The Times of Israel liveblogged Saturday’s events as they happened.
The US military says it carried out multiple strikes in Syria targeting the Islamic State militant group.
“The strikes today targeted ISIS throughout Syria,” US Central Command says in a statement, adding the strikes were carried out early afternoon US Eastern Time.
The statement does not note whether anyone was killed in the strikes.
An IDF officer was found dead in central Israel earlier today, the military says.
The Military Police has launched an investigation into the circumstances of his death, and the findings will be forwarded to the Military Advocate General for review once it concludes.
The IDF says the family has been notified.
New videos posted online after nightfall purport to show fresh protests in a number of areas across Iran.
The new protests appear to be taking place in several neighborhoods in the capital Tehran, as well as other cities, including Rasht in the north, Tabriz in the northwest and Shiraz and Kerman in the south.
In one video verified by AFP, fireworks were set off over Tehran’s Punak Square as demonstrators banged pots and shouted slogans in support of the Pahlavi rulers ousted after the 1979 Islamic revolution.
A nationwide internet blackout has made it difficult to assess the full extent of the unrest.
Iran: a protester raises the Iranian opposition flag in the
Yousef Abad district of Tehran. pic.twitter.com/fqwccJx28m— Thomas van Linge (@ThomasVLinge) January 10, 2026
The IDF says troops shot and ‘neutralized’ an assailant who attempted to ram soldiers in the Haret al-Sheikh neighborhood of Hebron.
According to the military, forces in the area opened fire after the suspect tried to run them over.
Arab media reports that the assailant was injured, and that IDF troops are preventing Palestinian first responders from reaching the scene.
No soldiers were wounded in the incident.
اصابة شاب بادعاء محاولته تنفيذ عم،لية دهس في مدينة الخليل #عاجل https://t.co/QAjFeIyb0H pic.twitter.com/7hyDbP9zYj
— وكالة قدس نت للأنباء (@qudsnet) January 10, 2026
The IDF has drawn up plans to launch renewed intensive military operations in Gaza in March, with an offensive targeting Gaza City aimed at pushing the Yellow Line ceasefire demarcation west toward the coast of the enclave, further expanding the IDF’s control of the territory, an Israeli official and an Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel.
The Arab diplomat says that the operation won’t be able to go forward without the support of the US, which is still trying to advance the fragile ceasefire reached in October 2025 to a second phase that includes Hamas’s disarmament.
While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed during his meeting with Trump last month to cooperate with efforts to advance the ceasefire, he does not believe that they will be successful in disarming Hamas and has accordingly directed the IDF to prepare for a contingency plan, the Arab diplomat says.
On the first day of the ceasefire on October 10, Israeli forces pulled back to the Yellow Line, leaving them in control of roughly 53 percent of the Strip. The Gaza City operation planned for March would see Israel build on that percentage, the Israeli official and Arab diplomat say.
Some details of this planned offensive were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
A 15-year-old boy has been shot and killed in Nazareth, northern Israel.
According to Ynet, the boy was shot after receiving a phone call from someone who asked him to step outside. He was then shot upon leaving his house.
He was taken to the Italian Hospital in Haifa, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
An investigation has been opened into the circumstances of his death.
The IDF says it is investigating reports of an attempted ramming attack against Israeli troops in the Haret al-Sheikh neighborhood of Hebron.
In an initial statement, the military says a report was received of a vehicle attempting to ram IDF soldiers in the area. It says that the incident is under review and details are still being examined.
There is no immediate word on casualties or whether the suspected attacker was apprehended or neutralized.
The Trump administration has held “preliminary discussions” on plans for a potential attack on Iran, The Wall Street Journal reports, after US President Donald Trump’s repeated threats to strike the Islamic Republic should the regime kill protesters — which it is reported to have done.
Citing unnamed sources, the Journal reports that the discussions have focused on which sites, if any, should be targeted. It says one option on the table is to launch a “large-scale aerial strike” against Iranian military targets.
It notes, however, that there is no indication of an “imminent attack” on Iran, and no equipment or personnel have been moved.
Argentina has halted its plans to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem, Channel 12 reports, due to “tension” between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Argentine President Javier Milei in recent weeks.
