The failure of the UN Security Council to agree on action against Syria is widely reported in this morning’s UK media. The Guardian, Independent and Daily Mirror all question Russia’s continued support for the Assad regime, with Roula Khalaf writing in the Financial Times that the Russian veto threatens to bring Syria to civil war. In an interview with NBC yesterday, US President Barack Obama said that his country would work ‘in lockstep’ with Israel over Iran’s nuclear programme. He assessed that Israel had not yet made up its mind on how to confront the Iranian threat. As part of the ongoing dialogue between the two countries, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman travels to the US today to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whilst Obama will meet with both President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu early in March. The Times and the Daily Telegraph report comments by senior Iranian officials who have warned their neighbours not to offer any assistance to any attack on Iran from the west, whilst the Guardian reports comments by General Security Services head Yoram Cohen that Iran may target Israel in retaliation for covert operations aimed at delaying its nuclear programme. The Times reports that Iran has begun a new round of military manoeuvres in and around the Straits of Hormuz. The Times also reports another attack on the pipeline in the Sinai that carries gas from Egypt to Israel and Jordan.

Israeli news leads with the appointment of Maj-Gen Amir Eshel as the new commander of the Israeli Air Force. Eshel, currently the head of the IDF Plans and Policy Directorate, will play a key role in discussions regarding Israeli policy towards Iran. According to Hanan Greenberg in Maariv, Eshel is described as experienced and capable of preparing the air force for any mission, but ‘whose opinions will be difficult to ignore’. The comments by President Obama on US-Israeli cooperation are widely reported, with Yisrael Hayom also carrying comments by a senior Pakistani official that if Israel attacks Iran, his country would also respond. Talks between Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas Political Bureau Director Khaled Mashaal over forming a national unity government ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections later in the year continue, with the Jerusalem Post reporting a proposal that Abbas serve both as president and prime minister in the interim government. This would remove a major block to the deal, since Hamas is unwilling to allow current prime minister Salam Fayyad to continue in his role. Amos Harel of Haaretz reports that Hamas is trying to re-establish a presence in the West Bank, although transfers of cash from Arab states to the West Bank have been intercepted by the Israeli security forces. The Jerusalem Post reports that the postponed large-scale US-Israeli missile defence drill, originally planned for early this year, has been rescheduled for later in the autumn.