The BBC, Telegraph, Guardian and Times report on Israel’s confrontation with Iran in Syria. The Telegraph reports that Israeli airstrikes in Syria killed 11 Iranian and pro-regime fighters on Monday, in the most serious direct confrontation between Iran and Israel in the last six months. Israeli warplanes attacked bases belonging to Iran’s elite Quds Force after an Iranian missile was fired from Syria towards the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights on Sunday, the Israeli military said.

The Times reports Israel’s calculations may have been affected by US President Donald Trump’s decision to pull US forces out of Syria. It adds that Israel’s refusal to go public on previous strikes — even though they were no secret — was intended to give Iran “plausible deniability” and to discourage a response. The decision to reverse that policy in the wake of the Iranian missile attack risks further escalation.

The FT and Reuters report on the German government’s ban on Mahan Air, an Iranian airline. The FT reports that Germany has banned Mahan Air from flying to and from the country in the latest sign of European concern over Tehran’s destabilising activities in the Middle East and Europe. Berlin said it could not exclude the possibility that Mahan Air was using its flights to Germany to support the activities of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, saying that the Guards were “frequently involved in acts of state terrorism”. A senior Mahan Air official, said the airline had not received any official notifications from Germany.

The Guardian and Telegraph report on the attack on a US-Kurdish patrol in Syria. The Telegraph reports that five fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) were killed in the attack, which occurred near a checkpoint on a road near the town of al-Shadadi in Hasakah province, according to UK-based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Guardian reports that at least two American soldiers were injured.

Reuters reports that Turkey is planning an international investigation into the Khashoggi case. Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a speech that some Western countries were trying to cover up Khashoggi’s murder, adding that Turkey had made preparations to launch an international investigation on the matter, the state-owned Anadolu reported on Monday.

Reuters reports on the death of a prominent Saudi cleric, after five months in detention, according to his family. Ahmed al-Amari, who previously served as a dean at the Islamic University in Medina, was transferred to a government hospital earlier this month after suffering a brain haemorrhage, London-based rights group ALQST and activists said late on Sunday.

The BBC and Independent report on the jailing of Mohamed al-Ghiety. The BBC reports that an Egyptian TV presenter has been sentence to one year of hard labour for interviewing a gay man last year.

Reuters report on the “Iraq Bikers” – who number around 380 – aiming to unite Iraq. “Whenever politics is mentioned, the members are warned once or twice and then expelled. We no longer have the strength to endure these tragedies or to repeat them”, according to one of the bikers.

All the Israeli media assess the IDF attack in Syria on Sunday night and Monday morning. Yediot Ahronot suggests it was a trap to catch the Iranians. “The Quds Force in Syria recorded another operational failure: it lost men, it lost vital infrastructure and it also carried out a failed retaliatory operation… The Iranians appear to have fallen, once again, into a trap that was set for them by Israel. The most recent turn of events is an almost exact replay of Operation House of Cards, which was carried out in May 2018. In both cases, the Iranians sought to punish Israel for a bombing operation that resulted in Revolutionary Guard casualties in Syria…Israel anticipated the Iranians’ actions; the missile was intercepted and provided the IDF with a pretext to ‘clear away’ what appeared to be the first stages of Iranian military infrastructure that was under construction in the Damascus area.” Maariv notes the anger of the opposition, suggesting: “The depth of the strikes in Syria is equal to the depth of the investigations against Netanyahu.”  The paper quotes Tzipi Livni saying: “The policy of ambiguity is intended to allow the other side to absorb our justified blows without comment. They know exactly who attacked, what and why, but when we do not run to tell the guys they cannot respond. So we were silent ten years after we destroyed the Syrian reactor. Boasting can lead to dangerous deterioration. Security is deeds, not words.” Israel Hayom notes: “The good news is that Israel beat Iran with a knock-out blow in the current round of fighting. The bad news is that this is just one stage in a long battle that will go on for years and in which nothing has been decided yet.” The paper concludes Israel wanted to send a series of messages: “While the Iranian people are suffering from a painful economic situation, the Quds Force has continued to invest money in pointless wars far from home. Past experience teaches us that it is likely that intensive efforts were also made by Israel to convey this message to the Iranian people….  Israel’s large-scale response—which had been prepared beforehand, with dossiers on each target—was also meant to send messages to other parties, firstly Syria, which is busy rebuilding the country and which (once again) paid a high price for Iranian activity in its territory. The Syrian air defence system lost yesterday a high single-digit number of batteries of various kinds, as well as radar, and suffered from a double strike (the first during the day, attributed to Israel, and the second at night)  on the Damascus airport. This is likely to have repercussions, since this airport also serves several civilian airlines, which are liable to now fear flying there. Another addressee was Russia, which promised that there would be no armed Iranian forces in a range of at least 80 km from Israel’s border, while in fact, the missile two days ago was fired from the Damascus area (about 40 km from the border). That could explain Moscow’s indifference to the relatively broad Israeli strike, but Israel should still maintain its close coordination with the Russian forces and try to induce them into a joint Israeli-Russian effort to curbing the Iranian entrenchment efforts in Syria.”

Kan radio reports that Israel successfully tested the Arrow 3 anti-missile system. The Arrow 3 is designed to intercept ballistic missiles outside the Earth’s atmosphere. The test was carried out in cooperation with the American Missile Defence Agency in central Israel, and was led by Israel Aerospace Industries with participation of the Israel Air Force.

Yediot Ahronot reports that a soldier in the Kfir Brigade last night shot dead a Palestinian terrorist who tried to stab a soldier at the hitchhiking stop at the Samaria Brigade square near Nablus. The soldier was unhurt. The Palestinian media reported that the terrorist was a 36 year-old Nablus resident. This is the second time in a month that soldiers from the Nahshon battalion of the Kfir Brigade have prevented a terrorist attack at this square. Samaria Regional Council Chairman Yossi Dagan said that the terrorists’ boldness in returning to the same square to attack Israelis showed that Israel’s power of deterrence was at a low. He blamed the Prime Minister and Defence Minister for this and said that Netanyahu was busy with explanations instead of with action.

Army radio reports their latest poll carried out by the Midgam and iPanel market research firms.  To the question, “If there were elections today, who would you vote for?” the results were, Likud would win 29 seats, Israel Resilience  13, Yesh Atid 13, Labour 9,  New Right 7, United Torah Judaism 7, Shas 6, Arab Movement for Renewel  6, Joint List  6, Kulanu 5, Gesher  5, Yisrael Beytenu 5, Meretz 5, Jewish Home 4. They then asked a supplementary question, “If the Attorney General decided to indict the Prime Minister, including on bribery charges, which party would you vote for?” the results; Likud – 25, Israel Resilience- 14, Yesh Atid – 14, Kulanu and Yisrael Betainu both pick up an extra seat giving them 6 each, everyone else stays the same.

The Jerusalem Post reports than in a rare move, Israel has been elected to Vice Chair of the 19 nation committee of NGO’s at the United Nations. The committee is responsible for overseeing the work of human rights organisations. Israel will be representing the western nations.