By Timour Azhari

QARDAHA, Syria, Dec 30 (Reuters) - He carried no weapons and helped keep government security forces alive, but Khairallah Dib still needed a promise of amnesty to come out of hiding.

He had been lying low for weeks after Alawite fighters staged a March insurrection against Syria’s new Islamist-led rulers. The uprising by loyalists of ousted President Bashar al-Assad killed more than 200 Syrian security forces and triggered days of vengeance.

ISTANBUL, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Turkish police detained 110 suspects in an operation against Islamic State on Tuesday, a day after three police officers and six militants were killed in a gunfight in northwest Turkey, the Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office said.

Police conducted an eight-hour siege at a house in the town of Yalova, on the Sea of Marmara coast south of Istanbul, a week after more than 100 suspected IS members were detained in connection with alleged plans to carry out Christmas and New Year attacks.

Revellers around the world toasted the start of 2026 on Thursday, bidding farewell to a volatile year when temperatures soared, US President Donald Trump upended global trade, and the brutal conflict in Ukraine raged on.

While a fragile truce took hold in devastated Gaza, violence in Sudan continued unabated. A new American pope was installed at the Vatican, the world lost pioneering zoologist Jane Goodall, and Labubu dolls sparked a worldwide frenzy.

Iranian students staged street protests in Tehran on Tuesday, a day after the capital's shopkeepers demonstrated against economic hardship and won a message of understanding from the president.

According to Ilna, a news agency associated with Iran's labour movement, protests erupted at 10 universities across the country, including seven in Tehran that are among the country's most prestigious.

Protests also broke out at the technology university in the central city of Isfahan and institutions in the cities of Yazd and Zanjan, Ilna and state-run IRNA reported.

Dec 29 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trumpand his top advisers asked Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuto change Israel's policies in the occupied West Bank during their meeting, Axios said on Monday.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.

International pressure has been mounting on Israel to curb settlers' attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank. Home to 2.7 million Palestinians, the West Bank has long been at the heart of plans for a future Palestinian state alongside Israel.

The UAE said Tuesday it was pulling its remaining forces out of Yemen, following a Saudi demand to withdraw within 24 hours as tensions escalate over a sweeping offensive by Abu Dhabi-backed separatists.

The United Arab Emirates' defence ministry said it was withdrawing "counter-terrorism teams...of its own volition". Abu Dhabi had denied being behind the separatists' advance.

Yemen's presidential council and Saudi Arabia, the UAE's rival powerbroker in the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country, have both demanded Emirati troops pull out.

By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Israel defended on Monday its formal recognition of the self-declared Republic of Somaliland, but several countries at the United Nations questioned whether the move aimed to relocate Palestinians from Gaza or to establish military bases.

Israel became the first country to recognize Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state on Friday.

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Boeing was given an $8.6 billion contract for the F-15 Israel Program, the Pentagon said on Monday, after U.S. President Donald Trump met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida.

"This contract provides for the design, integration, instrumentation, test, production, and delivery of 25 new F-15IA aircraft for the Israeli Air Force with an option for an additional 25 F-15IA aircraft," the Pentagon said.

US President Donald Trump will receive Israel's highest civilian honor in 2026, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Monday that his country will break with decades of tradition to recognize a non-citizen.

Speaking after a cordial Florida meet-up with Trump, Netanyahu said the move reflected "overwhelming sentiment" in Israel in appreciation of the US president's support for the country.

By Andrea Shalal and Kanishka Singh

PALM BEACH, Florida, Dec 29 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not agree fully on the issue of the Israeli-occupied West Bank but the Republican leader did not lay out what the disagreement was.

In a briefing after a meeting with Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump was asked if he had a message for Netanyahu about the West Bank and if he was concerned that settler violence in the West Bank could undermine peace.