Syria deploys troops after reports of Alawite massacres

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A man who climbed up the tower housing Big Ben in London and waving a Palestinian flag early Saturday morning descended after a 16-hour standoff with security and emergency services.

The man who initially insisted he would descend "on his own terms," eventually came down via a cherry picker. Local media reported he shouted "free Palestine."

Westminster Police said in a late-night statement that the man has now been arrested. "This has been a protracted incident due to the specifics of where the man was located and the need to ensure the safety of our officers, the individual and the wider public," the police said.

Police closed the Westminster Bridge and deployed negotiators who engaged with the protester throughout the day.

In an Instagram video, negotiators pointed out the injury on the foot of the barefoot protester, saying there is "quite a lot of blood" and that his clothes were not warm enough for dropping temperatures after sunset.

A small group of supporters gathered near the police cordon, chanting pro-Palestinian slogans.

Videos on social media showed the man scaling a fence earlier near the Houses of Parliament without any security intervention. Authorities are reviewing security protocols in light of the breach.

More than 1,000 people have died in two days of clashes between Syrian security forces and allied forces and supporters of ousted President Bashar Assad, according to a war monitoring group.

This marks one of the deadliest episodes in Syria's 14-year conflict.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported deaths in more than 20 locations across the Latakia, Tartus, and Hama governorates.

It stated that, in addition to 745 civilians killed, mostly in close-range shootings, 125 government security force members and 148 militants affiliated with Assad were killed.

Assad was overthrown last December after decades of dynastic rule by his family, marked by severe repression and a devastating civil war.

The Observatory noted that most of the civilians killed were from the country’s Alawite religious minority.

A group of 56 freed Israeli hostages called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fully implement the Gaza ceasefire deal and prevent a return to war.

"We who have experienced the inferno know that a return to war is life-threatening for those still left behind," the group said in a letter posted on social media platform Instagram.

"Implement the agreement in full, in one single manoeuver."

Among those to sign the letter was Yarden Bibas, whose wife and two young sons were killed while held captive in Gaza.

Family members of those who still remain captive joined the call.

"The war could resume in a week ... Only an agreement that brings them all at once will ensure their return," said Einav Zangauker, the mother of Matan Zangauker, a hostage still held in Gaza.

"Netanyahu has turned my son Matan and other hostages into pawns in his political game of chess," she added.

"How can the remaining hostages be abandoned after witnessing the horrific conditions of those who returned and hearing their Holocaust-like testimonies?" Zangauker said.

Omri Lifshitz, whose father's remains were returned last month in a hostage-prisoner swap under the ceasefire deal, also had harsh words for the Israeli prime minister.

"Netanyahu, if you restart the war, hostages will die because of you. Their blood will be on your hands," Lifshitz said.

Some 251 hostages were taken by Hamas and Palestinian militants during the 2023 terror attack on Israel. A total of 58 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military has said are dead.

Meanwhile, Netanyahu's office said it will send a delegation to Doha, Qatar on Monday to "advance negotiations" on the ongoing ceasefire. 

A Hamas delegation met with truce mediators in Cairo, to discuss the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire. The group said there were "positive" signs.

The first phase of the Gaza ceasefire ended on March 1 after six weeks of relative calm. While Israel has said it wants to extend the first phase until mid-April, Hamas has insisted on a transition to the second phase, which could lead to a permanent end to the war.

"The efforts of the Egyptian and Qatari mediators are ongoing to complete the implementation of the ceasefire agreement," Hamas spokesperson Abdel Latif Al-Qanoua said in a statement.

"The indicators are positive regarding the start of negotiations for the second phase," he added.

Al-Qanoua noted the "necessity of obligating the mediators to ensure Israel implements the agreement," adding that "Hamas affirms its readiness to begin negotiations for the second phase to meet the demands of our Palestinian people."

Hamas is deemed a terrorist group by the US, Israel and several other countries.  

