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Media Summary

Turkey to settle a million refugees in Northern Syria

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Reuters reports that Turkey aims to settle one million Syrian war refugees in the area of northern Syria where it carried out a military incursion in October, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday.

BBC News reports the uncle of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has gone on trial in Paris for allegedly laundering money to build a French property empire. Rifaat al-Assad is accused of embezzling Syrian state funds to buy homes and offices worth €90m (£76m).

The Financial Times reports that Netanyahu fights on as loyalists rally behind Israeli premier. Likud’s leader accused of corruption has seen off a challenge from party rivals as Israel’s new election looms. The Daily Mail reports that Israel edged closer to its third election within a year today as neither the embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nor his main rival appeared close to forming a government two days before the deadline.

The Guardian reports that UN member states systematically violated a Libyan arms embargo, according to a long-awaited UN report published on Monday that identified Jordan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates as the main culprits.

The Guardian reports that millions of Algerians are to vote for a new president in a controversial poll likely to be shunned by the country’s mass protest movement, paving the way for future instability.

The Telegraph reports that senior US officials routinely misled the public about success in Afghanistan, fiddling statistics and metrics to spin a conflict they knew was going badly, according to a trove of confidential assessments. The Independent reports that The Washington Post said senior US officials failed to tell the truth about the war in Afghanistan throughout the 18-year campaign

The Times reports that four rockets hit an Iraqi military base beside Baghdad Airport, representing the latest sign of growing militia violence in response to the protests that have gripped the country.

In The Independent, Borzou Daragahi writes that Iran and the United States appear to be easing tensions as both countries head into political volatile election years, with the threat of an armed conflict, that seemed increasingly likely, just months ago fading away.

The Independent reports that Syrian camps holding thousands of ISIS wives are at breaking point. The Turkish invasion of northern Syria has led to a collapse in security at a camp holding the foreign wives of ISIS fighters.

The Associated Press reports that former Soviet dissident Natan Sharansky has been awarded Israel’s prestigious 2020 Genesis Prize for a lifetime of work promoting political and religious freedom, organisers announced Tuesday. Sharansky was a founding member of  the Helsinki Group, which monitored rights abuses by the Soviets, and became one of the best-known “refuseniks,” Soviet Jews who were denied permission to emigrate to Israel.

The Associated Press reports that former Vice President Dick Cheney warned Monday that “American disengagement” in the Middle East will benefit only Iran and Russia, indirectly criticising President Donald Trump’s pledges to pull forces out of the region.

Reuters reports that Saudi Arabia and other countries seeking to use US technology to develop nuclear power plants must agree to comprehensive UN inspections under legislation to be included in the defence policy bill expected to be announced this week, two Democratic congressional aides said on Monday.

Reuters reports that Turkey and Libya will carry out joint exploration operations in the eastern Mediterranean after the two sides signed a deal on maritime boundaries, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday after the move sharpened disputes over the area.

In The Financial Times, Andrew England, Simon Kerr and Anjli  Raval ask what the Saudi Aramco IPO tell us about Saudi Arabia’s economic reforms. The authors note that, having struggled to win foreign backing for the $25.6bn listing, the crown prince’s modernisation plans face further scrutiny.

The Jewish Chronicle reports that Israeli politicians have to pass a special law to avoid an election on the Jewish festival of Purim. As hopes recede for a deal to form a coalition, Likud and Blue & White have agreed to hold Israel’s third election in 12 months on 2 March 2020.

Political stalemate: All the Israeli media report the anticipated failure to form a government ahead of Wednesday night’s deadline and the parties agreeing that 2 March would be the date of the next election. All the papers note the political leaders continuing to blame each other. Blue and White leader Benny Gantz called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to give up on trying to get immunity from prosecution. Netanyahu said in response that Benny Gantz and Yair Lapid “refused our generous and far-reaching proposals.” The papers also note that the number 2 in Blue and White MK Yair Lapid announced yesterday that in the event of repeat elections he would concede the alternating leadership agreement he signed with Benny Gantz.

Lapid calls Corbyn an antisemite: The Israeli media report comments by MK Yair Lapid to a conference of parliamentarians from around the world where he said: “Jeremy Corbyn is an antisemite… If you want to know something there are experts, and the experts are called Jews. So I’m an expert on this one. And we can tell an antisemite when we see one. This is old-school, plain antisemitism, just using new excuses. And anyone in his right mind should take this into consideration while walking into the polling booth, because racists are racists are racists, and Jeremy Corbyn is a racist.” Israel Hayom reports that a prominent Facebook page “We support Jeremy Corbyn”, with 72,000 followers, is run by Hamas operatives in Gaza and London.

Attorney General’s office issues annexation warning: Haaretz reports that officials in the Attorney General’s office have warned Prime Minister Netanyahu that annexing the Jordan Valley could lead to the opening of International Criminal Court (ICC) investigations against IDF officers and Israeli mayors in the West Bank. “The European (Union Court of Justice) ruling on settlement labelling will just be the beginning,” officers warned Netanyahu. The Attorney General’s office clarified that it did not itself see a problem with annexation but advised that the ICC will likely think differently and that needs to be taken into account.