According to the report, tensions arose due to plans to carry out offshore drilling by the Israeli-owned Navitas Petroleum company in the Falkland Islands.
The Falkland Islands are a British overseas territory, although Argentina claims that it, not the United Kingdom, has sovereignty over the islands.
In December, Argentina criticized Navitas and UK firm Rockhopper for announcing what it said was an “illegitimate” oil drilling project worth roughly $2.1 billion off the coast of the Falkland Islands.
The drilling is expected to begin in 2028.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar attempted to communicate to Argentina that the Israeli government was not involved in, and had no control over, Navitas’s operations, given that it is a public company.
Channel 12 cites anonymous sources close to Milei as saying that not only has the disagreement effectively halted the relocation of the embassy, but risks harming relations between Buenos Aires and Jerusalem, which have grown close following Milei’s election in 2023.
The Foreign Ministry tells Channel 12, in response to its request for comment, that Argentina under Milei “is one of Israel’s best and closest friends, and there is ongoing and close contact between the leadership of Israel and Argentina.”
Noting Sa’ar’s previous comments on the issue, the Foreign Ministry adds that the matter “will continue to be discussed between parties.”
“Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!” Trump posts on his Truth Social network without elaborating further.
He has several times threatened to strike Iran if the regime kills protesters, as has been reported over the past two weeks.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence wing says it has arrested a foreigner suspected of spying for Israel, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reports.
It does not reveal the nationality of the arrested individual.
Protests have spread across Iran since December 28 in response to soaring inflation and quickly turning political, with protesters demanding an end to clerical rule.
Authorities accuse the US and Israel of fomenting unrest.
A protester briefly replaced the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran on its London embassy with the former flag, flown before 1979, during a demonstration today, witnesses tell AFP.
A video posted to social media shows a man on the balcony of the embassy, near Hyde Park, replacing the country’s current flag with the one used during the rule of the ousted shah to cheers from hundreds of demonstrators below.
The old tri-colored flag with a lion and sun — used in Iran before the Islamic revolution — stayed in place for several minutes before being removed, witnesses on site tell AFP.
???? Breaking: The flag of Iran's embassy in London was replaced with the lion and sun flag ????
— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) January 10, 2026
The IDF says it killed three “terrorists” in separate incidents across the Gaza Strip today after they crossed the Yellow Line and approached Israeli troops, posing what the military describes as an “immediate threat.”
According to the army, forces from the 188th Armored Brigade operating in southern Gaza identified three suspects who breached the ceasefire line. One of the suspects allegedly attempted to steal IDF equipment before fleeing, and was later killed in an air force strike on the Hamas-controlled side of the Yellow Line.
In two additional incidents in northern Gaza, troops from the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade and the Jerusalem Brigade identified other suspects who had also crossed the Yellow Line and moved toward Israeli forces. The soldiers opened fire, killing two of them, the IDF says.
The military says its Southern Command forces remain deployed in the area in accordance with the existing terms of the ceasefire and will continue to act to remove any immediate threat.
US President Donald Trump shares a tweet from US Senator Lindsey Graham in which he warns that the “brutality” being carried out against protesters in Iran “will not go unchallenged.”
Trump shares Graham’s post on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Graham, a South Carolina Republican, had written that the Trump administration “was not the Obama administration when it comes to standing up to the Iranian ayatollah and his religious Nazi henchmen, and standing behind the people of Iran protesting for a better life.”
“To the regime leadership: your brutality against the great people of Iran will not go unchallenged,” added Graham.
Trump has warned several times that Washington will strike Iran if the Islamic Republic kills protesters, as mass demonstrations have swept the country over the past two weeks.
Rights groups in Iran say that 51 protesters have been killed since people first took to the streets on December 28. However, an anonymous Tehran doctor cited by TIME magazine said Saturday that 217 protester deaths, “most by live ammunition,” were registered in six hospitals in the city as of Thursday night.
European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen says Europe backs the Iranians’ mass protests and condemns the “violent repression” against the demonstrators.
“Tehran’s streets, and cities around the world, echo with the footsteps of Iranian women and men demanding freedom. Freedom to speak, to gather, to travel and above all to live freely. Europe stands fully behind them,” von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, posts online.
