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Media Summary

Kurds outline possible deal with Assad regime

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The BBC, Guardian, Telegraph and Sky News report on Israeli strikes, targeting what the military says were Iranian targets around the Syrian capital of Damascus. The BBC reports that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said the overnight operation targeted the elite Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, as well as Syrian air defences. Four people are reported to have died. Syrian media said most of the Israeli missiles had been shot down. Israel said it acted after the Quds Forces launched a rocket from Syria over the Golan Heights on Sunday. It said the rocket had been intercepted. The IDF announced the start of its operation in a tweet earlier this morning. It said the Quds Force sites targeted included a munitions storage facility and a position near Damascus International Airport. The IDF also said that “dozens of Syrian surface-to-air missiles were launched, despite clear warnings to avoid such fire. In response, we also targeted several of the Syrian armed forces’ aerial defence batteries.”

The Telegraph reports that several people were feared dead in Damascus on Sunday after the city was rocked by a huge explosion in what appears to be the first terrorist attack in more than a year. The attack took place on a highway near the southern suburbs, according to the regime news agency SANA, while Syrian experts said a number of people had been wounded and killed. However, SANA News denied that anyone had been killed but said a “terrorist” had been arrested. That claim was challenged by the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Rami Abdel Rahman, the group’s head, told the Telegraph that there had been “some killed and some wounded” in the attack, which involved a small explosion targeting a car in the southern suburbs of Damascus. The nature of the attack was unclear on Sunday.

The Times reports that the leading Kurdish faction in Syria is demanding autonomy and control of its internal security in a deal with the Assad regime after President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw US support. Using the west’s backing as they fought off Islamic State, YPG militia have carved out an autonomous region in northeastern Syria. Fearing that once the US leaves they will be attacked by Turkey, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the YPG’s political wing, has asked Russian officials to be guarantors in a reconciliation with the regime. PYD leaders said they would hand over border posts to the Syrian army and agree to remain formally part of the state, making an attack an act of war Ankara would be reluctant to start. In return, they want their “autonomous administration” to have many of the powers that allowed the Kurdish region of Iraq to divorce itself from the rule of Saddam Hussein. The main government would handle foreign affairs but the Kurds’ region, like others in a new federal Syria, would control education, tax spending and internal security.

The BBC report on the renewal of diplomatic ties between Israel and Chad. The BBC reports that Chad and Israel have renewed diplomatic ties in what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described as “a partnership… to forge a prosperous and secure future for our countries”. His comments came during a brief visit to Chad where he was welcomed by President Idriss Deby. In recent years, Israel has made a big effort to improve diplomatic relations with several African countries. Chad, which has a majority Muslim population, cut ties in 1972. Netanyahu’s visit reciprocates President Deby’s trip to Israel last November, the first by a Chadian leader. In addition to renewing diplomatic ties the two leaders signed several agreements, Deby told a joint press conference, but did not say what those deals were. “The purpose of your visit is to bring our two countries closer and to cooperate,” he told Neytanyahu, the Haaretz newspaper reports. Chad is interested in “security, intelligence, technology and a pathway to Washington”, writes Jerusalem Post diplomatic correspondent Herb Keinon.

The Financial Times reports that the EU is still seeking to keep the Iranian nuclear deal alive despite pressure from the US. Germany, France and the UK are scrambling to win EU backing for a dual pronged approach on Iran that would threaten Tehran with further sanctions while shoring up the landmark nuclear deal with the Islamic republic. The three powers want to agree a common EU position ahead of a February 13-14 meeting on Middle Eastern security that has been jointly convened by the US and Poland. Some European ministers see the Warsaw gathering as an attempt by Washington to push the bloc towards a more hawkish line on Iran. But the EU is also seeking to reconcile its efforts to preserve the nuclear pact with anger among member states over alleged Iranian assassination plots on European soil. “We need to accept that the [nuclear deal] is important and it has been a signal achievement,” said one EU diplomat supportive of the moves to hammer out a new consensus in the 28-member bloc. “Equally, we need to stress that there are real reasons to be concerned about what Iran has been doing — and we need to apply pressure.” Diplomats said potential sanctions back up for discussion included travel bans and asset freezes over Iran’s missile programme and its support for armed groups in Syria, Yemen and Lebanon.

Reuters reports that at an economic summit in Beirut, Arab states called on world powers on Sunday to step up efforts to enable Syrian refugees to return home. The United Nations says that 5.6 million Syrian refugees live in five neighbouring countries – Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq – and it is not yet safe for them to return. “We call on the international community to take its responsibility to curb the misery,” Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil said, reading a statement which the summit agreed. It asked for a doubling of efforts “to strengthen favourable conditions for the displaced and refugees to return in line with international law”.

The Times reports that Israel’s Attorney General is expected to announce next month that he intends to indict Benjamin Netanyahu on corruption charges. Avichai Mandelblit has rejected the Prime Minister’s demand that he wait until after the general election on April 9 before delivering his decision. In a rare interview, he told Israeli television: “It is clear that we have to make the decisions as soon as possible.” Mandelblit must decide whether to indict suspects including the Prime Minister and his wife, Sara, in three corruption cases. Police and the district and state prosecutors have all recommended that he indict Netanyahu for bribery, fraud and breach of trust. Netanyahu has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing by him or his wife.

