, according to Reuters.

Authorities initially believed three suspects were involved in the attack on Zeraati. The three men abandoned their vehicle shortly after the incident and left the country by air within hours, police said.

A third person was detained in Romania on December 4, but was later released, according to individuals familiar with the case quoted by The Washington Post. The London Metropolitan Police statement did not mention the third person or specifically accuse those arrested of acting on behalf of Tehran.

Zeraati did not comment directly on the developments but posted links on his X account to news stories about the arrests made in Romania.

With reporting by Reuters

The Syrian Army said it was redeploying troops "to preserve civilians lives and prevent urban combat" after Islamist-led rebels entered the key city of Hama, another loss for the country's president, Bashar al-Assad, as well as his allies in Russia and Iran.

"Over the past few hours, with the intensification of confrontations between our soldiers and terrorist groups...these groups were able to breach a number of axes in the city and entered it," a Syrian Army statement said on December 5.

Hama, Syria's fourth-largest city, is key to the defense of Damascus and the gateway to the coastal cities of Tartus and Latakia, the former being home to a strategic Russian naval base.

Syrian and Russian forces had shelled the rebels a day earlier and used air strikes to try and stop their advance.

"With that (advance in Hama), Assad's in real trouble. Homs is next & its countryside is FAR more amenable to facilitating an opposition advance," Charles Lister, a senior fellow and the director of the Syria and Countering Terrorism & Extremism programs at the Middle East Institute, wrote on X.

The rebels, led by Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), have made major advances over the past several days, including the capture of Aleppo, the country's largest city, as well as 14 central villages and towns, and gotten as close as 35 kilometers from the Russian-operated Khmeimim air base.

Syria turned over the air base to Russia in 2015 as Moscow moved in to help Damascus turn the tide of a four-year civil war in its favor.

Besides HTS, the rebels also include an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army.

The United Nations has said tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced by the fighting.

Imprisoned Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi has been temporarily released for at least three weeks after receiving urgent medical care, her lawyer said on December 4.

"According to the medical examiner's opinion, the Tehran Prosecutor's Office suspended the execution of Ms. Narges Mohammadi's sentence for three weeks and she was released from prison. The reason for this is her physical condition after tumor removal and bone grafting, which was done 21 days ago," human rights lawyer Mostafa Nili said in a post on X.

Sources confirmed to RFE/RL's Radio Farda that Mohammadi, 52, had been released.

Analysts said that by suspending Mohammadi's sentence instead of granting her a medical furlough, the time she spends outside of prison will be added to her sentence. A medical furlough would have meant time spent outside of prison would be considered the same as time spent incarcerated.

A United Nations spokesman told AFP it was important that Mohammadi was released temporarily for health reasons in order to receive adequate treatment. The spokesman said the UN reiterated its call for her immediate and unconditional release.

Mohammadi has been campaigning for human rights in Iran for decades and has been in and out of prison for the last 20 years. She has been convicted five times since March 2021 and is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence for "spreading propaganda" against the Islamic republic.

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Last month, her husband, Taghi Rahmani, said his wife had been moved to a Tehran hospital after suffering health issues for more than two months.

"She had an operation, and the operation was on the right leg, and even moving in the prison, sitting, and doing simple things became impossible for her, and even some prisoners went on hunger strike demanding her release," Rahmani told Radio Farda.

"Although prison is not a place for Narges, there is no place for human rights activists in prison at all. She should not go back to prison and all human rights activists and civil activists should be released from prison," he added.

Despite being nearly continuously incarcerated since 2010, Mohammadi has often tried to raise awareness about prison conditions and alleged abuses faced by female prisoners. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023.

Her teenage children accepted the award in Oslo on her behalf and read out a statement by Mohammadi in which she criticized Iran's "tyrannical" government.

"Weeks of enduring excruciating pain in prison, despite tireless advocacy from human rights organizations, and international figures, highlights the persistent disregard for Narges Mohammadi’s basic human rights and the inhumane treatment she endures -- even after being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize," the Narges Foundation said in a statement.

"The Narges Foundation asserts that a 21-day suspension of Narges Mohammadi's sentence is inadequate. After over a decade of imprisonment, Narges requires specialized medical care in a safe, sanitary environment -- a basic human right. As doctors have emphasized, a minimum of three months' recovery is crucial for her healing."

With reporting by AFP

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed the need for diplomacy to resolve the conflict in northern Syria in a phone call on December 3 to discuss the renewed fighting.

A statement from Erdogan’s office after the call said Syria should not become a source of greater instability.

"President Erdogan emphasized that while Turkey continues to support the territorial integrity of Syria, it also strives for a just and permanent solution in Syria," Erdogan told Putin in their conversation on December 3, according to the statement from Erdogan's office posted on X.

He also said it is important to open more space for diplomacy in the region and the Syrian regime must engage in the political solution process, according to the statement.

Erdogan vowed Turkey will maintain its determined stance on the fight against the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been designated as a terrorist group by Turkey and the United States, and its "extensions,” who are trying to take advantage of the recent developments in Syria, the statement said.

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Erdogan and Putin spoke as Syrian rebels advanced against government forces after capturing Aleppo last week. The rebels pushed close on December 3 to the major city of Hama, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the rebels said.

The Syrian Observatory said on December 3 that the toll from the rebel offensive in the north had risen to 602 dead, including 104 civilians.

