The Telegraph, Guardian, Financial Times and BBC report that Turkey will launch a new operation in Syria against a US-backed Kurdish militia. The Telegraph reports that, within days, Turkey will launch operations against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) that Ankara considers a terrorist group, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday. “We will start an operation to free the east of the Euphrates from the separatist terrorist organisation in the next few days,” President Erdogan said during a speech in Ankara, referring to territory held by the YPG. Turkey says the YPG is a “terrorist offshoot” of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984. The Financial Times reports that Ankara is outraged over the US co-operation with the Syrian Kurdish militia, saying it had helped create a national security threat on its southern frontier. “We will not be bystanders to the game being played right at our border,” Erdogan said. Erdogan said the operation “will guarantee Syria’s territorial integrity and open a path to a political resolution, as well as create a climate for healthier co-operation with the United States in the region.”

The Independent reports that hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza attended the funeral of a four-year-old boy who died after being injured by Israeli gunfire during a protest at the border, health officials have said. Palestinian officials reported that Ahmed Abu Abed, 4, had succumbed to his injuries apparently sustained by Israeli fire. He was buried in Khan Younis on Wednesday afternoon. On the same day 70 miles away a baby, who was delivered prematurely to an Israeli woman wounded in a Palestinian drive-by shooting in the West Bank, also died. Israeli pregnant mother Shira Ish-Ran, her husband and five others were injured in an attack at a bus stop outside the Israeli settlement of Ofra in the West Bank on Sunday. Doctors said she was shot in the abdomen and that her son was born in critical condition. The Palestinian gunman apparently fled the scene.

The Financial Times reports that Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman’s  inner circle is vulnerable to a shake-up. At the heart of the crown prince’s de facto one-man rule is a clique of trusted confidantes who have wielded extraordinary influence that belies their generic titles. But as King Salman, the crown prince’s father, reasserts himself in a bid to contain the crisis triggered by the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, it is this group that is most vulnerable to any shake-up of the court’s power structures. A central figure in the crown prince’s inner circle, Saud al-Qahtani, has already been sacked after being implicated in the operation that led to Khashoggi’s grisly death on October 2. “King Salman is very angry about what happened with Khashoggi,” said a person aware of the king’s recent conversations, adding that the ageing monarch wants further changes to his favoured son’s entourage.

The Telegraph reports that more than 60,000 people have been killed in Yemen in the last two years, according to a new assessment, a figure six times higher than previous estimates. The figure of 10,000 used by the United Nations is outdated and nowhere near the likely true fatality figure of 60,223, according to UK-based independent research group Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED). Calculating death tolls in Yemen, which is approaching its fourth year, is complicated by the lack of access. The figure offered by ACLED, which looked at open-source data and local news reports, does not include those thought to have died from malnutrition. Save the Children charity says some 85,000 may have died from starvation since 2016.

Reuters reports that The United Nations chief will join the final day of peace talks on Thursday between Yemen’s warring parties that have led to an agreement to reopen Sana’a airport and restart oil exports, but no deal on the strategic Red Sea port. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived late on Wednesday in Sweden, where the talks are being held. He and his special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, are due to announce results of the UN sponsored talks, the first in more than two years, and a date for a new round of consultations.

The BBC reports that hundreds of unidentified bodies which seem to have been tortured have been found in a former Islamic State group stronghold, Syrian state media says. Seven mass graves near Albu Kamal in eastern Syria have been unearthed, the official Sana news agency reports, with more than 100 bodies recovered so far. Most seem to “have been subjected to torture and ill-treatment before execution”, Sana says.

The Independent reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed Italy’s divisive interior minister as a “great friend of Israel” during a two-day visit to the country, drawing a backlash from his critics concerned by the Italian politician’s far-right and anti-migration policies. Matteo Salvini began his whirlwind tour with a trip to Israel’s northern border with Lebanon. There the Israeli army has uncovered tunnels it says were built by Lebanese militant group Hezbollah for attacks. Mr Salvini, the leader of Italy’s far-right Northern League Party, immediately sparked criticism back home by calling Hezbollah a “terrorist” group in comments supporting Israel. “I call terrorists what they are, which is terrorists,” Mr Salvini said, brushing off his critics. “I smile when I hear criticism from the left in Italy and in Israel … [they] will have to get over it.” After Wednesday’s work meetings and a trip to Israel’s Holocaust memorial museum, Mr Salvini was welcomed by Netanyahu who thanked him for being ”a great friend” to the country.

