Syrians began fleeing an area east of Aleppo city on Thursday after the army gave civilians a deadline to leave amid fears of an escalation in clashes with Kurdish forces.

The government is seeking to extend its authority across the country following the ouster of longtime leader Bashar al-Assad a year ago.

On Sunday, government troops took full control of Aleppo city over the weekend after capturing two Kurdish-majority neighbourhoods.

By Jonathan Spicer

ISTANBUL, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Turkey is opposed to any military intervention in Iran and its priority is to avoid destabilisation there, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Thursday, as Tehran continues its crackdown on protests.

With Iran's leadership trying to quell the worst domestic unrest the Islamic Republic has ever faced, and with U.S. President Donald Trump's repeated threats to intervene on behalf of the protesters, Tehran has warned its neighbours including Turkey that it would hit American bases if Washington were to strike.

By Jonathan Spicer

ISTANBUL, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Turkey's foreign minister said on Thursday he hopes problems in neighbouring Syria can be resolved peacefully but the use of force by the government in Damascus could be an option after recent clashes with Kurdish fighters.

Five days of fighting in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo last week killed at least 23 people, according to Syria's health ministry, while more than 150,000 fledthe two Kurdish-run pockets of the city.

By John Irish

PARIS, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Huge protests in Iran have galvanised exiled foes of the authorities but despite their hatred of the ruling clerics, a bitter schism dating to before the 1979 Islamic Revolution still afflicts the leading opposition factions.

That split, between monarchists supporting Reza Pahlavi, son of the ousted shah, and a more organised leftist group, the Mujahedin-e Khalq, has played out online and even in angry arguments in street protests in Europe and North America.

The United States on Thursday said Iran halted 800 executions of protesters under pressure from President Donald Trump, after Gulf allies appeared to pull him back from military action over Tehran's deadly crackdown on demonstrations.

Iran was shaken over the last week by some of the biggest anti-government protests in the history of the Islamic republic, although the demonstrations appear to have diminished over the last few days in the face of repression and a week-long internet blackout.

ANKARA, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Turkey plans to deploy fighter jets to Estonia and Romania as part of NATO's enhanced air policing missions, the defence ministry said on Thursday.

Turkey plans to conduct a four-month deployment in Estonia between August and November 2026, followed by another rotation in Romania from December 2026 to March 2027, the ministry said in its weekly press briefing.

Turkey has contributed significantly to NATO’s air policing operations aimed at protecting allied airspace during peacetime, the ministry added.

RIYADH, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia has announced a slew of development projects across southern Yemen worth about $500 million, many in areas long-held by the United Arab Emirates and allied separatistswho were routed in a Saudi-backed offensive this month.

PARIS, Jan 15 (Reuters) - President Emmanuel Macron convened an emergency defence cabinet in Paris on Thursday to discuss U.S. President Donald's Trump's stated intent to acquire Greenland and the forceful crackdown on nationwide protests in Iran.

In an overnight message on X, Macron said a first group of French military personnel were already headed to Greenland to participate in an exercise organised by Denmark and Greenland, an overseas Danish territory.

The crisis meeting, confirmed by a French official, was scheduled to begin at 0700 GMT.

WASHINGTON/DUBAI, Jan 15 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said he had been told that killings in Iran’s crackdown on protests were easing and that he believed there was no current plan for large-scale executions, adopting a wait‑and‑see posture after earlier threatening intervention.

Iranian state media on Thursday reported that a 26-year-old man arrested during the protests in the city of Karaj would not be given the death sentence, after a rights group reported earlier this week that he was due to be executed on Wednesday.

By Mikhail Flores

MANILA, Jan 15 (Reuters) - The Philippines and Japan signed two defence pacts on Thursday, including a deal allowing their forces to exchange supplies and services, with both countries seeking to strengthen security cooperation in response to rising regional tensions.

The Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement, designed to enable the swift provision of supplies and services between their militaries, comes months after a landmark Reciprocal Access Agreement between two of Washington's closest Asian allies took effect.