There is extensive coverage this morning of developments in Syria. The Independent i reports on a continued assault by opposition forces on the capital Damascus, which fighters have dubbed “Operation Armageddon,” while the Times online says that the opposition has captured the country’s biggest hydro-electric dam. The online edition of the Financial Times focuses on a car that exploded at a crossing on the Turkey-Syria border, killing at least thirteen people including several Turkish citizens. The Guardian online reports that a Syrian government minister has said that he is willing to meet opposition leader Moaz al-Khatib in a foreign country, following al-Khatib’s suggestion of talks with the Assad regime. However, the Telegraph online notes comments made by President Assad himself that would appear to indicate a rejection of such talks.

This morning’s Times, Independent i and the online editions of the Guardian and Independent all report on the arrest of ten women by Israeli police yesterday at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. The women were part of a liberal women’s group, which gathers every month to pray at the Western Wall wearing religious garb and conducting certain rituals traditionally reserved for men in Orthodox Jewish practice. The group’s actions are designed to challenge the legal interpretation that regards the Western Wall as an Orthodox Jewish synagogue, preventing other modes of Jewish prayer from taking place there. The women were later released without charge, in what has become a regular occurrence at the holy site.

The online edition of the Guardian reports that the US Senate armed services committee will vote this afternoon on whether to approve the nomination of Chuck Hagel as the new United States Secretary of Defence, with the drawn out confirmation process reaching a climax.

The online editions of the Times and Financial Times cover the arrest in Iran of the daughters of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, who led the opposition Green Movement during the country’s 2009 presidential election and is himself under house arrest. Both publications suggest that the arrests are a clear warning ahead of this summer’s presidential election that the Iranian regime will not tolerate the kind of public displays of opposition that took place in 2009.

Many of the headlines in the Israeli media are dominated by the decision of Pope Benedict XVI to resign. However, Yediot Ahronot also includes details of what it believes to be a preliminary itinerary of US President Obama’s upcoming visit to Israel, claiming that Obama will first visit Israel and meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before meeting Palestinian officials in Ramallah, prior to making a keynote speech at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Haaretz reports that Netanyahu yesterday reiterated his support for a two-state solution in a speech to a delegation of American Jewish leaders.

Several publications report prominently on the ongoing coalition talks which continued yesterday. Netanyahu held a much anticipated meeting with Jewish Home leader Naftali Bennett, with Israel Hayom reporting that Netanyahu offered Bennett the pick of ministerial portfolios should he agree to be the first to join his coalition. Meanwhile, Maariv focuses on a new plan to draft ultra-Orthodox religious seminary students, apparently presented yesterday by a Likud-Beitenu delegation to representatives of Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid, for whom it is a major issue. The Likud-Beitenu initiative would reportedly see a gradual increase in ultra-Orthodox recruits over five years without setting an absolute limit on their number, an important component of Yesh Atid’s own draft plan.

Meanwhile, Israel Radio News reports that the UK’s Ambassador to Israel, Matthew Gould, has denied Britain is co-sponsoring a European initiative to promote a permanent status arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians, but that Britain will encourage the United States to do so.