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;)

Protesters rallied for a second day in Turkey's main cities on Thursday to demand an end to a deadly Syrian army offensive against Kurdish fighters in Aleppo, an AFP correspondent said.

Several hundred people gathered in Diyarbakir, southeastern Turkey's main Kurdish-majority city, while hundreds more joined a protest in Istanbul that was roughly broken up by riot police who arrested around 25 people, the pro-Kurdish DEM party said.

By Olivia Le Poidevin, Nidal al-Mughrabi and Rami Ayyub

GENEVA/CAIRO/JERUSALEM, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Israel said on Thursday it had barred entry to Gaza of foreign medical and humanitarian staff whose organisations were ordered to cease operations unless they register employee details with Israeli authorities and meet other new rules.

Chinese and Iranian warships were docked off South Africa's main navy base Thursday ahead of exercises that officials said were also meant to involve Russia.

The January 9-16 "Will for Peace" drill hosted by South Africa risks further straining its ties with the United States, which is in dispute with many of the countries taking part.

AFP journalists saw two Chinese ships in Cape Town's False Bay harbour on Wednesday, joined by an Iranian vessel on Thursday.