An attack on Hama would ramp up pressure on Assad, whose Russian and Iranian allies have scrambled to support him against the revived rebellion. The city has remained in government hands since civil war erupted in 2011.

A statement from Syria's army command said its forces were striking "terrorist organizations" in north Hama and Idlib provinces with Russian air support.

The Kremlin said Putin stressed the need for a "speedy end to the terrorist aggression against the Syrian state by radical groups." Both leaders noted the importance of further close coordination between Russia, Turkey, and Iran on the matter, a Kremlin statement said.

"The two presidents will continue to be in contact with each other in the context of seeking steps to de-escalate the crisis," the statement said.

The Syrian civil war had been mostly dormant for years until a major offensive by militants in northwestern Syria revived the conflict.

Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and its allies last week seized control of most of Aleppo and the surrounding countryside, marking the biggest offensive in years.

HTS is a militant Islamist group that seeks to establish a state in Syria governed by Islamic law. The U.S.-designated terrorist organization has between 5,000 and 10,000 fighters, according to U.S. intelligence estimates.

The conflict has pitted Moscow and Tehran against Turkey, which supports armed groups involved in the HTS-led offensive.

Russia's ambassador to the United Nations late on December 3 accused Ukrainian intelligence services of aiding the HTS.

Rebels fighting with HTS are "openly flaunting" that they are supported by Ukraine, Vasily Nebenzya told the UN Security Council.

The envoy said there was an "identifiable trail" showing Ukraine's GUR military intelligence service was "providing weapons to fighters" and claimed Ukrainian military instructors from the GUR are training HTS fighters for combat operations, including against Russian troops in Syria.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said earlier that Russia and Iran "bear the main responsibility" for the recent escalation in fighting. It also noted Ukrainians were being targeted on a nightly basis by Iranian-designed drones.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his allies in Iran "continue to make every effort not to lose control over the puppet Syrian regime, which is associated by the majority of Syrians with inhuman cruelty, tyranny, and crimes," the ministry said on December 2.

There are indications the conflict could escalate.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on December 3 in an interview with a Qatari news outlet that Tehran would consider sending troops to Syria if Damascus asked.

Iraqi Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani said Baghdad would not be "a mere spectator" in Syria and blamed Israeli military strikes on the Syrian government for the rebel advance, his office said.

Compounding Assad's problems, fighters from a U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led coalition battled government forces in the northeast, both sides said, opening a new front along a vital supply route.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and dpa

Iran and Pakistan were on the brink of a full-blown conflict after they exchanged deadly cross-border attacks in January.

The unprecedented flare-up reignited a long-running dispute between the neighbors over cross-border militancy. For decades, the countries have accused each other of harboring armed groups that carry out attacks on the other.

Now, Iran and nuclear-armed Pakistan appear to be expanding their cooperation as they attempt to curb the rising number of attacks carried out by Baluch separatists and militant groups operating along their shared 900-kilomter-long border.

"The two sides have turned a corner in their relationship," said Farzan Sabet, a senior research associate at the Geneva Graduate Institute.

In July, Islamabad handed over to Iran an alleged member of Jaish al-Adl, a Baluch separatist militant group that is believed to be operating out of Pakistan. In return, Iran transferred a Pakistani Baluch separatist figure to Islamabad.

In early November, Jaish al-Adl claimed that 12 of its fighters were killed in a joint operation by Iran and Pakistan. Tehran praised the assault but said that it was conducted by Pakistani forces alone.

Source Of Instability

Iran's southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan and Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan Province have been the scene of decades-long insurgencies.

The vast and impoverished provinces are home to the Baluch, an ethnic minority in Iran and Pakistan. Baluch in both countries have long faced discrimination and violence at the hands of the authorities, which they accuse of exploiting the region’s natural resources.

Jaish al-Adl and the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the largest Baluch armed group in Pakistan, have become increasingly potent fighting forces in recent years.

The groups have adopted more lethal tactics, including suicide bombings, and expanded their recruitment. They have also exploited growing local anger at Tehran and Islamabad, and acquired more sophisticated weapons.

SEE ALSO:

The Rise Of The Baloch Liberation Army In Pakistan

The BLA on November 9 claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing targeting soldiers at a train station in Balochistan that killed at least 26 people.

On October 26, Jaish al-Adl attacked a police patrol in Iran's Sistan-Baluchistan Province, killing 10 officers.

Aziz Baloch, an independent Pakistani security expert, says Tehran and Islamabad are coordinating and cooperating on "security and border management for the first time."

Baluch armed groups "have become a leading source of internal instability" in both countries, said Baloch, adding that Iran and Pakistan "have grasped that without turning this situation around through cooperation, they will suffer mounting losses."

Imtiaz Baloch, an analyst covering Balochistan for Khorasan Diary, a website tracking militant groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan, says the collaboration between Iran and Pakistan is deeper than publicly acknowledged.

"Cooperation between the two is deepening and gathering pace," he said.

Economic Incentives

Experts say Pakistan and Iran -- who are both dealing with economic crises -- also have financial incentives for expanding cooperation and tackling cross-border militancy.

Pakistan’s Balochistan is a resource-rich province that is home to dozens of multibillion-dollar Chinese-funded development projects.