The BBC reports that an Iranian political activist jailed for his messages on social media has died after spending 60 days on hunger strike, his family says. Vahid Sayadi Nasiri had been accused of insulting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other offences. He was released last March after serving two and a half years in prison but detained again five months later. He was arrested again in August, just months after his release, reportedly on similar charges. He began his hunger strike in October in protest over the conditions of his imprisonment and his lack of access to a lawyer, according to Iran Human Rights Monitor.

The BBC and Independent report on a high speed rail crash in the Turkish capital, Ankara. The BBC reports that according to the Turkish rail minister, the crash killed at least nine people and injured 47.

All the Israeli papers report the funeral of  Amiad Yisrael, the baby who was buried last night in Jerusalem. He is the son of Shira Ish Ran, who sustained serious injuries in the Ofra terrorist attack, and her husband Amihai. He was born in an emergency Caesarean operation after the attack.

Yediot Ahronot report that SWAT and GSS teams using a civilian car last night surprised Salah Barghouti, a suspect in the Ofra terror attack, and blocked his taxi as he was driving in the village of Surda, north of Ramallah, not far from his home in the village Kobar. Palestinian eyewitnesses said that the entire incident unfolded in a matter of seconds: the Israeli troops shot at the taxi and the side windows shattered. None of the eyewitness could say whether Barghouti had been hit by the shots or not. The troops pulled him out of the car, together with Waed Barghouti who was with him, and quickly left. The taxi stood empty on the road as stunned Palestinians looked on.

Maariv reports a violent clash Between UNIFIL and the Lebanese Army and Hezbollah. The incident occurred just a few meters away from an area in which IDF troops are operating in the Zarit salient in search of an additional tunnel that penetrates into Israeli territory. The UNIFIL troops were tasked with marking the precise location of the border – which lies just two metres from the fence – on the Lebanese side with poles.

Alex Fishman in Yediot Ahronoth reports that, according to the influential Russian newspaper Kommersant, the Russian army has allowed Hezbollah and Shiite militias in Syria to use Russian flags to protect their units from Israeli air strikes. A Russian flag was spotted at the headquarters of Shiite troops in the area of the Hama airport, an area in which Iranian installations have been bombed in air strikes that were blamed on Israel. Russian flags were also spotted in Homs, Idlib and the Syrian desert. The IDF Spokesperson’s Office, which was asked if Israel had complained to Moscow, said it is unwilling to comment on the report.

Israel Hayom reports on the IDF delegation that went to Moscow returned to Israel after meeting with representatives of the Russian army. A statement issued by the IDF said “Understandings were reached between the delegations, and they agreed on continued joint work”. The IDF officers briefed their Russian counterparts about Operation Northern Shield. A second central issue that was discussed was improving the coordination mechanism between the two armies in the northern theatre of operations to prevent friction.

Israel Hayom reports that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged the United Nations to tighten restrictions on Iran’s missiles, but other powers called instead for dialogue. “We risk the security of our people if Iran continues stocking up on ballistic missiles,” Pompeo told the Security Council.

Maariv reports that Raja Zaatra, who heads Hadash’s list in the Haifa City Council, announced he had decided not to serve as deputy to Mayor Einat Kalisch Rotem and that Shahira Shalabi, who is second on Hadash’s list, would serve in his place. He refused to apologise for statements condemning Zionism and in support of Hamas and Hezbollah. Zaatra said that he was opposed to terrorism and attacking innocent civilians but said, “a people that is resisting occupation has the right to resist by all legitimate means” adding that “in this conflict innocents on both sides get hurt.” Zaatra said that he was proud that Shalabi would be “the first Arab Palestinian woman to serve as deputy mayor of Haifa.” Shalabi has been criticised for a post she wrote during Operation Protective Edge that said, ‘with spirit and blood we will redeem Gaza’. Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev said: “Zaatra’s despicable behaviour and his insistence not to apologise for supporting terror organisations that call for the destruction of the State of Israel and for attacks on its citizens, only reinforces the reason why a person of his sort must not serve as deputy mayor. Zaatra can serve as deputy to Assad, Haniya or Nasrallah.”

Haaretz reports that the High Court ruled that the names of both same-sex parents must be registered on the birth certificates of babies they have adopted. The court was ruling on a petition by a homosexual couple that claimed they were being discriminated against compared to heterosexual couples. When a heterosexual couple adopts a baby, the Interior Ministry gives them a birth certificate bearing the name of both adoptive parents. But it doesn’t do that for homosexual couples, arguing that only one father and one mother should be listed for each baby.

Kan Radio report on what it terms an alternative poverty report issued by the Latet organisation which found that there are one million poor children in Israel and that half-a million families live beneath the poverty line.