France, Germany, Italy and the UK said they support an Arab-backed plan for the reconstruction of Gaza.

The plan, with a price tag of $53 billion (€50.5 billion), would avoid displacing Palestinians from their territory.

It comes after US President Donald Trump floated a widely condemned proposal to turn the Gaza Strip into what he called "the Riviera of the Middle East" and displace its residents.

"The plan shows a realistic path to the reconstruction of Gaza and promises — if implemented — swift and sustainable improvement of the catastrophic living conditions for the Palestinians living in Gaza," the foreign ministers of the four countries said in a joint statement.

Under the proposal, Gaza would be governed by a reformed Palestinian Authority.

"We explicitly support the central role for the Palestinian Authority and the implementation of its reform agenda," according to the statement.

France, Germany, Italy and the UK also supported the call for the removal of Hamas, which is recognized as a terrorist organization by several countries, including the US and the EU.

"Hamas must neither govern Gaza nor be a threat to Israel anymore," the joint statement said.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected any negotiations with the US, a day after US President Donald Trump threatened military action against Iran.

"Some bully governments -- I really don't know of any more appropriate term for some foreign figures and leaders than the word bullying -- insist on negotiations," Khamenei told officials.

"Their negotiations are not aimed at solving problems, they aim at domination," Khamenei said. 

Trump said on Friday that he had written a letter to Iran's supreme leader, urging new talks on the country's nuclear program or face possible military action if it refuses.

The Iranian government said it had not yet recieved the letter. 

During Trump's first term as president from 2017 to 2021 he withdrew the US from a landmark deal between Iran and the West, which had placed strict limits on Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.

After Trump pulled out of the deal in 2018, the US re-imposed sanctions on Iran, as part of the so-called maximum pressure campaign. Trump's return to power has seen a return to this policy on Iran.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told AFP in an interview on Friday that Tehran would not negotiate under "maximum pressure."

A French foreign ministry statement condemned all violence in Syria targeting "civilians because of their faith, and prisoners."

The statement called on Syria's new authorities "to ensure that independent investigations can shed light on these crimes, and that the perpetrators are sentenced."

The French government said it stilll supported aa peaceful and inclusive political transition in Syria, "free from foreign interference, that guarantees the preservation of Syria's ethnic and sectarian pluralism," adding that this is the only way to prevent the country from descending into fragmentation and violence.

Syrian security forces were deployed in the Alawite heartland on the Mediterranean coast.

The move was an attempt to restore order, after the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that government and allied forces killed more than 500 civilians from the Alawite religious minority in recent days.

The killings came after deadly clashes broke out on Thursday between Syria's new authorities and gunmen loyal to toppled president Bashar Assad, himself an Alawite.

Syria's official SANA news agency reported that security forces had deployed to Latakia, as well as Jableh and Baniyas farther south.

Defence ministry spokesman Hassan Abdul Ghani said security forces had "reimposed control" over areas that had seen attacks by Assad loyalists.

"It is strictly forbidden to approach any home or attack anyone inside their homes," Ghani said.

Latakia province security director Mustafa Kneifati said that "sedition or the targeting of any component of the Syrian people" would not be allowed.

"We will not tolerate any acts of revenge under any circumstances," he told SANA.

The Observatory reported that the deployment of reinforcements had brought a "relative return to calm" in the region.

Hundreds of civilians from Syria's Alawite minority have reportedly been killed in reprisals carried out by troops loyal to the country's transitional government.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that at least 532 Alawite civilians in Syria have been killed "by security forces and allied groups." 

It came after fighters loyal to ousted President Bashar Assad on Thursday fought in clashes against Syrian government forces in coastal regions of the country. Assad, who is now believed to be in Russia, is a member of the Alawite sect.   

The clashes represent one of the deadliest acts of violence since Syria's conflict began 14 years ago.

Germany has called for an end to the "spiral of violence." France has also condemned the violence and urged independent investigations into the crimes.