The Guardian reports that Sky News journalist Alex Crawford and her camera crew have been deliberately targeted by the Syrian government and repeatedly shot at while reporting on the regime’s assault on the province of Idlib. Crawford said she and the other four people in her team came under intense bombardment on Thursday when a Syrian military drone spotted them in the town of al-Habit. The area in the Idlib countryside is in a buffer zone between opposition and government forces and is meant to be battle-free. “We were spotted by a military drone and then repeatedly shot at with what we believe were 125mm shells probably fired from a T-72 Russian battle tank,” Crawford said. “As we retreated to leave the area, the targeting of us continued.”

Reuters reports that on Thursday, firefighters battled wildfires that scorched swathes of forests in central Israel, forcing some small towns to be evacuated, during a heatwave that brought record temperatures to parts of the country. Rescue efforts focussed on a wooded area between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, where ground teams and airplane tankers fought back the flames for hours. By nightfall, the fires were mostly under control, according to police.

The BBC reports that the Egyptian authorities have released dozens of high school students detained for several hours after protesting against a new electronic exam system. Students had gathered outside schools in a number of provinces, saying their futures were being jeopardised. Egypt has insisted students take final exams on tablet devices. But the students said technical issues and poor internet connection stopped them accessing the tests. They eventually had to sit them on paper. Their protest gatherings – which reportedly took place in cities including Cairo, Suez, Gharbia and Ismailia – soon evolved into skirmishes with police. “Security forces started beating the girls. When the boys intervened to protect their female schoolmates, they got slapped, punched and kicked. All the students were then taken to police custody,” human rights lawyer Maha Ahmed told the BBC.

The Financial Times reports that Saudi Arabia will defer demand for payments for oil shipments from cash-strapped Pakistan as Riyadh seeks to cement regional alliances against a backdrop of escalating tension with Iran. Pakistan finance official Abdul Hafeez Shaikh announced on Wednesday evening that Saudi Arabia would postpone demand for payments of $275m a month for the next three years, totalling $9.6bn.

The Guardian reports that UK Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has confirmed that the government has negotiated a loophole in a German arms export ban to Saudi Arabia that will ensure UK-supplied planes will continue to be used in the war in Yemen. The news is contained in two unpublished letters from cabinet ministers to the parliamentary Committee on Arms Export Controls (CEAC). The aircraft, Tornado fighter bombers and Eurofighter Typhoons, are used in the Saudi bombing raids designed to push back the Houthi rebellion in the four-year civil war in Yemen. The aircraft were developed by consortiums of European companies and Germany supplies spares for them. In his letter, Hunt explained that the German government extended its freeze for six months on 28 March but: “There will be a partial exemption for joint European programmes and their connected licences until the end of December 2019. I am pleased the German government has listened to our request to ensure the spares for the existing Typhoon and Tornado aircraft in Saudi Arabia may now continue to be licensed.” In the other letter, Liam Fox, the International Trade Secretary, wrote to the CAEC saying he feared the ban would have had “a potentially damaging impact on UK relations with Saudi Arabia”.

Reuters reports that according to the Omani Foreign Minister, Oman is trying “with other parties” to reduce tensions between the United States and Iran. The tweet cited Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, the sultanate’s minister responsible for foreign affairs, who met on Monday in Tehran with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. “There is a danger that a war breaks out, hurting the whole world … Both parties, the American and the Iranian, are aware of the danger,” the tweet cited the Omani minister as saying in an interview with an Arabic publication.

Reuters reports that on Thursday that US President Donald Trump said he did not think additional US troops are needed in the Middle East to counter Iran, casting doubt on a Pentagon plan to bolster forces in the region. “I don’t think we’re going to need them. I really don’t,” Trump told reporters. “I would certainly send troops if we need them.” If needed, “we’ll be there in whatever number we need,” he added.

