The Daily Mail reports that thousands of residents in Idlib have headed home within 48 hours of a deal being announced to avoid a government offensive to retake the province. Many headed home after a deal was reached between Russia and rebel supporter Turkey to create a demilitarised buffer zone along the front line, as the first step in a wider settlement. “Around 7,000 people have returned to their towns and villages since the announcement of the deal on Monday, especially in the southeast of Idlib and the north of (neighbouring) Hama,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Reuters reports that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has said his group would keep its military presence in Syria until further notice. In a televised address he said: “We will stay there (in Syria) even after the settlement in Idlib. Our presence there is linked to the need and the consent of the Syrian leadership.” But Nasrallah indicated the number of fighters of the powerful Shi’ite group would be reduced as fronts across Syria become more quiet. Hezbollah has provided vital support to Syria’s military in the seven-year war, helping it regain swathes of the country.

The Telegraph, the Daily Mail and Reuters report on the downing of a Russian plane hit by Syrian anti-aircraft fire during an Israeli missile strike in Latakia. The Telegraph reports that Syrian President Bashar Assad has blamed Israel for the incident. “This unfortunate incident was the result of Israeli arrogance and depravity,” Assad said. “We are determined that such tragic events will sway neither you nor us from continuing the fight against terrorism,” he continued in the letter published by the official Sana agency. The Daily Mail reports that the Russian military has accused Israeli pilots of using the Russian plane as a cover, “exposing it to fire from Syrian air defences”. Israel said it had targeted a Syrian military facility where weapons manufacturing systems were “about to be transferred on behalf of Iran” to Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah. It was the worst ‘friendly fire’ incident between Moscow and the Syrian regime since Russian forces intervened in the country in late 2015 to support Assad whose grip on power had been weakened by rebels and jihadist fighters.

Reuters reports that Israel’s air force chief will today present findings in Moscow related to the plane incident. Israel on Tuesday blamed Syria, saying its anti-aircraft batteries “fired indiscriminately” and failed to ensure that no Russian planes were in the air. The Israeli army said Major-General Amikam Norkin and other senior officers would “present the situation report of the event regarding all aspects, including the pre-mission information and the findings of the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) inquiry”.

Writing in the FT, Roula Khalaf comments that “twenty-five years after the Oslo peace accords and the handshake between Yassir Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin on the White House lawn, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been relegated to an after-thought”. However, Khalaf mentions that warming relations between Israel and its Arab neighbours “is driven predominantly by shared enmity towards Iran. In the Gulf, Iran’s extended reach in the Middle East is a greater and more immediate threat than Israel”. The full article ‘Israel and the Arab states make eyes at each other’ can be read here.

The Business Insider reports that the US has named Iran as the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. The US accuses Iran of intensifying numerous conflicts and trying to undermine governments throughout the Middle East. The State Department’s annual survey of global terrorism said Iran and its proxies are responsible for fomenting violence in Afghanistan, Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen.

The Daily Mail and Reuters report that Palestinians in Gaza protested along the border. The Daily Mail reports that Hamas intensified demonstrations at the border after Egyptian-led cease-fire talks stalled. Hamas group was hoping its indirect talks with Israel would result in the lifting of the blockade but it accused the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) of thwarting the negotiations. Wednesday’s protest is the third this week, with new grounds including Gaza’s northwestern tip at the Mediterranean where land and sea boundaries converge.”This thunderous march will not stop until the ordeal is over. This is our resolution,” Hamas Chief Ismail Haniyeh said during the funeral of a Palestinian killed a day earlier at a protest. Reuters report that the Palestinian health ministry said Israeli forces opened fire during a demonstration in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday, killing a Palestinian youth. An Israeli military spokeswoman said troops came under attack on the border fence in the southern Gaza Strip, stones and firebombs were thrown at them and they responded with “riot dispersal means”. Live rounds were fired according to “open-fire regulations”, she said. Ashraf Al-Qidra, a spokesman for Gaza’s health ministry, said 15-year-old Moamen Ibrahim Abu Eyada was shot dead by Israeli soldiers.