Militants have killed at least seven Chinese workers in Pakistan this year, threatening to derail the $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Meanwhile, Beijing is a top importer of Iranian oil and a leading investor in its freefalling economy. The Chabahar Port in Sistan-Baluchistan is a key hub for imports and exports to neighboring Afghanistan.

Sabet of the Geneva Graduate Institute said the security risks emanating from Baluch areas in Iran and Pakistan and their geo-economic importance have magnified their place in the development plans of both countries.

"This has led the two governments to embark on an effort to suppress the violence there," he said.

Iran said on December 2 that it plans to keep military advisers in Syria after its ally's second city, Aleppo, was overrun by rebels in a surprise offensive. The Islamic republic, which has backed President Bashar al-Assad since Syria's civil war broke out in 2011, says it only deploys military advisers in the country at the invitation of Damascus. "We entered Syria many years ago at the official invitation of the Syrian government, when the Syrian people faced the threat of terrorism," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaeil. "Our military advisers were present in Syria, and they are still present" and would remain in the country "in accordance with the wishes" of its government, he told a news conference in Tehran. Baqaeil did not specify whether or not Iran would be increasing its forces in Syria in the wake of the lightning rebel offensive. His remarks come a day after Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with Assad in Damascus to show support for the Syrian president.

Toomaj Salehi, an Iranian rapper who was acquitted in court after being sentenced to death over his protest songs against the Islamic republic, was released from custody on December 1, a news agency linked to the judiciary reported. Mizan quoted the Isfahan judiciary as saying that “Salehi, sentenced to one year in prison for the crime of propaganda against the state, was released from prison after serving his sentence.” Salehi was sentenced to death by the Isfahan Revolutionary Court in May on a "corruption on Earth” charge, but the Supreme Court overturned the punishment. Salehi was arrested in October 2022 after making statements in support of protests that followed the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died in police custody for allegedly wearing her head scarf improperly. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, click here.

Russian warplanes have joined Syrian air forces to bomb Islamist-led rebels who had taken much of the northwestern city of Aleppo in the biggest challenge to President Bashar al-Assad’s rule in the battle-torn Middle East nation in several years.

Iran, meanwhile, said on November 30 that the rebels had attacked its consulate in Aleppo, calling it "aggression by terrorist elements," although it said there were no injuries and provided few details about the incident.

The Russian and Iranian foreign ministers expressed support for longtime ally Syria, according to Iranian state media, which quoted Iran's Abbas Araqchi as telling Russia's Sergei Lavrov in a call that the attacks were part of an Israeli-U.S. plan to destabilize the region.

The air strikes came a day after Islamists and their Turkish-backed allies breached Syria's Aleppo in a surprise offensive against forces of the Assad government. Reports on the ground said the rebels had captured much of the city, although details remained sketchy.

The Syrian military confirmed that rebels had entered Aleppo. It did not confirm the air attacks, but Russia's Defense Ministry said its air force carried out strikes on the rebels.

SEE ALSO:

Biden Hopes For End To Mideast Escalation After Israeli Strikes On Iran

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on November 29 that Russia regarded the rebels’ actions as a violation of Syria's sovereignty.

"We are in favor of the Syrian authorities bringing order to the area and restoring constitutional order as soon as possible," he said.

Reuters quoted two Syrian military sources as saying that Russian and Syrian warplanes had targeted rebel sites in an Aleppo suburb on November 30. The sources said the Kremlin has promised Syria extra military aid, expected to arrive within two to three days.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor, said the fighters, led by the Islamist extremist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) movement, took control of "half of the city of Aleppo," forcing government forces to pull back.

HTS in the past has had links to the Al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS) extremist groups, although many leaders reportedly split off from those organizations. It was formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusrah and the Al-Nusrah Front, which was Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria and has been deemed a terrorist organization by the UN and the United States.

In May 2018, the U.S. State Department added HTS to the Al-Nusrah Front's existing December 2012 designation as a foreign terrorist organization.

The rebels’ offensive began on November 27, prompting the Syrian military to close all main roads in and out of the city.

Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that the armed rebels had been preparing for the operation since September, but Turkey had so far prevented it from taking place.

The Aleppo violence breaks a pause in the Syrian civil war, which has been mainly quiet over the past four years.

The conflict involved the Assad government backed by Moscow and Tehran against Syrian-Kurdish rebels supported by the United States, while Turkey aided separate rebel groups. The U.S. military still has a number of troops deployed in Kurdish-held areas of Syria.

Terror organizations, including Islamic State, also were involved in fighting.

Russia, Turkey, and Iran signed an agreement in 2019 to freeze the conflict at then current positions.

The Syrian Observatory said at least 16 civilians were killed on November 30 when an air strike, likely carried out by Russian warplanes, hit Aleppo. It said the attack "targeted civilian vehicles" at an intersection, leaving an additional 20 people wounded.

This incident brings the total number of fatalities in the city over the past four days to 327.

SEE ALSO:

Cease-Fire Agreed By Erdogan, Putin Comes Into Effect In Syria’s Idlib

The British-based observatory compiles its information from battlefield sources and has been influential throughout the Syrian civil war.

Syria’s army command acknowledged that rebels had entered Aleppo. Rebels had previously controlled the city before being driven out by Russia-backed forces eight years ago.

"The large numbers of terrorists and the multiplicity of battlefronts prompted our armed forces to carry out a redeployment operation aimed at strengthening the defense lines in order to absorb the attack, preserve the lives of civilians and soldiers, and prepare for a counterattack," the Syrian Army said.