Reuters reports that Saudi-led forces launched overnight air strikes on Yemen’s capital on Saturday, described by one resident on Sunday as the worst in a year, as the United Nations struggles to implement a peace deal. A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition said its warplanes attacked seven military facilities used for drone operations in Sanaa, which is held by rival Houthi forces. Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television said the overnight targets included al-Dulaimi Air Base, a drone storage site, and military training sites. Houthi-run al-Masirah TV said on Sunday that the coalition had conducted 24 air strikes on Sanaa since Saturday evening, including four on the air base. It said a plastics factory was also hit, causing a large fire.

The Financial Times and the Guardian report on comments made about Syria by a Republican senator on a trip to Ankara, Turkey. The Financial Times reports that a key Republican senator warned that Donald Trump’s plan for a US withdrawal from Syria risks creating chaos akin to “Iraq on steroids” unless a clear plan is put in place. On a trip to Ankara on Saturday, Senator Lindsey Graham said that President Trump’s sudden announcement last month that Isis was defeated and that American troops in north eastern Syria would depart threatened to create “chaos” in the region. Speaking after meeting on Friday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Graham told reporters: “I can understand the desire to withdraw but withdrawal without a plan is chaos. I’m urging President Trump not to do what President Obama did [in Iraq] which is just to get out and not understanding what happens when you get out.” He added: “If we don’t think this through, it will be Iraq on steroids.”

Reuters reports that in a telephone call on Sunday between US President Donald Trump and Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey said it is ready to take over security in Syria’s Manbij, where four US citizens died in an Islamic State-claimed bombing last week. Erdogan told Trump that the suicide bombing in Manbij, a town in northeast Syria controlled by a militia allied to US-backed Kurdish forces, was a provocative act aimed at affecting Trump’s decision last month to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria.

All the Israeli media report the missile fired from Syria towards northern Israel.  Israel Hayom refers to “tension in the north” with an interception over skiers heads. Haaretz calls it an “unusual occurrence”, as a surface-to-surface missile was deliberately fired from Syria to Israel. Maariv quotes Syrian sources saying: “Our aerial defence systems foiled Israeli air aggression, and prevented Israel from achieving its aims.” It was also reported that an Iranian passenger plane that was on its way to the airport, turned around and returned to Teheran during the attack. Following the Syrian reports, Russia confirmed that the Israel Air Force was responsible for the attack. The Russian Defence Ministry reported that the Syrian Air Force stopped the attack. Local media in Syria claimed: “Anti-aircraft batteries stopped the attack one hundred percent, contrary to the previous time, during which 90 per cent of the missiles were intercepted.” The paper focuses on the targeting of Damascus International Airport and the Russian aim to rebuild the airport logistically and technically. “From the Russian viewpoint, this is a very important logistics course of action politically, which is intended mainly to return the Syrian refugees home and ensure safe landings for the civilian aircraft in Damascus. The sources said that the Israeli attacks on the Damascus airport influenced decisions by civilian airline companies, who expressed their anxiety about the air strikes.” The paper also notes, that the attack attributed to Israel is rather unusual, because contrary to most of the previous attacks, it took place in daylight rather than in the evening and late night hours. If, in fact, it was carried out by the IDF, it was the first attack in the era of the Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi. Kochavi was on a visit in the north at the time of the attack, and he updated the Prime Minister and Defence Minister Netanyahu, who was visiting Chad.

According to Yediot Ahronot, “The projectile that was fired yesterday at the Golan Heights wasn’t a short-range rocket but, rather, was a medium-range surface-to-surface missile carrying a warhead that weighed nearly half a ton, which causes enormous damage… An Iron Dome battery fired several intercepting missiles at the missile that was fired at the Golan, which indicates that the incoming missile was large and was carrying an especially heavy warhead. If this was a medium-range missile that has a range of 250-300 km that was intercepted, that demonstrates that the Iron Dome’s interception capabilities have been greatly improved.”

Maariv also reports that in a separate incident, according to the director of the Damascus Center for Human Rights, a senior Hezbollah official was injured in an attempted assassination in Syria. Rami Abdul Rahman told the Akhbar Al Aan television channel, “The official injured in the explosion in Afrin is not Syrian, but from Hezbollah. It was an assassination attempt using a car bomb, not a regular terror attack.”

Yediot Ahronot reports that after Israel prevented the third instalment of Qatari funds from entering Gaza in protest of Palestinian violence, head of Qatar’s Gaza Reconstruction Committee confirms additional $15 million will arrive on Wednesday. This will be the third Qatari cash infusion, that will pay Palestinian civil servants. Army radio this morning adds that instead of suitcases of cash that have been transferred over in the first two instalments, this one will take place by bank transfer.

Haaretz reports that former IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz released four campaign films on Sunday under the headline “Only the strong wins.” In three of the videos Gantz highlights his role striking Hamas. One video shows the aerial footage of the assassination of Hamas military leader Ahmed Jabari. Another the bombing of 6,231 targets in the Gaza Strip and killing 1,364 terrorists. The statistics are written on the screen with the backdrop of images showing the destruction of Gaza and accompanied by dramatic music. In the final video, Gantz expresses hope for peace and ends the video with the line: “Things could be different here.” Yediot Ahronot suggests another former IDF Chief of Staff, Gaby Ashkenazi, is close to entering political life. He will shortly decide if he will join Gantz’s Israel Resilience party or Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid party.

Haaretz reports that the Palestinian Authority informed the Trump administration that it will stop taking any form of government assistance from the United States at the end of the month, as a result of legislation passed last year by Congress. The Anti-Terrorism Clarification Act, known as ATCA, now makes it possible for US citizens to sue foreign entities that receive US assistance for past acts of terrorism. The Palestinian decision could lead to the end of US support for the PA’s security forces, which in turn work regularly with the IDF to prevent terrorist attacks.