DAMASCUS (Reuters) -Syria's Islamist-led government said its internal security forces began deploying in Sweida on Saturday as the presidency called on all parties to respect a ceasefire following bloodshed in the predominantly Druze area that has left hundreds dead.

In a statement, the Syrian presidency announced an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire and urged all parties to commit to it and end hostilities in all areas immediately.

(Reuters) -The Democratic Republic of Congo and the M23 rebel group signed in Qatar on Saturday a declaration of principles to end fighting in eastern Congo.

The declaration was signed between representatives from both sides in Doha.

(Reporting by Menna Alaa El-Din; Editing by Aidan Lewis)

ISTANBUL (Reuters) -Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a phone call that the conflict in Syria needs to end immediately, a Turkish foreign ministry source said on Saturday.

Fidan said that he supports the constructive role the United States is playing in Syria and Turkey is ready to work with it to achieve a lasting end to the conflict, the source said.

By Jasper Ward

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A federal judge blocked on Friday the enforcement of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order targeting those who work with the International Criminal Court.

The ruling follows an April lawsuit by two human rights advocates challenging Trump's February 6 order authorizing potentially far-reaching economic and travel sanctions on people who work on ICC investigations of U.S. citizens or U.S. allies, such as Israel.

By Timour Azhari, Suleiman Al-Khalidi and Maya Gebeily

DAMASCUS/BEIRUT (Reuters) -Syria's government misread how Israel would respond to its troops deploying to the country's south this week, encouraged by U.S. messaging that Syria should be governed as a centralized state, eight sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Israel carried out strikes on Syrian troops and on Damascus on Wednesday in an escalation that took the Islamist-led leadership by surprise, the sources said, after government forces were accused of killing scores of people in the Druze city of Sweida.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Another 10 hostages will be released from Gaza shortly, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday, without providing additional details.

Trump made the comment during a dinner with lawmakers at the White House, lauding the efforts of his special envoy Steve Witkoff. Israeli and Hamas negotiators have been taking part in the latest round of ceasefire talks in Doha since July 6, discussing a U.S.-backed proposal for a 60-day ceasefire.

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Israel has declined to renew the visa for Jonathan Whittall, the senior U.N. aid official for the occupied Palestinian territories, a U.N. spokesperson said on Friday, adding there were intensifying threats of reduced access to suffering civilians.

(Reuters) -U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack said on Friday that Israel and Syria have agreed to a ceasefire supported by Turkey, Jordan and neighbors.

On Wednesday, Israel launched airstrikes in Damascus, while also hitting government forces in the south, demanding they withdraw and saying that Israel aimed to protect Syrian Druze - part of a small but influential minority that also has followers in Lebanon and Israel.

LONDON (Reuters) -Four pro-Palestinian activists will stand trial in 2027 charged with breaking into a British military air base and damaging two planes in protest against Britain's support for Israel.

The four are accused of breaking into a Royal Air Force base in Oxfordshire in central England on June 20 and spraying red paint over two Voyager aircraft used for refuelling and transport. Campaign group Palestine Action said it was behind the incident.

LONDON (Reuters) -Egyptian real estate tycoon Hisham Talaat Moustafa on Friday won his bid to throw out a London lawsuit brought against him by a former kickboxing world champion for ordering the murder of a Lebanese pop star in 2008.

Talaat Moustafa, CEO of Talaat Moustafa Group, was convicted in Egypt of paying a former police officer to stab Suzanne Tamim, 30, to death at her luxury apartment in Dubai.