“We unequivocally condemn the violent repression of these legitimate demonstrations. Those responsible will be remembered on the wrong side of history,” she adds.
Mississippi authorities say a person is in custody after six people were killed in a series of related shootings earlier today in the eastern part of the southern US state.
Clay County Sheriff Eddie Scott says in a Facebook post that “multiple innocent lives” were lost “due to violence” in the town of West Point, near the Alabama border. The sheriff told WTVA that six people were killed in three locations.
A suspect is in custody and there was no threat to the community, the sheriff writes on Facebook.
“I ask that you lift our victims and their families in your prayers. Law Enforcement is busy investigating and will release an update as soon as possible,” he says.
The sheriff’s office does not provide further details early Saturday, but planned a morning news conference.
Syrian authorities have begun transferring Kurdish fighters from Aleppo’s Kurdish-majority Sheikh Maqsud neighborhood to the country’s northeast, state television reports, after days of deadly clashes.
“Fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces who announced their surrender at the Yassin Hospital were transported by bus to the city of Tabaqa under the supervision of the interior ministry,” state television reports, referring to the Kurdish-led force.
An AFP correspondent saw at least four buses carrying fighters leaving Sheikh Maqsud, accompanied by security forces.
Iran’s attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, warns that anyone taking part in protests will be considered an “enemy of God,” a death penalty charge.
The statement carried by Iranian state television says even those who “helped rioters” would face the charge.
“Prosecutors must carefully and without delay, by issuing indictments, prepare the grounds for the trial and decisive confrontation with those who, by betraying the nation and creating insecurity, seek foreign domination over the country,” the statement reads. “Proceedings must be conducted without leniency, compassion or indulgence.”
The social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has replaced the Iranian flag emoji on its site from the current Islamic Republic flag to the old Shah-era lion and sun flag, as the wave of intense protests in Iran continues.
The change was sparked by an X user reaching out to one of the social media platform’s executives, Nikita Bier, and asking that they change the flag icon. Bier quickly responded: “Give me a few hours.”
A few hours later, the Shah-era flag was all over the site, and since it retroactively replaced all previous uses of the flag emoji in usernames, it led to a brief period where Iran’s official government accounts had the lion and sun flag next to their names instead of the current one.
BREAKING: Iran's Foreign Ministry Department spotted using the protestor's "Lion and Sun" flag emoji. pic.twitter.com/YOBAro2HYb
— Polymarket (@Polymarket) January 9, 2026
After the change went viral, Iran’s official accounts removed the flag emoji from their pages and replaced it with their crescent and sword national emblem, which is depicted in the center of the Islamic Republic’s flag.
The change comes as the last Shah of Iran’s son, Reza Pahlavi, has emerged as a central figure of the current wave of protests against the Islamic Republic, spurring general strikes and mass demonstrations from exile.
ALEPPO, Syria — Kurdish forces deny the government’s claim that it was halting military operations in Aleppo’s Sheikh Maqsud neighborhood, where the two sides have clashed for days.
In a statement, Kurdish forces call Damascus’ announcement “a blatant attempt to mislead public opinion,” saying their fighters were still repelling a “fierce attack.”
The Syrian army says it would suspend all military activities in Aleppo’s Sheikh Maksoud district starting 3 p.m. local time (1200 GMT) today and expel Kurdish fighters to the city of Tabqa, state news agency SANA reports.
Aleppo Governor Azzam al-Gharib says that the clashes in the northern Syrian city’s Kurdish-majority neighborhoods have displaced around 155,000 people.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has put Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on a higher state of alert than it was during its war with Israel last year, officials from the Islamic Republic tell The Telegraph as the country enters its 14th day of widespread protests.
“The leader has ordered the Sepah [IRGC] to remain on the highest level of readiness – even higher than during the June war,” a senior Iranian official tells The Telegraph.
“He is in closer contact with the IRGC than with the army or the police, because he believes the risk of IRGC defections is almost non-existent, whereas others have defected before. He has placed his fate in the hands of the IRGC.”
Iranian officials say underground “missile cities” have also been activated to deal with foreign threats.
One official dismissed a report earlier in the week that Khamenei has plans to flee to Moscow if an uprising threatens the regime. “He will not leave Tehran even if B-52s are flying overhead.”