The fighting comes amid fears of a wider war in the Middle East.

Israeli forces in Gaza are battling extremists from Hamas – deemed a terrorist organization by the United States and the EU – and a cease-fire hangs in the balance in Lebanon, where Israel has struck the leadership of Hezbollah, also designated a terrorist group by Washington. The EU blacklists Hezbollah’s military arm but not its political wing.

Israeli attacks have also taken place against Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP

Iran and three European powers agreed to continue their dialogue "in the near future" after a meeting in Geneva as intelligence officials warned Tehran's nuclear proliferation poses a "critical threat" in the coming months.

Negotiators from Iran and the so-called E3 (Britain, France, and Germany) met in Switzerland to discuss a range of issues, including Iran's expanding nuclear program, its military support for Russia, and conflicts in the Middle East.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi wrote on X on November 29 that the talks in the Swiss city focused on the latest bilateral, regional, and international developments, "especially the nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions."

"We are firmly committed to pursuing the interests of our people, and our preference is the path of dialogue and engagement," Gharibabadi said.

Ahead of the meeting, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said it would be a “brainstorming session” to see “if there really is a way out” of the current nuclear impasse, among other issues.

Separately, the spy chiefs of Britain and France raised the alarm about Iran’s growing relationship with Russia and its accelerating nuclear program.

The meeting in Geneva came a week after the 35-member board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a censure resolution against Iran.

It also tasked the UN nuclear watchdog to prepare a “comprehensive and updated assessment” on the state of Iran’s expanding nuclear program, including past and present attempts to develop a bomb.

The report could pave the way for referring Iran’s case to the UN Security Council to trigger the so-called “snapback” mechanism to reimpose UN sanctions lifted under the terms of the 2015 agreement with world powers.

In response to the resolution, Iran said it would begin enriching uranium with thousands of advanced centrifuges at its key nuclear facilities in Fordo and Natanz, the IAEA announced on November 29.

The agency noted, however, that Iran would be enriching uranium to 5 percent purity -- even though it is enriching uranium with less advanced machines at 60 percent.

Richard Moore, head of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, known as MI6, said on November 29 that if Russia were to meet its Ukraine war objectives, “China would weigh the implications, North Korea would be emboldened, and Iran would become still more dangerous.”

He added that Iran’s nuclear ambitions were “a continued threat” -- a sentiment shared by Nicolas Lerner, head of France's foreign intelligence service.

"Our services are working side by side to face what is undoubtedly one of the threats, if not to say the most critical threat, in the coming months -- the possible atomic proliferation in Iran," Lerner said in Geneva.

With reporting by Reuters and AP

A former British soldier, whose prison escape sparked a massive manhunt in 2023, has been found guilty of passing on sensitive information to the Iranian intelligence service.

Prosecutors said that Daniel Abed Khalife, 23, played a "cynical game" by claiming he wanted to be a double agent for Britain after he had delivered a large amount of restricted and classified material to Iran, including the names of special forces officers.

The verdict was delivered at London's Woolwich Crown Court on November 28.

Prosecutor Mark Heywood told jurors at the start of the trial that Khalife collected sensitive information between May 2019 and January 2022.

Khalife stood trial charged with gathering information that might be useful to an enemy, namely Iran, obtaining information likely to be useful for terrorism.

Khalife, who was expelled from the army after he was charged, was also accused of planting fake bombs in his military barracks. But the court cleared him of a charge of carrying out a bomb hoax.

Khalife snuck out of a London prison in September 2023 while awaiting trial and spent three days on the run.

With reporting by AP

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi says his country may change its nuclear doctrine and develop a bomb if UN sanctions are reimposed on Tehran.

Speaking to reporters on November 28 in Lisbon, Portugal, Araqchi said Iran had long had the technical know-how to build a bomb but doing so "is not part of Tehran’s security strategy," according to Iranian media.

His comments come as negotiators from Iran and the E3 (Britain, France, and Germany) are scheduled to meet in Geneva to discuss a range of issues, including Iran’s nuclear program and conflicts in the Middle East.

Araqchi described the meeting on November 29 as a “brainstorming session” to see “if there really is a way out” of the current nuclear impasse.

The Geneva meeting is not billed as nuclear talks by any party but Iran’s atomic program is expected to be a central topic. Talks between Iran and world powers to restore the 2015 nuclear deal have stalled since September 2022.

Last week, the 35-member board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed a censure resolution against Iran and tasked the UN nuclear watchdog to prepare a “comprehensive and updated assessment” on the state of Iran’s expanding nuclear program, including past and present attempts to develop a bomb.

The report could pave the way for referring Iran’s case to the UN Security Council in a bid to trigger the so-called “snapback” mechanism to reimpose UN sanctions that had been lifted under the terms of the 2015 agreement with world powers.

In response to the resolution, Iran activated several “new and advanced” centrifuges to enrich uranium.

Araqchi said he was “not optimistic” about the Geneva talks because he was unsure whether Tehran was “speaking to the right party.”

The 2015 nuclear agreement began to unravel after President-elect Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the accord during his first term in office in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran. Tehran responded by expanding its nuclear program, limiting inspections of its nuclear sites, and enriching uranium to as high as 60 percent.

