BBC News Online, the Times, the Daily Express and the Daily Mail report that the Syrian military has declared it has full control of all areas around the capital, Damascus, for the first time in six years. The announcement came after troops cleared Islamic State (IS) militants from the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp and the Hajar al-Aswad district. Under the surrender deal, about 1,600 Isis fighters and their families were sent in buses to the eastern Syrian desert, where elements of the group continue to resist both regime forces and western-backed Kurdish-led militias. Regime troops are now expected to attack Deraa, a rebel-held zone in the south. That will be a key test of both Russian and American attitudes to Assad, since Deraa was covered by a ceasefire negotiated by the two powers.

BBC News Online, the Times, the Guardian , the Sun, the Independent and the Telegraph report that new US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, threatened Iran with the “strongest sanctions in history” and vowed to “crush” the regime’s proxies around the world on Monday. His comments sparked a furious response from the Iranian government. Pompeo also called for a new nuclear treaty with Iran to replace the Obama-era deal that Donald Trump withdrew from earlier this month. The top US diplomat issued a list of  12 requirements for such a deal, many of which Iran would be unlikely to agree to. He said the US would apply “unprecedented financial pressure” on Iran and send teams of specialists to allies around the world to explain US policy. Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has condemned the US for vowing to impose the sanctions.

The Daily Mail via AFP reports that Paraguayan President Horacio Cartes inaugurated his country’s Israel embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, making it the third nation to make the deeply controversial move after the United States and Guatemala. Cartes and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at the inauguration of the new embassy in Jerusalem. Cartes called it a “historic event”. The Daily Express reports that senior Palestinian Authority (PA) official Saeb Erekat, has slammed Cartes for his decision to move the country’s embassy to Jerusalem.

The Independent reports that a 20-year-old Palestinian is in a critical condition after setting himself on fire in what is believed to have been a protest over the horrific living conditions in the Gaza Strip. Fathi Harb reportedly shouted “damn Hamas” before dousing himself in petrol and setting it alight in Sheikh Radwan on Saturday night. His family told media the young man suffered from “personal problems” and was despairing over the poverty inflicted by Hamas, the militant group that seized control of the territory in 2007.

The Times published a series of interviews by Jerusalem correspondent Bel Trew with Gazan amputees who lost limbs during the recent protests in Gaza. According to the Hamas run Gaza Health Ministry, they estimate that 65 per cent of injuries since 30 March have been to lower limbs. The Gazan authorities are said to have rejected a shipment of 53 tonnes of medical aid from the Israeli army, including bandages and treadmills, to help to rehabilitate the wounded.

The Times Diplomatic correspondent Catherine Philp argues that “Israel’s rules of engagement are neither transparent nor fixed”. She believes that “part of the controversy hinges on what laws applied in the Gaza situation: those governing conflict or those applicable in law enforcement situations. Human rights organisation contend Israel broke both, because of the protections both afford the unarmed civilians taking part in the protests.”

The Guardian published an article by Australian columnist Jeff Sparrow which argues against Australia’s decision to oppose an investigation into the events on the Gaza border last week. He argues that “if there’s to be progress on Palestine, it won’t come from a political class fundamentally committed to the US alliance and thus to Israel as a forward base in the Middle East.” He also said the situation in Gaza is “not normal, and it’s not right, and it can’t be allowed to continue. If our leaders won’t take a stand, it’s up to the rest of us.”

The Guardian published a story on Wesal Sheikh Khalil who was shot and died last week on the Gaza border. Wesal’s brother said she had been carrying wire cutters to break through the fence that day. Others say she ferried water bottles and stones to people at the front, metres from Israeli snipers. “Wesal lived a tough life: the absence of her father, all of us sleeping in one room,” according to her mother. She would flip-flop from joy and warmth to rages and fatalism. Wesal started to crave death. She told her mother that if she died, there would be more room for her siblings and they would not have to live cramped like fish in a net.

