Iran’s supreme leader on Sunday backed the government’s decision to raise gasoline prices and called angry protesters who have been setting fire to public property over the hike “thugs,” signaling a potential crackdown on the demonstrations.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s comments came as authorities shut down the internet across Iran to smother the protests in some two dozen cities and towns over the rise of government-set prices by 50% as of Friday.

Anti-government protesters in Iraq have closed some roads in response to a call for a strike from an influential cleric.

The protesters are also trying to expand their presence in the Iraqi capital further after seizing control of a strategic square in central Baghdad.

The Israeli military says it has arrested a man who crossed its northern border from Lebanon.

It added that the Lebanese national was being held for questioning.

Paris police fired tear gas on Saturday to push back yellow vest protesters trying to revive their movement on the first anniversary of the sometimes-violent uprising against President Emmanuel Macron and policies seen as favoring the rich.

Police deployed in force around Paris and detained 24 people around the capital by mid-morning. Officers dislodged protesters trying to block the bypass around Paris and sprayed repeated volleys of tear gas at groups gathered near Porte de Champerret, in the northwest, and Place d’Italie in the southeast of the city.

Tourists and residents have been allowed back into St. Mark’s Square in Venice, a day after it was closed due to exceptionally high tidal waters that swept through most of the lagoon city’s already devastated center.

Despite sunny skies, the city remained on edge Saturday due to possibly more wind-propelled high tidal waters during the weekend. The city was struck Tuesday by devastating floods, the worst in decades.

Iranian authorities abruptly raised fuel prices by up to 50% and imposed fuel rationing overnight on Friday, leaving many Iranians angered amid an already plunging economy.

Across the capital, Tehran, long lines of cars waited for hours at pumping stations following the changes in energy policy, which state media announced around midnight without any prior warning to the public.

Syrian President Bashar Assad says the American presence in Syria will lead to armed “resistance” that will eventually force the U.S. troops to leave.

Assad spoke in an interview with Russia24 TV and Rossiya Segodnya news agency that was broadcast on Friday.

Israel says it has completed a series of airstrikes on targets linked to the Islamic Jihad militant group in Gaza after rocket fire that rattled a day-old truce.

The military statement early on Friday indicates that Israel is willing to abide by the cease-fire if there are no additional rocket attacks.

Major roads around Lebanon have been reopened after a two-day closure triggered by a TV interview with President Michel Aoun in which he called on protesters to go home.

The roads linking Beirut with the country’s south and north were opened shortly before noon Thursday, as well as others around the country.

Barely four months into his tenure, Defense Secretary Mark Esper is making his second trek across the Pacific. And yet it is the Middle East - most recently a near-war with Iran and an actual war in Syria - that in Washington commands more attention and demands more American troops.

Esper's Asia visits illustrate the central feature of a revamped U.S. defense strategy: Focus first on China as a threat to U.S. global predominance, rather than remain bogged down in a generation-long fight against extremist groups.