JERUSALEM, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he would not retire from politics if he receives a pardon from the country's president in his years-long corruption trial.

Asked by a reporter if planned on retiring from political life if he receives a pardon, Netanyahu replied: "no".

Netanyahu last month asked President Isaac Herzog for a pardon, with lawyers for the prime minister arguing that frequent court appearances were hindering Netanyahu's ability to govern and that a pardon would be good for the country.

As city after city fell to a lightning rebel offensive in Syria last December, Iranian forces and diplomats supporting Bashar al-Assad saw the writing on the wall, abandoning the longtime ruler days before his ousting, sources told AFP.

During Syria's civil war, which erupted in 2011 following the government's brutal repression of pro-democracy protests, Iran was one of Damascus's biggest backers, sending Assad military advisers and forces from its Revolutionary Guards.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sunday he expected the second phase of the US-sponsored ceasefire plan for Gaza to begin soon, and said he would meet President Donald Trump this month.

The truce, in effect since October 10, has halted the war that began after Hamas's deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.

But it remains delicate as Israel and Hamas accuse each other of violations.

JERUSALEM, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he will meet President Donald Trump later this month, saying a second phase of the U.S. president's Gaza plan was close.

The meeting will discuss possible opportunities for peace and an end to the Palestinian militant group Hamas's rule in the enclave, he said during a joint press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Coach Ehab Abu Jazar is guiding a national team that carries on its shoulders all the hopes and sorrows of Palestinian football, but it is his mother, forced by war to live in a Gaza tent, who is his main inspiration and motivation.

The war that broke out following Hamas's attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 put an end to Palestinian league matches, and left athletes in exile fearing for their loved ones in Gaza.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz reaffirmed Berlin's support for Israel during a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem on Sunday before talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Merz flew into Israel the day before for his first trip to the country since traditionally solid ties between the two nations were shaken by the Gaza war.

DUBAI, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Fifty-five Iranians deported from the United States will return to their home country in the coming days, Iran's foreign ministry said on Sunday, in the second such deportation under President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.

In September, officials said the U.S. had identified about 400 Iranians to be deported, with a first flight carrying 120 people making its way to Tehran via Qatar's capital.

Christmas cheer returned to the traditional birthplace of Jesus Christ on Saturday as Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank lit up a tree for the first time since the war in Gaza began over two years ago.

Covered in red and gold baubles, the Christmas tree standing metres away from the Church of the Nativity on Manger Square has become a symbol of hope.

At the end of a two-hour ceremony, the tree was illuminated to cheers, its yellow lights twinkling and a bright red star on top shining against the clouded night sky irradiated by a luminescent, almost full moon.

Hundreds of people demonstrated on Saturday in the Tunisian capital against the government under the slogan "opposition is not a crime", calling for the release of jailed activists.

The rally in Tunis was called after the recent arrests of three opposition figures convicted of "conspiracy" against the state.

Tunisia emerged from the Arab Spring era of revolts as a democracy but, after Saied staged a sweeping power grab in 2021, rights groups have criticised a major rollback on freedoms.

By Alexander Cornwell

BETHLEHEM, West Bank, Dec 6 (Reuters) - A giant Christmas tree adorned with red and gold baubles stands in the West Bank city of Bethlehem for the first time since 2022.

The Palestinian city, revered by Christians as the birthplace of Jesus, had refrained from public Christmas celebrations over the past two years as war raged in Gaza.

But as a precarious ceasefire in Gaza enters its second month, the city held a ceremony on Saturday night, lighting up the 20-metre tree at the edge of Manger Square.