The U.N. rights chief on Tuesday criticized the detention of dozens of U.N. staff by Yemen's Houthis, calling on the Houthi authorities to release them "immediately and unconditionally".

"My colleagues in Yemen remain arbitrarily detained -- one since Nov 2021, subjected to ill-treatment, facing fabricated espionage charges for his human rights work," Volker Turk said on X, calling on the Houthi authorities "to release our human rights & humanitarian workers immediately & unconditionally".

Clashes erupted between Syrian security forces and Kurdish fighters on Monday as top Turkish officials visited Damascus ahead of a deadline to implement a deal between the government and Kurdish-led forces in the country's northeast.

Syria's state-run SANA news agency reported that two civilians were killed and 15 were wounded by shelling, and that dozens of families fled two neighborhoods of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, which has seen previous outbreaks of violence.

Yemen's internationally recognized government and the Iran-backed Houthi group have reached an agreement to free around 2,700 detainees held throughout the war in Yemen, according to Saudi and Houthi officials.

Saudi Ambassador Mohamed AlJabir said in a statement on X that the agreement was signed under the supervision of the Office of the UN Special Envoy for Yemen and the International Committee of the Red Cross, "which will enable all detainees to return to their families."

London police on Tuesday arrested Swedish activist Greta Thunberg at a demonstration in support of pro-Palestinian hunger strikers, Palestinian activist groups said.

"Greta Thunberg was arrested under the Terrorism Act at the Prisoners for Palestine lock-on protest," Prisoners for Palestine said in a statement.

A former close aide to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that immediately following the October 2023 Hamas attack that triggered Israel's two-year war in Gaza, the Israeli leader instructed him to figure out how the premier could evade responsibility for the security breach.

Former Netanyahu spokesperson Eli Feldstein, who faces trial for allegedly leaking classified information to the press, made the explosive accusation during an extensive interview with Israel's Kan news channel Monday night.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday said his government would invite Israel's president to visit, after a mass shooting in Sydney targeting the Jewish community.

"Prime Minister Albanese advised President (Isaac) Herzog that, upon the recommendation of the Australian government, the Governor-General of Australia will issue an invitation in accordance with protocol to President Herzog to visit Australia as soon as possible," said a post on the leader's X account.

Attallah Tarazi recently received Christmas presents that included socks and a scarf to shield him against the Gaza winter, and he joined some fellow Palestinian Christians in a round of hymns.

"Christ is born," the group sang in Arabic. "Hallelujah."

Israeli bulldozers tore through a four-storey building in east Jerusalem on Monday, leaving scores of Palestinian residents unsure where to go after their doors were broken down in the middle of the night by authorities enforcing hasty evictions.

The building was the latest in a series of residential structures to be razed as Israeli officials target what they describe as unauthorized construction in the city's annexed east -- a campaign that local Palestinian officials characterized as a "systematic policy" to displace residents.

Political factions in Iraq have been maneuvering since the parliamentary election more than a month ago to form alliances that will shape the next government.

The November election didn't produce a bloc with a decisive majority, opening the door to a prolonged period of negotiations.

A high-level Turkish delegation is set to meet Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus Monday, Turkey's foreign ministry announced.

Both countries have developed close ties since the toppling of longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad late last year, and the visit by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Defense Minister Yasar Guler allows for a "general assessment" of relations, a ministry source told AFP.