The Guardian reports that an art exhibition in the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, provides the opportunity for Israelis to experience a Palestinian family’s living room – by wearing virtual reality goggles. “On the surface, the exhibition is not threatening, it’s almost even naive. But I think the under-layer is very tragic, disappointing,” the artist, Daniel Landau, said. More than 200,000 people have visited in the past three months, said Landau, who has often gone to hear feedback. “The initial response is that they say: ‘I’ve never been into an Arab house. I’ve never met Arab people. I’m surprised to see how family-like they are.’

The FT reports that the Trump administration is working to provide alternative sources of oil to American allies that will be affected by US sanctions on Iran. The Trump administration has demanded that all buyers of Iranian oil cut imports to zero. While countries such as South Korea and France have stopped purchases altogether, India and China are still importing Iranian crude at lower levels.

Reuters reports that Iran has asked the UN to condemn Israeli threats against Tehran and to bring Israel’s nuclear programme under its supervision. “The United Nations’ members should not turn a blind eye to these threats and must take firms actions to eliminate all Israeli nuclear weapons,” Fars news agency quoted Iran’s ambassador to the UN Gholamali Khoshrou. Khoshrou asked the UN to force Israel to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and bring its nuclear programme under supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), a UN atomic watchdog.

Wednesday’s edition of Newsnight covered Israel’s divisive Nation-State Law. Tom Bateman provided the report.

Following the self-imposed news embargo in the Israeli media for Yom Kippur, the papers are focused on Monday night’s events when a Syrian anti-aircraft battery shot down a Russian Air Force Ilyushin 20 plane near Latakia in the aftermath of an Israeli air strike in the area. Yedioth Ahronot leads with comments from President Vladimir Putin that the downing of the plane was a strategic mistake while Maariv quote Putin as warning, ‘Don’t let it happen again,’ and Haaretz leading with fears in Israel that its air activity in Syria will be restricted.

Kan Radio News reports that an IDF delegation headed by Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin will leave this morning for Moscow to present the findings of its inquiry into the incident. The delegation will also review Iran’s ongoing attempts to equip Hezbullah with strategic weapons and its efforts to entrench itself militarily in Syria.

Alex Fishman in Yedioth Ahronot writes that “any military operation, no matter how sophisticated it may be, that ends in a gratuitous diplomatic crisis with a world power cannot be considered to be a success. Even if the military goals were achieved, this is a failure because there aren’t any free lunches in the Middle East: Israel is going to have to pay for the fact that the Russians lost an electronic espionage plane with 15 officers, espionage experts and air crew on board”. Fishman also suggests that “nothing about the Russian response was by chance of course, and it was meant first and foremost, to reduce Israel’s freedom to act in Syria”.

Yossi Melman in Maariv writes that “we need to pay serious attention to a second part of Putin’s statement,” in which he said that Russia would be “taking additional steps to protect our servicemen and assets in Syria,” and adds “to draw an allusion from the world of soccer, Putin has only shown Israel the yellow card at this point”.

Yoav Limor in Israel Hayom writes that “the good relations between Putin and Netanyahu will have great impact on how things develop from here. One only needs to recall how Russia dealt with Turkey after a Russian plane was shot down in 2015, and to compare and contrast that to the measured response that was issued on Tuesday. That said, we should make no mistake: Russia is angry and is going to be held accountable domestically. That means that the northern sector is going to be especially edgy in the near future, and Israel is going to have to strike a delicate balance between protecting its security interests in all that pertains to the Iranian-Syrian-Hezbollah axis, while also avoiding unwanted friction with Russia.” 

Kan Radio News reports that the IDF has informed the family of the terrorist who killed IDF soldier Ronen Lubarsky that it intends to demolish all four stories of the building in which he lived. At the IDF’s initiative, the matter was revisited in the last few weeks, after which it was decided to demolish the entire building.

Kan Radio News reports that sources in Gaza reported that a 15-year-old Palestinian boy was killed last night by IDF fire east of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. In the last few days, the Palestinians have begun to organise disturbances, even at night, near the border fence in the southern and central Gaza Strip. The Times of Israel and Haaretz report that a Palestinian died hours after being arrested with the family claiming that soldiers beat him. An IDF spokesperson said that he received treatment from troops and was taken to the hospital, escorted by an IDF medical team, who performed CPR. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. According to an initial investigation, he was arrested without resisting or violence. The incident will be investigated.