Six Israelis are injured, including one critically, in a serious car accident in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, the Passportcard travel insurance company says.
Medics, assisted by the Magnus Search and Rescue group, are taking those hurt to a nearby hospital, according to the company.
Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces say that attacks by Syrian government troops in Syria’s Aleppo were backed by Turkish drones.
There is no immediate comment from Turkey.
PARIS, France — Iranian authorities are using the “most blatant tools of repression” to crack down on mass protests, two prize-winning filmmakers say in a joint statement, calling a more than 36-hour internet shutdown an attempt to mask abuses.
“Experience has shown that resorting to such measures is intended to conceal the violence inflicted during the suppression of protests,” Mohammad Rasoulof and Jafar Panahi say on the Instagram account of Pahani, who won the top prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warns that safeguarding security was a “red line,” as the clerical establishment stepped up efforts to quell the most widespread protests in years.
In a statement broadcast by state TV, the IRGC accuses terrorists of targeting military and law enforcement bases over the past two nights, killing several citizens and security personnel, and saying property had been set on fire.
Safeguarding the achievements of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and maintaining security was “a red line,” it adds, saying the continuation of the situation was unacceptable.
Police arrest seven anti-government protesters outside the home of Education Minister Yoav Kisch in Hod Hasharon, the Walla news site reports.
The protesters, dressed in Qatari garments and waving cash, were protesting the government over the Qatargate scandal, which centers on allegations that close advisers in the Prime Minister’s office were paid to further Doha’s interests.
Police were called after complaints of noise and violations of public order, Walla reports.
After protesters ignored calls to leave, seven activists were arrested, the report says.
שוטרים מעכבים מפגינים מול ביתו של קיש
צילום: בני משי pic.twitter.com/3xXlw515Pw— הארץ חדשות (@haaretznewsvid) January 10, 2026
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela is set to hold talks with US envoys in Caracas on restoring diplomatic ties, days after US forces deposed Nicolas Maduro as its president.
Venezuela said Friday it had launched discussions with US diplomats in the capital, the latest sign of cooperation following the leftist leader’s capture and US President Donald Trump’s claim to be “in charge” of the South American country.
Officials say the US envoys were in Caracas to discuss reopening the country’s embassy, while in Washington, Trump met with oil companies over his plans to access Venezuela’s huge crude reserves.
The government of interim President Delcy Rodriguez “has decided to initiate an exploratory diplomatic process with the government of the United States of America, aimed at re-establishing diplomatic missions in both countries,” Foreign Minister Yvan Gil says in a statement.
John McNamara, the top US diplomat in neighboring Colombia, and other personnel “traveled to Caracas to conduct an initial assessment for a potential phased resumption of operations,” a US official says on customary condition of anonymity.
Venezuela says it would reciprocate by sending a delegation to Washington.
Rodriguez, in a statement, condemns “the serious, criminal, illegal and illegitimate attack” by the United States and vowed: “Venezuela will continue to confront this aggression through the diplomatic route.”
Iran’s army vows to safeguard the country’s national interests, strategic infrastructure and public property, amid widespread anti-government protests.
It also urges citizens in a statement to be vigilant to thwart what it calls “the enemy’s plots” as the protests continue.
PARIS, France — A “nationwide internet blackout” implemented by the Iranian authorities as protesters take to the streets has now been in place for 36 hours, monitor Netblocks says.
“After another night of protests met with repression, metrics show the nationwide internet blackout remains in place at 36 hours,” it says in a post on X.
⚠️ Update: It's now 8:00 am in #Iran where the sun is rising after another night of protests met with repression; metrics show the nationwide internet blackout remains in place at 36 hours, severely limiting Iranians' ability to check on the safety of friends and loved ones ???? pic.twitter.com/OYqJLsxKUK
— NetBlocks (@netblocks) January 10, 2026
An anonymous Tehran doctor tells TIME magazine that 217 protester deaths were registered in just six hospitals in the city ater anti-regime rallies on Thursday night, “most by live ammunition.”
The reported killing in the capital is much higher than the at least 51 killed confirmed by human rights groups in the anti-regime demonstrations, which began on December 28.
TIME says they are unable to independently verify figures by rights groups.
