The Telegraph reports the breaking news that pro-government militia forces have captured the Yazidi Kurdish town of Sinjar in Iraq, forcing out Kurdish Peshmerga forces.

The Guardian and the Mail Online both report on the destruction of a Syrian Government anti-aircraft battery by Israeli Air Force (IAF) jets yesterday. The battery was destroyed after it fired on the IAF jets conducting a photographic reconnaissance mission in Lebanese airspace. According to the IDF, this marks the first time Israeli aircraft have been targeted by Syrian forces while flying over Lebanon since the Syrian Civil War began.

The Mail Online also reports that ISIS yesterday claimed responsibility for the two rockets that were fired from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula into southern Israel on Sunday. The attack caused no injury or significant damage.

The Guardian features a “long read” essay by former Middle East Editor Ian Black on the contested legacy of the Balfour Declaration in the UK ahead of its centenary. Black concludes melancholically that “it does not appear that Britain’s ‘best endeavours’ – at a time when its international clout is weakening – can do much to help resolve the enduring conflict it helped create a turbulent century ago”.

The Mail Online also reports the approval by the Israeli Government of permits for 31 housing units in Hebron. The units will house Jewish settlers and this is the first such approval for new units in Hebron since 2002.

The Times reports on the capture of Kirkuk by Iraqi government forces. Kurdish Peshmerga were forced to withdraw to positions north of the city after a pitched battle yesterday, with the paper noting that the loss of the oil-rich territory “deals a huge blow to Kurdish ambitions for statehood”. BBC News Online reports that the US has called for “calm” with State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert urging all parties to “avoid further clashes”.

BBC News Online also reports that US-backed forces have taken the Syrian city of Raqqa, ISIS’s former capital. Syrian Democratic Forces declared victory after retaking al-Naim square in the centre of the city.

All the Israeli papers focus heavily on yesterday’s air force strike in Syria. Yediot Ahronot notes the timing of the strike coincided with the visit of the Russian defence minister, saying: “The Israeli strike on a Syrian military installation deep inside Syria at a time that the Russian defence minister is in Israel, basically sends the Syrians a message that says: Russia will not automatically stand behind you and if Assad chooses to cause the situation to deteriorate—he will pay for it.”

Maariv asks “if the order may have come from Iran in order to send a message to Israel that from now on, its flights over Lebanon, which are aimed firstly against Hezbollah, will no longer be a “walk in the park,” and that Iran was even sending a signal to the United States in wake of the Trump administration’s decision not to ratify the nuclear agreement”.

Both Haaretz and Maariv lead on comments made by Labour party leader Avi Gabbay in an interview on Channel Two News, where he argued Israel does not necessarily need to evacuate any West Bank settlements in a future peace deal with the Palestinians. Gabbay said: “If you make a peace deal, solutions can be found that do not necessitate evacuations. If a peace deal is made, why do we need to evacuate? I think the dynamic or the terminology that we have become accustomed to, that if you make a peace deal you evacuate, is not actually true.”

Israel Hayom suggests that from Hamas perspective, one of the reasons for the Palestinian reconciliation deal last week was to position Khaled Mashal as the successor to Mahmoud Abbas, allowing Hamas to take over the Palestinian Authority.  Mashal lead the external leadership of Hamas for the last decade before being replaced by Ismail Haniyeh earlier this year.

Yediot Ahronot reports that three terrorists who killed four people after opening fire at the Max Brenner café in Sarona Market last summer have been convicted of murder.

Haaretz continues to follow events in Iraq as government forces invade the Kurdish area. The paper notes with sad irony that both sides have been armed by the US.

Kan Radio News reports that ultra-Orthodox demonstrators blocked roads in Jerusalem last night and disrupted the operation of the light rail.  They were protesting the arrest of two yeshiva students who failed to report to the IDF draft office. A similar demonstration was also held in Bnei Brak. The police arrested 12 rioters.