A U.S.-brokered deal to end hostilities in Lebanon is a significant win for Israel, which achieved its key war aims, experts say.

The cease-fire agreement that came into effect on November 27 ended nearly 14 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese armed group and political party.

Israel has eroded Hezbollah as a military power as well as a political and economic force in Lebanon.

Israel has also succeeded in decoupling Hezbollah's rocket and missile attacks on Israel from the Gaza war. The Iran-backed group had vowed to continue its attacks until Israel ended its ongoing yearlong war in the Palestinian enclave.

The truce will also end the presence of Hezbollah -- a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, although the EU has only blacklisted its armed wing -- in southern Lebanon, its stronghold. Israel, too, must withdrawal its ground forces from Lebanon.

"Israel got the deal it wanted," said Michael Horowitz, head of intelligence at the Bahrain-based Le Beck International consultancy.

"Some are arguing in Israel that it would have been better to continue the war and aim for Hezbollah's full defeat, but the deal Israel achieved is as good as it could have hoped for," he added.

Don't Underestimate Hezbollah

Israel's devastating aerial bombardment of Lebanon decimated Hezbollah's leadership and military arsenal.

But experts say it is too early to write off the group, which has representatives in parliament and retains support among the Shi'ite Muslim community in Lebanon.

"Hezbollah is now a shadow of its former self, but it remains dangerous -- both to Israel and its many opponents in Lebanon," said Matthew Levitt of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Still, the war has shattered the armed group's narrative that it is Lebanon's protector against Israel, experts say.

Hezbollah vowed to continue attacking Israel until it ended its war in Gaza. But the group was forced to drop that demand.

The Israel-Hezbollah conflict killed over 3,600 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and displaced over 1 million people. Large areas of southern Lebanon and parts of the capital, Beirut, lie in ruins.

"Not only was it not able to defend Lebanon, but it dragged it into a conflict for reasons outside of Lebanese interests, and now effectively gave up on this very narrative -- as it decoupled from Gaza," said Horowitz.

"The group will face a legitimacy crisis, and will have to re-invent itself, and it will have to do so with a far less intelligent and politically shrewd leadership at its helm," he added.

Hezbollah has not publicly commented on the cease-fire deal. But Hassan Fadlallah, a Lebanese lawmaker and member of Hezbollah, insists that the group will stay armed.

"A lot of political groups in Lebanon will oppose this," Assaad Bechara, a political analyst based in Lebanon, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda.

"Hezbollah will not be present in Lebanon's southern borders and will not face Israel, so their weapons will be aimed [at Lebanon]. Lebanon's transition phase will be very difficult and precarious."

The Iran Angle

Hezbollah has long been the crown jewel within Iran's loose network of regional allies and proxies known as the "axis of resistance." It also served as Iran's first and most formidable line of defense against Israel.

Iran will try to use the respite afforded by the cease-fire to help Hezbollah "rehabilitate and reestablish its rank and file," said Hamidreza Azizi, a fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.

Azizi added that Iran and its allies view the cease-fire agreement as a "temporary respite until the next phase of confrontation with Israel."

Under the terms of the cease-fire deal, thousands of Lebanese soldiers will be stationed in southern Lebanon along with a UN peacekeeping force. The United States will provide military support to the Lebanese Army and will ensure the implementation of the deal along with France.

The presence of the West will likely be a major source of concern for Iran, which has long exerted its influence in Lebanon through Hezbollah, experts say.

Tehran will see this as an attempt to bolster Hezbollah's domestic political rivals and "erode the potential for Hezbollah to remain active in Lebanese politics," Azizi said.

A cease-fire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah has come into effect in southern Lebanon after almost 14 months of fighting that triggered concerns of a wider conflict in the region.

After the cease-fire kicked off at 4 a.m. local time, the Israeli military warned civilians not to return to their homes in south Lebanon yet and not to approach Israeli positions.

However, convoys of civilians crossed into southern Lebanon, defying the both the Israeli warning and appeal by the Lebanese Army, which is set to deploy to the area to replace the Israeli forces.

Hezbollah is designated a terrorist organization by the United States and its military wing is blacklisted by the European Union.

The cease-fire was overwhelmingly approved by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, Netanyahu’s office said on November 26, marking a major development toward peace between Israel and Hezbollah militants.

The move was immediately welcomed by U.S. President Joe Biden, who said it represents a fresh start for Lebanon and shows that peace is possible after nearly 14 months of cross-border fighting that forced tens of thousands of Israelis to flee and killed thousands of Lebanese.

Netanyahu’s office said the plan was approved by a 10-1 margin. Earlier, Netanyahu defended the cease-fire agreement as he recommended his security cabinet adopt the plan, vowing to strike Hezbollah hard if it violates the deal.

In the hours leading up to the meeting, Israel carried out its most intense wave of strikes in Beirut and its southern suburbs and issued a record number of evacuation warnings, while Hezbollah said it launched drones toward Israel amid cross-border fire.

In a televised address, Netanyahu did not say how long the truce would last but noted that the length of the cease-fire "depends on what happens in Lebanon."

He added: "If Hezbollah violates the agreement and attempts to rearm, we will strike. If they try to renew terror activities near the border, we will strike. If they launch a rocket, dig a tunnel, or bring in a truck with missiles, we will strike."

The cease-fire marks the first major step toward ending the violence triggered by the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, by Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.