In the Israeli media all the newspapers lead with US Secretary of State Pompeo’s speech outlining the US approach to Iran.  Yediot Ahronot  and Israel Hayom highlight his twelve demands on Iran.  The demands include that Iran, stop manufacturing ballistic missiles, stop bankrolling terror organisations, including Hezbollah, stop its expansion across the Middle East and its involvement in local conflicts, as in Yemen and withdraw from Syria.  Haaretz leads on his threat to “impose the most crippling sanctions in history on Iran.” Maariv frames the conflict as ultimately “US v Iran.”

Maariv notes, “Iran now finds itself painted into a corner. Its leaders are beginning to understand the new reality that they now face, and they are discomfited. They have three options: to withdraw from the nuclear agreement and to announce the renewal of their nuclear program but to be even more isolated under the new and unprecedented regime of sanctions; to remain in the agreement and to hope that they— by means of their ties with Russia, China and Europe—will somehow manage to keep their economy afloat; or to refrain from making any hasty decisions at the current stage. It would appear that Tehran has chosen the third option for the time being—to wait for developments.”

Maariv and Haaretz continue to monitor the health of PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

Maariv includes the assessment that, “senior PA officials have begun beginning to come to terms with the fact that PA Chairman Abu Mazen is a very old and sick man, and that they have to prepare for the day after. Outwardly, however, they have been projecting business as usual and have insisted that the rais is in very good health and is likely to be discharged today from hospital.” This morning, Kan Radio News reported, the director of the hospital in Ramallah said he has pneumonia but that he was recovering.  A member of the Fatah leadership, Jibril Rajoub, said last night that Abu Mazen’s life was not in danger and that his health was good. Palestinian television showed Abu Mazen walking in the hospital corridor on his own, smiling, accompanied by his two sons. Palestinian media outlets reported that leaders of Arab and Muslim states called Abu Mazen to wish him well.

Haaretz reports that a court released everyone arrested in the demonstration that expressed support for the people of Gaza. Whist Maariv follows the political fallout, quoting Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, “We witnessed a phenomenon of Israeli citizens aligning with Hamas against IDF soldiers, against the security forces in Haifa. We could philosophise and talk about freedom of speech, but I suggest that we not ignore reality. This is a fifth column in every sense.”  The paper also includes a response from Joint List Chairman Ayman Odeh: “Ministers Lieberman and Erdan, who are charged with the internal and external security of Israel’s citizens, are aiming the gun sights straight at us and at the entire Arab public. The incitement by the ministers, who call us ‘terrorists,’ ‘enemies from within,’ and who threaten to send us to jail—ultimately finds its way into the street, with citizens cursing us in the public domain and with police who permit themselves to deny us, using violence, the right to speak and to protest and who treat us like an enemy against whom people have to be protected, and not as citizens who deserving protection.”

Haaretz reveals, Israel’s Air force commander Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin said yesterday that Iran fired 32 rockets at Israel during the exchange in Syria earlier in the month, four rockets were intercepted by Israel and the rest landed outside of Israeli territory.  Norkin added that more than 100 surface-to-air missiles were fired at Israeli jets over Syria.  He also revealed, “Israel is the first country in the world to carry out an “operational attack” with the F-35 stealth fighter.”

This morning, Army Radio reported, a number of Palestinians infiltrated into Israel from Gaza and set a military post on fire. In response, an IDF tank targeted an observation post belonging to Hamas in the southern Gaza Strip. No injuries were reported.

Israel Hayom continues to follow Israeli diplomatic confrontation with Turkey.  This morning they reveal, a Turkish association – Tika recently distributed cheques worth about $500 each to merchants in East Jerusalem and to many Muslim residents in East Jerusalem on the occasion of Ramadan. This amounts to one and a half million shekels of Turkish money distributed in East Jerusalem.  Following the distribution of funds by the Turkish association in the Old City, some of the owners of the shops in the eastern part of the capital hung the Turkish flag at the door of their business.