ALEPPO, Syria — The Syrian army says that it has completed a “security sweep” of a neighborhood in Aleppo where its forces have clashed with Kurdish fighters.
“We announce the completion of a full security sweep of the Sheikh Maqsud neighborhood in Aleppo,” the army says in a statement carried by state media, while warning residents to stay in their homes. AFP correspondents in Aleppo said shelling could still be heard after the announcement.
Exiled Iranian Prince Reza Pahlavi calls for two more nights of demonstrations against the Islamic Republic’s regime, and urges civil servants to join nationwide strikes, in a Farsi video statement.
Pahlavi commends the “courage and resilience” of protesters after Iranians flooded the streets on Thursday and Friday nights, urging protesters to continue to cripple the regime’s ability to control the burgeoning uprising.
Turning to the country’s key workers in the transportation and energy sector, Pahlavi encourages Iranians to again take to the streets at 6 p.m. tonight and Sunday to protest the Islamic Republic.
“Our goal is no longer just to take to the streets. The goal is to prepare to seize and hold city centers,” Reza Pahlavi says, adding he was also “preparing to return to my homeland” in a day he believed was “very near.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issues a short statement on X in support of Iranian protesters.
“The United States supports the brave people of Iran,” he says.
The United States supports the brave people of Iran
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) January 10, 2026
The United States says that Iran’s foreign minister is “delusional” after he accused Israel and Washington of fueling the protests that have swept the Islamic Republic.
“This statement reflects a delusional attempt to deflect from the massive challenges the Iranian regime faces at home,” a US State Department spokesperson says in response to the comments by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during a visit to Lebanon.
US Senator Lindsey Graham welcomes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comments that he won’t seek a full renewal of the 10-year military assistance package due to expire in 2028, and that Israel could forgo the billions in subsidies it receives a year to purchase American weapons systems.
“The aid we have provided to Israel has been a great investment keeping the IDF strong, sharing technology, and making their military more capable — to the benefit of the United States,” Graham, a South Carolina Republican, writes on X. “Apparently there is a desire by Israel to change that dynamic because they have a roaring economy.”
Citing Netanyahu’s remarks and expressing his appreciation of “allies who are trying to be more self-sufficient,” Graham continues, “We need not wait ten years.”
“The billions in taxpayer dollars that would be saved by expediting the termination of military aid to Israel will and should be plowed back into the US military, which is the best in the world and in great demand,” he says.
Graham adds: “We have no better ally than Israel. Their future is tremendously important to America at many levels. These billions need to be recouped as soon as possible so we can help meet President Trump’s $1.5 trillion national budget goal for our military, an idea I support because of the numerous conflicts we face and the changes in warfare.”
He also says that in his role as head of the Senate Appropriates Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, “I will be presenting a proposal to Israel and the Trump administration to dramatically expedite the timetable.”
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks out against a pro-Hamas protest last night in Queens.
“As I made clear, the rhetoric and displays that we saw and heard in Kew Gardens Hills last night are wrong and have no place in our city,” Mamdani says in a statement shared by his spokesperson with The Times of Israel.
“My team is in close touch with the NYPD regarding last night’s protest and counterprotest. We will continue to ensure New Yorkers’ safety entering and exiting houses of worship as well as the constitutional right to protest,” Mamdani says.
US President Donald Trump — who has made no secret of his wish to take control of Greenland, a Danish territory — says he will deal with the issue head-on.
“I would like to make a deal, you know, the easy way. But if we don’t do it the easy way, we’re going to do it the hard way,” Trump says at a White House meeting with oil executives.
Trump says controlling the mineral-rich island is crucial for US national security, given the rising military activity of Russia and China in the Arctic.
Protesters in Tehran are heard chanting, “Neither Gaza nor Lebanon, my life for Iran,” during a demonstration against the regime attended by thousands.
The slogan is seen as an expression of opposition to what protesters view as Iran’s government prioritizing foreign causes over domestic needs.
Tehran protesters were heard chanting "Neither Gaza nor Lebanon, my life for Iran" during nighttime protests in Pasdaran Avenue, north of the capital, on Friday night. pic.twitter.com/tPpYTHfwXD
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) January 9, 2026