However, the truce will not apply directly to Israel's ongoing war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Shortly after the cease-fire took effect, Hamas said it was also "ready" for a truce.

Earlier, Netanyahu said on November 26 that Israel would now focus its efforts on Hamas and releasing the hostages seized by the militants on October 7.

"From Day 2 of the war, Hamas was counting on Hezbollah to fight by its side. With Hezbollah out of the picture, Hamas is left on its own," he said.

"We will increase our pressure on Hamas and that will help us in our sacred mission of releasing our hostages."

Biden said that Israel reserved the right to resume operations in Lebanon if Hezbollah breaks the terms of the truce.

"This is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities," Biden said at the White House shortly after Netanyahu announced the security cabinet approval of the truce. If any party breaks the terms of the deal, "Israel retains the right to self-defense."

He said that over the next 60 days civilians on both sides will be able to safely return to their own communities. The deal requires Israeli troops to withdraw from south Lebanon and Lebanon's army to deploy some 5,000 troops in the region, while Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the border south of the Litani River.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati welcomed the cease-fire and said it was a "fundamental step towards establishing calm and stability in Lebanon."

The war has killed at least 3,799 people in Lebanon since October 2023, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

On the Israeli side, the hostilities have killed at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians, authorities say.

The war in Lebanon escalated after nearly a year of limited cross-border exchanges of fire initiated by Hezbollah.

Separately, Syria's Defense Ministry said six people were killed in Israeli strikes on border crossings with Lebanon just after midnight on November 27, hours before the cease-fire took effect.

With reporting by AP and Reuters

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet has overwhelmingly approved a cease-fire deal with Hezbollah, Netanyahu’s office said on November 26, marking a major development toward peace between Israel and Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants.

The move was immediately welcomed by U.S. President Joe Biden, who said it represents a fresh start for Lebanon and shows that peace is possible after nearly 14 months of cross-border fighting that forced tens of thousand of Israelis to flee and killed thousands of Lebanese.

Netanyahu’s office said the plan was approved by a 10-1 margin. Earlier, Netanyahu defended the cease-fire agreement as he recommended his security cabinet adopt the plan, vowing to strike Hezbollah hard if it violates the expected deal.

In the hours leading up to the meeting, Israel carried out its most intense wave of strikes in Beirut and its southern suburbs and issued a record number of evacuation warnings.

In a televised address, Netanyahu did not say how long the truce would last but noted that the length of the cease-fire “depends on what happens in Lebanon."

He added: "If Hezbollah violates the agreement and attempts to rearm, we will strike. If they try to renew terror activities near the border, we will strike. If they launch a rocket, dig a tunnel, or bring in a truck with missiles, we will strike."

SEE ALSO:

Israel's Wars In Gaza And Lebanon Fray Relations With Europe

A cease-fire would mark the first major step toward ending the violence triggered by the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, by Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.

Biden said that, under the deal reached between Israel and Hezbollah, the cease-fire will take effect at 4 a.m. local time on November 27. He stressed that Israel reserved the right to resume operations in Lebanon if Hezbollah breaks the terms of the truce.

“This is designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities,” Biden said at the White House shortly after Netanyahu announced the security cabinet approval of the truce. If any party breaks the terms of the deal, “Israel retains the right to self-defense.”

He said that over the next 60 days civilians on both sides will be able to safely return to their own communities. The deal requires Israeli troops to withdraw from south Lebanon and Lebanon's army to deploy in the region, while Hezbollah would end its armed presence along the border south of the Litani River.

Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati welcomed the cease-fire and said it was a "fundamental step towards establishing calm and stability in Lebanon."

The cease-fire does not address the war in Gaza, but Biden said it deserves a cease-fire deal as well.

Netanyahu said Israel would now focus its efforts on Hamas militants and his top security concern, Iran.

"From day two of the war, Hamas was counting on Hezbollah to fight by its side. With Hezbollah out of the picture, Hamas is left on its own," he said.

"We will increase our pressure on Hamas and that will help us in our sacred mission of releasing our hostages."

SEE ALSO:

Lebanon's Armenians Face Painful Choice: Stay And Risk Death Or Flee

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said earlier that a cease-fire would save lives and livelihoods in Lebanon and in Israel.

“It will make a big difference in creating the conditions that will allow people to return to their homes safely in northern Israel and in southern Lebanon,” Blinken said at a briefing at the conclusion of a Group of Seven foreign ministers’ meeting in Fiuggi, Italy.

He said he also believed that de-escalating tension could help end the conflict in Gaza by letting Hamas know that it can’t count on other fronts opening up in the war.

“In terms of Gaza itself, I also think this can have a significant impact…. Because one of the things that Hamas has sought from day one is to get others in on the fight, to create multiple fronts, to make sure that Israel was having to fight in a whole series of different places,” Blinken said.

The war has killed at least 3,799 people in Lebanon since October 2023, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

On the Israeli side, the hostilities have killed at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians, authorities say.

The war in Lebanon escalated after nearly a year of limited cross-border exchanges of fire initiated by Hezbollah.

The Lebanese group said it was acting in support of Hamas after its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.

With reporting by AP and Reuters

Yemen's Huthi rebels have attacked international shipping and fired on U.S. naval forces in the Red Sea for over a year.

