By Erin Banco, Jonathan Landay and Matt Spetalnick

NEW YORK, Jan 27 (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence reports have raised doubts about whether interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez will cooperate with the Trump administration by formally cutting ties with U.S. adversaries, four people familiar with the reports said in recent days.

U.S. officials have said publicly they want the interim president to sever relations with close international allies like Iran, China and Russia, including expelling their diplomats and advisers from Venezuela.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to end all US support for Iraq if Nouri al-Maliki, a former prime minister with ties to Iran, returns to the post.

Trump, in his latest blatant intervention in another country's politics, said that Iraq would make a "very bad choice" with Maliki, who has been nominated as prime minister by the largest Shiite bloc.

"Last time Maliki was in power, the Country descended into poverty and total chaos. That should not be allowed to happen again," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

By Humeyra Pamuk

WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump on Tuesday warned Iraq against picking Nouri al-Maliki as its prime minister, saying the United States would no longer help the Middle Eastern country.

"I'm hearing that the Great Country of Iraq might make a very bad choice by reinstalling Nouri al-Maliki as Prime Minister," Trump wrote on Truth Social.

By Pesha Magid

JERUSALEM, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Israel has cleared land in southern Gaza for the construction of a camp for Palestinians potentially equipped with surveillance and facial recognition technology at its entrance, a retired Israeli general who advises the military said on Tuesday.

Retired reservist Brigadier-General Amir Avivi told Reuters in an interview that the camp would be built in an area of Rafah cleared of tunnels built by Hamas, with entry and exit tracked by Israeli personnel.

TEL AVIV, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Israeli President Isaac Herzog will meet the families of victims of the Bondi Beach shooting and members of the Australian Jewish community during a visit to the country next month, his office said on Tuesday.

The attack targeted a Jewish Hanukkah celebration in December, killing 15 people in Australia's worst mass shooting in decades.

"President Herzog will visit Jewish communities across Australia to express solidarity and offer strength to the community in the aftermath of the attack," his office said in a statement.

BRUSSELS, Jan 27 (Reuters) - The EU is expected to sanction some 20 Iranian individuals and entities under its human rights rules this week but is not expected to add Iran's Revolutionary Guards to its terrorist list due to opposition from France, officials said on Tuesday.

European Union foreign ministers will discuss the situation in Iran when they gather in Brussels on Thursday, and are expected to sign off on the new sanctions.

Jan 27 (Reuters) - Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in a phone call that Tehran always welcomes any process, within the framework of international law, that prevents war, Iranian media reported on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Jaidaa Taha, Menna Alaa El-Din and Parisa HafeziEditing by Gareth Jones)

QAMISHLI, Syria, Jan 27 (Reuters) - With Syria's Islamist-led government bearing down on Kurdish forces, residents of their last major enclave are on alert, mindful of last year's violence against other minority groups and determined to preserve their self-rule.

In the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli in the northeast, a mechanic, a storekeeper, and a student were among those taking part in a nighttime volunteer patrol this week, vowing to defend their area and putting little faith in a shaky ceasefire.

With Gaza's vital Rafah border crossing expected to soon reopen, residents of the war-shattered territory are hoping to reunite with family members, or are looking to leave themselves.

The Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt is the Palestinian territory's only gateway to the outside world that does not lead to Israel and is a key entry point for both people and goods.

It has been closed since Israeli forces took control of it in May 2024, except for a limited reopening in early 2025, and other bids to reopen failed to materialise.

Jan 27 (Reuters) - The Syrian government hopes to hold new round of integration talks with Kurdish forces as early as today, a Syrian government official told Reuters on Tuesday.

The talks would focus on practical ways to implement an agreement mediated by the United States this month, the official said. On Saturday, a four-day ceasefire between the Syrian government and Kurdish forces was extended by 15 days.

(Reporting by Maya Gebeily)