The Independent i and the online edition of the Independent report that an unnamed Israeli official has warned Syria’s President Assad that any retaliation against air strikes aimed at preventing weapons transfers will result in an Israeli response which could bring down Assad’s regime. The warning comes after Syrian officials last week threatened to respond to further operations, following an air strike earlier this month, assumed to be carried out by Israel, which targeted military installations near Damascus where sophisticated Iranian weaponry was being stored before being transferred to Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Independent online also reports that Foreign Secretary William Hague has called on Assad to permit United Nations inspectors to investigate allegations that chemical weapons have been used during the country’s bitter conflict. The Telegraph online says that the European Union is set to reject calls by the UK to lift their arms embargo on Syria, with Germany and Italy in particular deeply concerned that weapons will fall into dangerous hands.

The Guardian online reports that Israel’s government is set to retroactively legalise four West Bank settlement outposts, predicting that the move will frustrate US Secretary of State John Kerry’s efforts to kick-start direct talks between Israeli and Palestinian leaders. The authorisation of the outposts is the result of a legal battle in Israel’s High Court of Justice, which ruled that the land in question had either been legally purchased by the settlers or did not constitute privately held Palestinian land.

Both the Times and the online edition of the Telegraph report on an increasingly popular private smuggling venture of KFC fast food orders into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip from neighbouring Egypt via a vast network of tunnels beneath the Egypt-Gaza border, which enables the smuggling goods and weapons. Meanwhile, the Guardian online reports that Egypt is facing its’ worst economic crisis since the 1930s due to the collapse of tourism and foreign investment.

In the Israeli media this morning, Yediot Ahronot leads with the surprise visit last night to Israel by CIA Director John Brennan, which it says took place largely to coordinate joint US-Israel policy on Syria, in order to prevent Israel’s direct involvement in the conflict. Sof Hashavua reports that an unnamed Israeli official says that assessments may have underestimated President Assad’s strength and his ability to endure the bloody fighting. Israel Hayom says that Israel is bracing for Russia to complete the sale of an advanced anti-aircraft system to Syria, which could threaten Israel’s air superiority. In Syria itself, Israel Radio news reports that three United Nations peacekeepers in the Syrian section of the Golan Heights were yesterday forcibly detained and then released by an armed opposition group.

Haaretz and Israel Hayom give prominence to a mass demonstration by an estimated thirty thousand ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem yesterday evening, who were protesting against government plans to draft ultra-Orthodox seminary students en masse. A ministerial committee chaired by Science and Technology Minister and Yesh Atid MK Yaakov Peri is set to formulate a plan for their enlistment within the coming weeks. Sections of the protesters turned violent yesterday evening and several policemen and demonstrators were injured.