Several UK dailies report on Hezbollah’s admission that they launched an unarmed drone that entered Israeli airspace last weekend. The Daily Mirror, Financial Times, Telegraph, Times and the online edition of the Independent all report on comments made by Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, who warned that Hezbollah would carry out similar infiltrations in the future. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded vowing to act aggressively against all threats to the country’s borders.

The Independent i reports on the discovery yesterday of the body of Israeli soldier Majdi Halabi, who had been missing since 2005, in the Carmel Forest in the north of the country. The Telegraph also mentions the discovery of Halabi’s body. Meanwhile, the Guardian publishes an abbreviated op-ed by editor-at-large of Haaretz Aluf Benn, in which he argues that Benjamin Netanyahu is well placed to win Israel’s upcoming election.

Most broadsheets note the diplomatic fallout after Turkish jets forced the landing of a Syrian passenger plane on Wednesday, with the Independent and online editions of the Guardian, Times, Telegraph and Financial Times reporting that Russia has been dragged into the dispute over the incident. Russian officials yesterday demanded that Turkey explain their actions, in particular why Russian embassy officials were denied access to the plane, which took off from Russia and was carrying Russian citizens. Turkey’s Prime Minister insisted that the aircraft was transporting Russian munitions destined for Syria. Both the Times and the Independent i publish articles on internal political tensions in Iran. Both comment on President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s lack of current popularity within Iran in the wake of the country’s difficult economic situation. The Times speculates on who might succeed Ahmadinejad, who will step down from his post next year having served the maximum term. The Guardian includes a lengthy report on a new diplomatic initiative which international powers are expected to launch in the coming months to bring about a peaceful solution to the dispute over Iran’s nuclear development.

In the Israeli media, Israel Hayom leads with the news that the body of IDF soldier Majdi Halabi was discovered yesterday after he went missing seven years ago. Yediot Ahronot, Maariv and Haaretz also cover the story. The report in Haaretz suggests that Halabi’s family will demand an explanation over why it took so long to solve the mystery of the soldier’s disappearance.

Meanwhile, the election campaign continues to be widely covered. All dailies report Prime Minister Netanyahu’s announcement that elections will take place on 22 January 2013, while Israel Hayom and Jerusalem Post both publish new polls. Israel Hayom’s survey puts Netanyahu’s Likud Party on a projected 29 seats with the Labour Party in second place on 20 mandates. The Jerusalem Post poll indicates that a grand centre-left party led by Ehud Olmert and including Tzipi Livni, Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz and Yesh Atid’s Yair Lapid would defeat Likud.

Another focus of today’s news is an interview with Gilad Shalit, which is set to be broadcast on Channel Ten. Speaking about his time in Hamas captivity, exerts of the interview are included in this morning’s Yediot Ahronot, Maariv and Israel Hayom in which Shalit reveals that he preserved his sanity by maintaining a daily schedule and said that sport was a common denominator with his captors.  Yediot Ahronot carries a report that Prime Minister Netanyahu and Syrian President Assad conducted peace negotiations prior to the outbreak of violence in Syria in 2011. The report claims that Netanyahu had agreed to a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights in exchange for a peace agreement between the two countries including the establishment of embassies, but that talks ended when the unrest in Syria began.