Reuters reports that on Thursday, a congressional aide said the US State Department failed to meet a deadline on Thursday to provide information to three congressional committee chairmen looking into whether an annual arms control report slanted and politicised assessments about Iran. In a 16 May letter, the Democratic chairmen of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs, Armed Services and Intelligence committees asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to provide a State Department briefing and documents no later than Thursday.

The Israeli media is dominated by reports of the wild fires that broke out across Israel yesterday. The police and fire-fighting services are preparing for the peak of the heat wave today with four countries – Italy, Croatia, Greece and Cyprus – announcing they were sending fire-fighting planes to Israel.

Yediot Ahronoth reports that while just a few days ago it appeared that Avigdor Lieberman was on his way back to the Defence Ministry: “The crisis over the military concription law resumed last night, and it now threatens to blow up the coalition negotiations and raises the possibility of new elections.”

In an opinion piece in Yediot Ahronoth Avigdor Lieberman writes that he is unwilling to compromise on the conscription law: “The military conscription law was written, from the outset, as a compromise, which was acceptable to the security establishment, to the politicians and to the general public. You can’t compromise on a compromise and thereby void it of all content.” He adds that: “There is a tradition that has struck root in Israel whereby only one side compromises. This is because the Haredi parties do not make decisions independently since they are subordinate to their rabbis and to a militant public that has many factions, and the tone is set by street posters. The time has come to change this equation.”

Writing in Haaretz, senior PLO official Nabil Shaath says the Bahrain meeting is supposed to be an opportunity to showcase how much the US administration are willing to use as a bribe in exchange for the Palestinians giving up their rights. For the Trump team, the Manama meeting represents a strategic stage in their efforts to undermine both international law and the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people. But they are also dedicated to dismembering the Arab Peace Initiative, and to pivot away from Palestinians achieving their rights of freedom and self-determination to discussing Palestinians’ “economic prosperity” – under Israeli rule.

Haaretz and Yediot Ahronoth report that two former Supreme Court presidents, justices Aharon Barak and Dorit Beinisch, warned yesterday that undermining the authority of the Supreme Court would cause serious damage to Israel’s democracy. Barak said that the override clause that Netanyahu has been promoting would not only disproportionately undermine the courts but would harm the citizens of the state. “I think that if I were a Supreme Court justice or its president living in this situation, I would consider resigning,” Barak told Channel 13. “The primary job of the Supreme Court is to protect democracy and the constitution. It can’t do that when it doesn’t have anything.” Beinisch told Kan Radio in an earlier interview: “For illegitimate personal motives, people want to reform the entire system. As I see it, this is our most important battle today…I knew the prime minister in my work as someone who would go out to defend the system on repeated occasions. Now, likely because of personal interest, the situation has changed and there is a very serious campaign to blame a magnificent establishment that worked professionally for years and won global acclaim.”

Kan Radio reports that retired justice Elyakim Rubinstein, who served as vice president of the Supreme Court, said at an Israel Bar Association conference in Nazareth that the judicial establishment and the Supreme Court were being treated as if they were essentially the enemy.

Maariv reports that the Blue and White Party is completing its preparations for a large demonstration tomorrow, starting at 8:30 PM in the plaza of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art under the slogan, “For democracy and the rule of law—Defensive Shield for State of Israel and Israeli democracy.” “We won’t let Netanyahu turn Israel into an Erdogan-style Turkey,” say the organisers. “We’ll fight for Israel’s character and values through all the legal means at our disposal.” The Labour Party, Meretz and 12 civil society organisations, including the Movement for Quality Government and Israel Hofsheet, are due to attend the demonstration. Blue and White Faction Chairman Avi Nissenkorn told Maariv yesterday, “Israel is facing a critical moment, which is why the citizens must take to the streets. We have a prime minister who doesn’t care about budgets for the collapsing hospitals and is unconcerned with the education system. Bibi is working on only one thing at the moment—evading justice. The public did not vote for the destruction of democracy, the public did not give Bibi immunity. Everyone who holds this place dear must join us.”