Jan 9 (Reuters) - Kurdish councils in Syria's Aleppo said on Friday they would not evacuate neighbourhoods under their control as part of a ceasefire deal to end days of fighting between Kurdish forces and Syrian government fighters.

In a statement published by Syrian Kurdish outlets, the local councils of the Ashrafiyah and Sheikh Maksoud districts said calls to leave Aleppo were "a call to surrender" and that Kurdish forces would instead "defend their neighbourhoods".

(Reporting by Orhan Qereman; Writing by Maya Gebeily; Editing by Alison Williams)

By Parisa Hafezi

DUBAI, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Iran was largely cut off from the outside world on Friday after authorities blacked out the internet to curb expanding protests, with phone calls not reaching the country, flights cancelled and online Iranian news sites only intermittently updating.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused protesters of acting on behalf of U.S. President Donald Trump, saying rioters were attacking public properties and warning that Tehran would not tolerate people acting as "mercenaries for foreigners".

Jan 9 (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei will give a speech in a few minutes on "the terrorist actions" in the country, Iranian state TV reported on Friday, as protests over economic hardships continued around the country.

(Reporting by Pariza Hafezi;Editing by Alison Williams)

Iranians staged their biggest protests yet of an almost two week movement sparked by anger over the rising cost of living, chanting slogans including "death to the dictator" and setting fire to official buildings, videos showed Friday.

Internet monitor Netblocks said authorities had imposed a total connectivity blackout late Thursday and added early Friday that the country has "now been offline for 12 hours... in an attempt to suppress sweeping protests".

PARIS, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Iran's authorities must show maximum restraint towards protesters who have a legitimate right to demonstrate, a French diplomatic source said on Friday.

A nationwide internet blackout was reported in Iran on Thursday, internet monitoring group NetBlocks said, as protests over economic hardships continued around the country.

"We deplore the deaths of several protesters and call on the Iranian authorities to fully investigate the circumstances surrounding these deaths," the source said.

DUBAI, Jan 9 (Reuters) - With Iran's anti-government unrest evolving rapidly and foreign pressure mounting, the clerical establishment appears unable, for now, to tackle what has become a crisis of legitimacy at the heart of the Islamic Republic.

The demonstrations, which began in Tehran last month, have spread to all of Iran's 31 provinces but have yet to reach the scale of the 2022-3 unrest sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini while in detention for allegedly violating Islamic dress codes.

Syria's army renewed strikes on a Kurdish district of Aleppo on Friday after fighters from the minority refused to leave in defiance of a ceasefire that sought to halt days of fighting.

The government and Kurdish forces have traded blame over who started the violence in Syria's second city on Tuesday as they struggle to implement a deal to merge the Kurds' de facto autonomous administration and military into the country's new government.

GOLDEN VALLEY, Minnesota, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Iran's economy is facing high inflation and other challenges, partly due to U.S. sanctions, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday, underscoring Washington's concerns about Tehran cracking down violently on anti-regime protests.

"The Iranian economy is on the ropes," Bessent told the Economic Club of Minnesota, underscoring President Donald Trump's warning to Tehran to avoid harming protesters.

By Jonathan Stempel

Jan 8 (Reuters) - A federal judge dismissed on Thursday a lawsuit demanding the U.S. government conduct emergency rescues of Palestinian Americans and family members who are trapped in Gaza and trying to escape hardships caused by the war between Israel and Hamas.

Jan 8 (Reuters) - Yemen's Saudi-backed presidential leadership council has dismissed Defence Minister Mohsen al-Daeri in the internationally recognised government, the state news agency Saba reported on Thursday.

The move comes amid a fast-moving crisis in Yemen that erupted last month when United Arab Emirates-backed separatists swept through parts of the south, including the port city of Aden, advancing to within reach of the Saudi border.

(Writing by Enas Alashray in Cairo;)