The Independent, Daily Mail and Reuters report that President Rivlin has officially tasked Blue and White leader Benny Gantz with forming the country’s next government. Rivlin formally granted the mandate to Gantz on Wednesday, giving him 28 days to assemble a coalition.

BBC News, the Guardian, Telegraph, Times, Independent, FT, ITV News, Channel 4 News and Reuters report that the US is lifting sanctions imposed on Turkey nine days ago over its offensive against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria. The decision came after Russia agreed with Turkey to deploy troops to extend a ceasefire along the Syrian border. “Let someone else fight over this long bloodstained sand,” the president said in a TV address from the White House.

In the Telegraph, Raf Sanchez explains that “Donald Trump claims he is securing the oil in Syria for the US – here’s the reality”.

In Sky News, Cordelia Lynch explains that “Trump tries to turn diplomatic catastrophe into political win”.

The Guardian, FT, Sky News and Reuters report that Russian troops have expanded their presence across north-eastern Syria. Syrian and Russian media showed footage of Russian military police vehicles on the outskirts of the important towns of Manbij and Kobani on Wednesday, one day after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met President Vladimir Putin in Sochi.

In the Guardian, Olga Oliker argues that “Russia has been playing a canny game in the Middle East, but can it continue?”.

In the FT, David Gardner maintains that “Russia is the real winner in Donald Trump’s Syria mess”.

Reuters reports that EU lawmakers have condemned Turkey’s offensive to carve out a “safe zone” in northeast Syria and prepared the way for new EU financial sanctions against Ankara.

The Guardian reports that the Syrian regime inflicts at least 72 kinds of torture on prisoners in its detention facilities, according a report that estimates the methods that have resulted in the deaths of at least 185 people this year and more than 14,000 over the course of the civil war.

The Times and Reuters report that scores of IS fighters have escaped from jail in the chaos that followed the Trump administration’s withdrawal of forces from Syria. James Jeffrey, the administration’s spokesman on Syria, told two congressional hearings that he believed “over 100” fighters had escaped.

The Times reports that IS taken control inside the vast al-Hawl camp: “In the six months that Aylul Rizgar has worked in Syria’s most infamous Islamic State internment camp she has been stoned, spat at, bitten, drenched in fuel during an immolation attempt and repeatedly threatened with decapitation”.

The Guardian and Reuters report that Albanian police have discovered an Iranian paramilitary network that allegedly planned attacks in Albania against exiled members of an Iranian group that is seeking to overthrow the government in Tehran.

The Times, FT and Reuters report that King Salman has reshuffled his cabinet, replacing Ibrahim al-Assaf as foreign minister with Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud. The appointment appears to be aimed at smoothing relations with Washington.

Reuters reports that Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar has stated that Turkey expects that disagreements with the US over production of F-35 jets will be overcome.

In the Guardian, Patrick Wintour interviews Mohamed Ali: the “Egyptian exile who sparked protests in shock at mass arrests”: “In interview in Spain, the businessman says he is in fear of contract killing and that he has new plan to topple President Sisi”.

In the Independent, Ahmed Aboudouh explains that “flights to Sharm el-Sheikh are back on. That’s exactly what Boris Johnson wants”: “The prime minister has a warm relationship with the Egyptian president, despite Sisi’s poor human rights record – and a vested interest in keeping him onside”.

The Times reports that a quarter of the Royal Navy’s 76 ships are inoperable and dragging down UK maritime aspirations.

BBC News reports that Iranian TV has broadcast an interview with an Instagram star jailed for blasphemy in October. Sahar Tabar gained worldwide fame on social media for her likeness to actress Angelina Jolie.

The Daily Mail reports that President Trump has sent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a 70^th birthday letter, thanking him for his ‘loyal friendship’ and adding ‘you are great!’ in his own handwriting.

The Daily Mail reports that the secrets of the Knights Templar have been unearthed by archaeologists in Israel. A set of ‘lost’ tunnels leading to a treasure tower were discovered, which the legendary warrior monks would have used to transport gold approximately 800 years ago.

Reuters reports that a Byzantine-era church built in honour of an unnamed martyr has been unearthed near Jerusalem after a three-year excavation.

Reuters reports that Kurdish lawmaker Musa Farisogullari says he has been targeted by water cannon, tear gas and blows from riot shields while trying to protest this month against Turkey’s military offensive in north-east Syria.

Reuters reports that Lebanon’s top Christian religious authority has called for a change in government to include qualified technocrats and urged President Michel Aoun to begin talks to address the demands of protesters angered by an economic crisis.

In the FT, Roula Khalaf maintains that “Lebanon’s mass demonstrations are focusing political minds”.

Reuters reports that a Syrian Kurdish man has set himself on fire outside the UN refugee agency in Geneva.

Gantz asked to form government: All the Israeli media report that Blue and White leader Benny Gantz last night formally received the mandate to form a government from President Reuven Rivlin. Gantz now has 28 days to cobble together a 61 seat governing coalition. In a speech at the President’s residence, Gantz said he still intended to form a “liberal unity government” but that he would also work on behalf of “everyone who has the national interest at heart, for everyone who is an Israeli patriot.” Gantz at one point addressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly, saying “the results of the election and [the Prime Minister’s] legal situation demand a change.” Immediately after the speech Gantz called all the heads of the political parties, yet the ultra-Orthodox and right-wing leaders rebuffed his entreaties, saying that Netanyahu’s Likud would negotiate on their behalf. The respective negotiating teams for Likud and Blue and White will meet on Sunday, while a meeting between Netanyahu and Gantz may happen in the coming days. Gantz will find it difficult to form a government, most analysts observed, so long as Netanyahu’s 55-seat right-wing bloc (including the Likud) refuse to budge on their preconditions – namely that Netanyahu go first in any premiership rotation deal and that the entirety of the bloc be incorporated into a future government.

IDF again demolishes home of West Bank terrorist: Ynet reported that the IDF again demolished the family home of Islam Abu Hamid, who was responsible for the 2018 murder of IDF Staff Sgt. Ronen Lubasky. The home, located in the Al-Amari refugee camp near Ramallah in the West Bank, had previously been demolished but rebuilt.