The Huthis' missile and drone attacks have disrupted a key global trade route and triggered retaliatory strikes by the United States and Britain.

Now, U.S. media reports suggest that Russia has been helping the rebels pick their targets -- most of them commercial ships owned or operated by Western companies or vessels heading to or coming from Israel.

Experts say Russia is expanding its cooperation with the Huthis, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization that is backed by Iran, including by sharing intelligence.

Moscow could even supply the Huthis with advanced arms in response to Washington loosening restrictions on Ukraine's use of U.S.-supplied weapons.

"It sends a message to the United States that Russia could make life very painful if it wants to, and it's a not-so-veiled threat that could be construed as retaliation for Washington's assistance to Ukraine," said Colin Clarke, director of policy and research at the New York-based Soufan Group intelligence consultancy.

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Who Are The Huthi Rebels And What Are Their Links To Iran?

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Enemy Of My Enemy

The Huthis have said their attacks on Western and Israeli targets in the Red Sea are in response to Israel's devastating yearlong war in the Gaza Strip.

The rebels have vowed to continue their attacks, which include direct missile and drone attacks on Israel, until a cease-fire is reached in the Palestinian enclave.

The Gaza war has pitted Israel against Iran's so-called axis of resistance, a loose network of state and nonstate actors that include the Huthis, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Shi'ite militias in Iraq and Syria.

Experts say Russia's support for the Huthis aligns with the Kremlin's narratives about opposing the West and empowering anti-Western armed groups globally.

"The Kremlin is interested in having friends who can test the nerves of Moscow's enemies in the Red Sea or anywhere in the Middle East," Ruslan Suleymanov, an academic and oriental studies expert, told Current Time.

He added Russia also wants to be seen supporting any group that "stands up to the West."

U.S. media reports and intelligence in recent months suggest that Russia is providing intelligence, including satellite data, to the Huthis to attack commercial ships in the Red Sea.

Since July, reports have said the Kremlin even threatened to transfer anti-ship missiles to the Huthis, but that the United States and Saudi Arabia dissuaded Russia.

Experts say that could change after Washington on November 17 reportedly allowed Ukraine to use longer-range U.S. Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to strike inside Russia.

"The Russian consideration of arming the Huthis has been directly related to what [Russian President] Vladimir Putin perceives as U.S. escalation against Russia in progressively loosening restrictions on Ukraine's use of U.S.-supplied weaponry," said Kenneth Katzman, former senior Middle East analyst for the U.S. Congress.

In addition to disrupting shipping in the Red Sea, Russia is reportedly using the Huthis to recruit fighters from Yemen to join the war against Ukraine. Moscow is also ensuring that Russian ships can safely transit the Red Sea.

The Huthis have wrested control of Yemen's northwest and Red Sea coastline since the country's devastating civil war erupted in 2014.

Boon For The Huthis

Experts say the Huthis stand to gain by expanding their relations with Russia.

Clarke of the Soufan Group said Russian intelligence helped the rebels more accurately target Western vessels in the Red Sea. It also shows that the Huthis are not an "uncontrollable gang of terrorists," he said.

"On the contrary, they are a rational actor, a highly capable organization that is becoming an even bigger player in the Middle East and doing so through asymmetric means," Clarke added.

Iran is the Huthis' main military backer, supplying them with weapons technology and missile components, according to U.S. intelligence.

Experts say the rebels would benefit significantly from Russian missile technology, which Katzman said was "far more precise and effective" than the arms provided by Tehran.

This could lessen the group's dependence on Iran, an ally of Russia.

"The Russian weaponry might even enable the Huthis to successfully strike U.S. and coalition warships, which could escalate the Red Sea conflict enormously, were the Huthis to actually strike a U.S. naval vessel," Katzman said.

The United Arab Emirates on November 25 disclosed the names of three suspects detained in the killing of a 28-year-old Israeli-Moldovan ultra-Orthodox rabbi saying they were Uzbek nationals.

The suspects were arrested a day earlier after the body of Zvi Kogan, who ran a Kosher grocery store in Dubai and was also a representative of the Orthodox Jewish group Chabad, was discovered by security services.

U.A.E. authorities identified the suspects as Mahmudjon Abdurahim, 28, Olimboi Tohirovich, 28, and Azizbek Kamilovich, 33, apparently giving patronymic names of the last two men instead their last names. They did not say if official charges have been filed against the suspects.

"Hate has no place in our world. Our thoughts are with his family, the Jewish community, and all who grieve. We are in contact with Israel and the U.A.E.," Moldovan President Maia Sandu said in a statement.

Kogan had been reported missing on November 22. His body was found later in the city of Al Ain.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the killing of Kogan, calling it a "heinous anti-Semitic terrorist act."

While Israeli officials have not publicly accused archrival Iran for the deadly attack, analysts noted that Tehran has been threatening retaliation against Israel for recent air strikes it carried out on Iranian soil after Iran launched a missile attack against Israel.

Tehran has denied any involvement in the murder of Kogan.

The Muslim-majority Gulf state with an overwhelmingly expatriate population prides itself on its safety, stability, and religious tolerance. The Chabad Hasidic movement is known for its outreach efforts worldwide.

The U.A.E. normalized relations with Israel in 2020 alongside Bahrain and Morocco in a series of U.S.-brokered agreements known as the Abraham Accords.

