The Guardian, Reuters and The Financial Times reports that the US treated 11 of its troops for symptoms of concussion after an Iranian missile attack on an Iraqi base where US forces were stationed, the US military said on Thursday, after initially saying no service members were hurt.

BBC News, Reuters, The Associated Press and The Guardian report that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is to lead Friday prayers in the capital Tehran – the first time he has done so in eight years.

The Guardian reports that the German Defence Minister has confirmed reports that the US threaten to impose 25% tariffs on cars to push Europeans to initiate proceedings against Iran for violating the nuclear deal.

The Independent reports that Iran’s foreign minister has criticised the United Kingdom, France and Germany, signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal, for yielding to Donald Trump, calling the US president a “high school bully”.

The Telegraph reports that Iran is now enriching more uranium than it was before agreeing to a nuclear accord with world powers in 2015, Iran’s president declared on Thursday, as countries that lost nationals in the downed passenger jet threatened to sue Tehran for compensation. The Times and Associated Press reports that Iran claims there is now ‘no limit’ on enrichment.

The Guardian reports that Iranians are braced for a year of misery and unrest, as economic hardship is hurting ordinary people while experts fear an economic downturn might consolidate power in the hands of hardliners.

The Guardian reports that at least 21 civilians have been killed in airstrikes in Idlib amid a continuing offensive by Bashar al-Assad’s forces, despite a supposed ceasefire in Syria’s last opposition-held province. The Independent reports that the Syrian government and its allies dropped 157 bombs over Idlib province in a single day according to rescue workers and a monitoring group. Reuters reports 350,000 Syrians, mostly women and children, have fled a renewed Russian-backed offensive in the opposition-held Idlib province since early December.

The Associated Press reports that a car bombing has killed three Turkish soldiers in a Turkish-controlled area in northern Syria, Turkey’s Defense Ministry said.

BBC News reports that some of Syria’s leading figures met in secret this week in Berlin to overcome the sectarian divides that are tearing their country apart, using shadow diplomatic tools to avoid public and political pressures.

Reuters reports that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will travel to Germany this weekend to attend the Libya conference and push for sustaining a fragile ceasefire and getting all foreign powers to withdraw from the conflict in the North African country, the State Department and U.S. officials said on Thursday.

The Times reports that Egyptian President Sisi will face renewed attack when he attends the UK-Africa Investment summit in London next week due to Egypt’s human rights record after a US citizen died in a notorious Cairo prison.

The Times reports that a convicted arms dealer Rami Ghanem, branded a “merchant of death”, used Britain’s most notorious form of ghost company to finance a private air war in Libya, supporting mercenaries to fly and maintain fighter-bombers for one of the local militias battling for scraps of the fractured nation.

Reuters reports that the interim head of the U.N. agency that aids Palestinian refugees on Thursday accused pro-Israel groups of lobbying foreign parliaments to stop donations, even as it struggled to recover from losing United States funding in 2018.

The Independent reports that Israel has announced that it will open seven new nature reserves in the West Bank, the first time it has made such a move in 25 years.

In The Financial Times, Chloe Cornish argues that Iraq’s young protesters remain undeterred by violent crackdowns as their leaderless movement wants a new election law to challenge the recycled faces of the past.

In The Guardian, Mohamed A El-Erian writes that Donald Trump’s Iran strategy, termed ‘aggressive non-cooperation’, can be effective but only if used ‘selectively and sparingly’.

Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronoth reports that pressure is growing on Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein (Likud) to convene the Knesset to approve the formation of the House Committee that will vote on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s immunity request. The Blue and White party has demanded that the House Committee – on which it holds a majority – is formed before the 2 March election so it can reject Netanyahu’s request for immunity from prosecution for bribery, fraud and breach of trust. Edelstein has dragged his feet in a bid to delay the formation of the committee. Blue and White have threatened to replace Edelstein as speaker if he does not fulfill his obligations according to parliamentary procedure. According to Yediot: “The authority to convene the Knesset plenum is solely in the hands of the Knesset speaker, who must do this, during a recess, ‘within a reasonable time’ from the moment such a request is submitted by at least 25 MKs.”

Israeli media have followed up Russian media stories that Naama Issachar, an Israeli woman jailed in Russia since last year on drug charges, may be released next week as Russian President Vladimir Putin arrives in Israel. Issachar was stopped at Moscow Airport last April with 9g of cannabis and subsequently convicted of drugs smuggling and sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. The case has drawn criticism against Russia in Israel, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly stating he would do everything to secure Issachar’s release. The Russian media report said Putin may pardon Issachar and possibly bring her with him when he arrives in Israel next week.

The Israeli government released a list of confirmed attendees ahead of next week’s ceremony in Jerusalem to commemorate the 75^th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau and the Fifth World Holocaust Forum at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Centre. The list includes: US Vice President Mike Pence, HRH Prince Charles, French President Emmanuel Macron, Russian President Vladimir Putin, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the kings of Spain, Belgium, and The Netherlands, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, various senior European Union officials, and possibly US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.