The Israeli military launched strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon on Monday, Lebanese state media reported, after warning it would hit what it called Hezbollah and Hamas targets in four villages.

It was the first such warning issued by the Israeli military this year, as Israel continues to strike targets in Lebanon despite a ceasefire with Hezbollah.

CAIRO, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Israel killed at least two Palestinians including a girl, and wounded four others including other children, in an airstrike on Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday, officials at the city's main Nasser Hospital said.

The Israeli military said the strike, carried out in an area controlled by Hamas, had targeted a Hamas militant who was planning to attack Israeli troops in southern Gaza.

By Parisa Hafezi

DUBAI, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Iran's efforts to quell a wave of anti-government protests have been complicated by Donald Trump's threat to intervene on their side, a warning firmly underlined by the subsequent U.S. capture of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, officials and insiders said on Monday.

CAIRO, Jan 5 (Reuters) - An Israeli military spokesperson issued on Monday an evacuation order for two villages in southern Lebanon ahead of a strike.

(Reporting by Menna Alaa El-Din and Muhammad Al GebalyEditing by Gareth Jones)

By Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro's capture by the United States has deprived Vladimir Putin of an ally and could increase U.S. "oil clout", but Moscow is eying potential gains from President Donald Trump's division of the world into spheres of influence.

Special Forces seized Maduro only eight months after the Russian president agreed a strategic partnership with his "dear friend", and Trump said the U.S. was taking temporary control of Venezuela, which has the world's biggest oil reserves.

Australia's defending Dakar Rally motorbike champion Daniel Sanders moved into the overall lead after winning Monday's second stage in Saudi Arabia.

The 31-year-old covered the 518km route from Yanbu to Al Ula in 4hrs 13mins 37 seconds to cross the line 1min 35s clear of KTM teammate Edgar Canet, who lost time with a couple of minor crashes.

American Ricky Brabec, the 2024 winner, completed the day's podium for Honda.

Jan 5 (Reuters) - U.S.-mediated talks between Syria and Israel have resumed after an interruption of several months, Syria's state news agency SANA reported on Monday, with Damascus seeking withdrawal of Israeli troops from territory seized after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

SANA, citing a Syrian government source, said the Syrian delegation was led by Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani and intelligence chief Hussein al-Salama. The resumption of the talks reflects a push by Damascus to reclaim what it describes as its non-negotiable national rights, the source said.

Destroyed and looted in the early months of Sudan's war, the national museum in Khartoum is now welcoming virtual visitors after months of painstaking effort to digitally recreate its collection.

At the museum itself, almost nothing remains of the 100,000 artefacts it had stored since its construction in the 1950s.

Only pieces too heavy for looters to haul off, like the massive granite statue of the Kush Pharaoh Taharqa and frescoes relocated from temples during the building of the Aswan Dam, are still present on site.

Iran will offer no leniency to "rioters", though the public has a right to demonstrate, the head of the country's judiciary said on Monday, following more than a week of sometimes-deadly protests.

The remarks came after US President Donald Trump warned Iran would "get hit very hard by the United States" if the authorities killed more demonstrators.

Protests erupted on December 28 when shopkeepers in capital Tehran staged a strike over high prices and economic stagnation. They have since spread to other cities and expanded to include political demands.

ANKARA, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Turkey's foreign minister will stress the "strategic priority" of maintaining security in the Black Sea at a summit on Ukraine in Paris this week, a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said on Monday.

French President Emmanuel Macron convened a meeting of the "Coalition of the Willing" on Tuesday. The group, led by Britain and France, includes more than 30 nations.

The source said Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan would attend the meeting and would repeat Turkey's position on the need for "results-oriented" steps to end the war.