There is no figure for the number of Jews in the U.A.E., but an Israeli official has told AFP there were about 2,000 Israelis in the Gulf country, with the Jewish community estimated to be up to twice that figure.

The White House also condemned the killing on November 24.

"This was a horrific crime against all those who stand for peace, tolerance, and coexistence. It was an assault as well on U.A.E. and its rejection of violent extremism across the board," the White House said in a statement on November 24.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged crimes against humanity during the conflict in Gaza are "not enough." Khamenei told a gathering of the Basij volunteer corps on November 25 that the two Israeli leaders should face the death penalty. ICC prosecutor Karim Khan issued the warrant and judges said there were "reasonable grounds" to believe Netanyahu and Gallant "intentionally and knowingly deprived the civilian population in Gaza of objects indispensable to their survival" as part of a "widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population of Gaza." Israel has called the warrants "absurd." The current war in the Gaza Strip was sparked by an attack on Israel by Iran-backed Hamas, a group designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and the EU. Some 1,200 people died in the attack, with around 240 more taken hostage back to Gaza. To read the original story by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, click here.

Violence against women and girls is pervasive across the world, and often underreported.

Rampant physical, sexual, and psychological violence is part of what activists have called a global attack on women's rights.

Nowhere is that more apparent than in Afghanistan, where the Taliban has erased women from public life and severely restricted their fundamental rights.

Under the rule of the extremist group, Afghanistan has become the only country in the world where teenage girls are banned from attending school.

"I wanted to become a doctor and serve my country," Marzieh, a teenaged Afghan girl, told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. "I studied for nine years, but it was all for nothing. Now, I have ended up staying at home."

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Silenced But Not Forgotten: Women Under The Taliban

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No country has recognized the Taliban, which seized power in 2021. But a growing number of countries, including in the West, are cooperating with its government on trade, security-related issues, and immigration.

"If the world can look at what the Taliban are doing to women and girls and shrug and move on and focus instead on partnering with the Taliban on other issues, that says something incredibly damning about how little the rights of women and girls matter to global leaders," said Heather Barr, associate women's rights director at Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Under Taliban rule, there has been a surge in forced, early, and child marriages. The United Nations has said child marriages have increased by around 25 percent in the past three years in the country.

Rights groups have said a devastating economic and humanitarian crisis and the lack of educational and professional prospects for women have fueled the sharp uptick.

"I was married at 14, and I had my first child at 15," Shazia, a child bride, told Radio Azadi. "It was a daughter. I struggled a lot with her. I never thought I would survive. It was extremely difficult for me."

'Freedom To Choose'

In neighboring Iran, women are banned from many fields of study, sporting events, and from obtaining a passport or traveling outside the country without their husband's consent.

Women who violate the country's Islamic dress code, meanwhile, face fines and sentences of up to 10 years in prison.

A growing number of Iranian women have refused to wear the mandatory hijab, or Islamic head scarf, in defiance of the country's clerical establishment.

The hijab is a symbol of women's oppression in Iran, a 20-year-old woman inside the country told RFE/RL's Radio Farda.

"This piece of cloth represents a right that has been taken away from us," she said. "It is the freedom to choose what I want to wear."

The issue of the controversial hijab was central to the unprecedented protests that erupted across Iran in 2022. The demonstrations were triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who was arrested for allegedly violating the hijab law.

During the protests, women and girls removed and burned their head scarves.

The authorities waged a brutal crackdown on protesters and doubled down on their enforcement of the hijab.

Meanwhile, scores of women in Iran are killed by their male relatives each year -- including their husbands, fathers, and brothers -- in the name of preserving the family's "honor."

According to Stop Femicide Iran, an NGO based in New York, over 150 women were victims of femicide in Iran in 2023.

Political Will

Gender-based violence is pervasive even in countries where women do not face restrictions in their appearances, freedom of movement, and right to work or study.

The UN estimated in 2023 that a woman was killed every 10 minutes by her partner or family member. Almost one in three women experiences violence at least once in her lifetime, according to the world body.

In Kosovo, at least 58 women have been killed in cases of femicide in the past 14 years.

Erona, a 20-year-old, was killed in April, almost a year after she got divorced. Her ex-husband is accused of murdering her.

Erona's mother, Milihatja, believes her daughter suffered years of domestic violence.

"She would come home and tell me that she would never return to him, but something would happen and she would go back," she told RFE/RL's Kosovo Service.

In Bosnia-Herzegovina, a man live-streamed on Instagram the killing of his ex-wife before eventually turning the gun on himself.

The killing in August 2023 triggered shock and outrage, and underscored the issue of violence against women in the Balkan country.

Maida, who lives in the country's northeast, divorced and reported her abusive husband around a year ago.

"He came and grabbed me by the neck. My children saw it and started to cry. I told them ‘I'm OK,' but then he slapped me," Maida told RFE/RL's Balkan Service.

Then, she said, her husband threatened to kill her and their children. "I know what he's capable of, and I decided to go to the police and report him," she said.

Eventually, she managed to get a restraining order. But she still does not feel safe. "He can come at any time of the day and do what he imagined in his head," she said.

Experts say gender-based violence is preventable and addressing the issue often comes down to political will.

"These are not mysterious unsolvable problems -- they just require that governments be genuinely committed to upholding the rights of women and girls and that they put in place the resources, systems, and expertise needed to do so," said Barr of HRW.