The Financial Times, Sky News, The Independent, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Associated Press and The Times report that dozens of Turkish soldiers have been killed in an airstrike in Syria’s Idlib province, in a dramatic escalation in the battle for control of the country’s last opposition stronghold. BBC News report that at least 33 Turkish soldiers have been killed in an air strike by Syrian government forces in north-west Syria, a senior Turkish official has said. Reuters reports that Turkey will no longer stop Syrian refugees from reaching Europe as Ankara responded to the air strike by Syrian government forces in the Idlib region. The Associated Press and Reuters reports that NATO ambassadors will meet in Brussels at Turkey’s request on Friday to hold consultations about developments in Syria.

The Guardian and The Financial Times reports that Saudi Arabia has closed the two holiest Islamic shrines, in Mecca and Medina, to foreign travellers and banned pilgrims from entering the country as fears surrounding the coronavirus continue to grow. The Independent and Sky News reports that Iran’s vice-president has been diagnosed with coronavirus, state media have reported, as the country struggles to stop the spread of the disease. BBC News reports that the UAE cycling tour has been cancelled with two stages remaining after two Italian “staff members” tested positive for coronavirus.

The Financial Times reports that the Israeli electorate is exhausted but Benjamin Netanyahu remains ‘fighting like someone who is still hungry’.

The Financial Times reports that Benny Gantz, the ex-military chief vying to topple Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel’s election on Monday, ruled out forming a unity government with the veteran leader after facing a barrage of personal attacks from the prime minister’s camp that questioned his mental health and personal probity.

The Guardian reports that a former housekeeper at Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence is suing the Israeli prime minister’s wife, Sara, for $190,000 (£148,000) in damages for pain and suffering allegedly caused during her employment there.

The Associated Press reports that a commercial ship has rescued 35 Europe-bound migrants off Libya’s Mediterranean coast and returned them to the capital, Tripoli, the UN migration agency said.

Reuters reports that the US granted a license to allow for certain humanitarian trade transactions with Iran’s sanctioned central bank on Thursday, a move it said was in step with the formalization of a Swiss humanitarian trade channel.

In The Independent, Patrick Cockburn analyses the ‘firebrand Shi’ite cleric’ who helped end Iraq’s protests, Muqtada al-Sadr, asserting that al-Sadr’s role demonstrates ‘reforming a corrupt and dysfunctional government is near impossible’.

In The Independent, Robert Fisk argues Iran’s coronavirus outbreak is reminiscent of the Black Death, asserting its spread is of a speed that ‘past generations in the Middle East would understand’.

The Israeli media report the first identified coronavirus case in Israel, a man who recently returned from a trip to Milan. He became ill fell four days after returning to Israel and is now in quarantine. The Health Ministry publicised the locations he visited, including his outgoing and incoming flights and a costume store he worked at, and asked anyone who may have come in contact with him to self-quarantine. The Health Ministry yesterday took the unprecedented step of issuing an advisory on all foreign travel, urging Israelis to reconsider any planned trips. The Interior Ministry began blocking entry to any foreign nationals arriving from Italy, with more than 100 Italian tourists sent home yesterday. The IDF announced that more than 150 of its soldiers were currently in quarantine, with an additional 300 who recently returned from Italy likely to join them.

All the Israeli media report an order issued yesterday by Defence Minister Naftali Bennett targeting a Gaza-based currency exchange company active in transferring $4 million from Iran to Hamas. The company, called Elmhadon, had previously been led by a Hamas associate killed in a targeted assassination last May in the Gaza Strip. While it is unclear how Israel would actually seize the firm’s money, the order is meant to limit its ability to conduct international transactions and travel overseas. Bennett said the funds were: “Intended to develop terrorist infrastructure belonging to Hamas in the Gaza Strip, including the production of weapons and payments to the organisation’s operatives.”