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Media Summary

Turkey rejects Syria ceasefire

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BBC News, the Guardian, IndependentFinancial Times, ITV News and Reuters report that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has rejected a US call for an immediate ceasefire in northern Syria. Erdogan’s comments come ahead of a visit to Turkey by the US vice-president and US secretary of state. Russia has said it will not allow clashes between Turkish and Syrian forces, as Turkey’s military offensive in northern Syria continues.

The Guardian, Telegraph, Times, Independent, Financial Times and Daily Mail report that Russian units have begun patrolling territory separating Turkish-backed Syrian rebels from the Syrian army around the flashpoint town of Manbij, in a clear sign that Moscow has become the de facto power broker in the region.

The Daily Mail reports that Kurdish forces opened a back channel to the Syrian government and Russia in 2018, and those talks ramped up significantly in recent weeks. “We warned the Kurds that the Americans will ditch them”, Russia’s ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov told Tass.

BBC News, the Guardian, Financial Times, Channel 4 News and Sky News report that Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has stated that the UK will continue selling arms to Turkey but will not grant new export licences for weapons which might be used in military operations in Syria. Raab told the Commons the UK would keep its exports to Turkey under “very careful and continual review”.

The Independent reports that the UN has warned that time is running out for countries to repatriate their citizens held in camps and prisons in northern Syria. The Telegraph and Times report that Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has stated hinted that the UK may be forced to repatriate British jihadists after the Turkish invasion of northern Syria threatened to allow thousands to escape detention.

The Guardian and Reuters report that Congress will press ahead with a broad package of sanctions on Turkey, including cutting military support, after measures announced by the Trump administration were dismissed as ineffective.

The Guardian and Reuters report that Democratic presidential hopefuls have denounced President Trump’s decision to pull US troops back from northern Syria. Former Vice President Joe Biden warned that IS fighters would strike the US.

Reuters reports that France and the UK have accused Turkey and the US of undoing five years’ worth of work in fighting IS. The Independent reports that senior former commanders in the British military have have spoken of their concern about the threat of IS re-emerging in the region.

The Independent reports that nine French women suspected of IS membership have escaped from a Kurdish-controlled camp in Syria, France’s foreign minister has said.

The Times leading editorial argues that Trump’s decision to abandon the Kurds was a strategic blunder. “The consequences are unfolding exactly as critics warned they would. Turkey has launched an assault on the region that has already cost hundreds of lives and forced 130,000 people to abandon their homes. America’s erstwhile Kurdish allies, the Syrian Democratic Forces, have forged a swift alliance with America’s enemy, President Assad; hundreds of Islamic State prisoners have escaped from jail; meanwhile Russian troops are patrolling the territory vacated by the US.”

Reuters reports that Turkish police have detained four mayors from the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) in dawn raids, widening a crackdown since Ankara launched an incursion into northern Syria.

In the Telegraph, Con Coughlin argues that President Trump “has handed Putin the Middle East on a plate”.

In Sky News, Deborah Haynes argues that President Trump is “losing leverage” in Syria: “The fallout from the president’s actions could also end up leaving Western allies marginalised, undermined and weaker”.

BBC News argues that Syria could be the beginning of the end for President Trump: “President Donald Trump’s policies on Syria are a disaster largely of his own making – one that could cost him re-election in 2020”.

BBC News examines the galvanising of national sentiment in Turkey following Turkey’s military operation in Syria.

In the Times, Hannah Lucinda Smith argues that “Isolated and sanctioned, Turkey needs a quick exit”: In a career defined by high stakes gambles, President Erdogan’s third war in Syria is by far his riskiest to date”.

In the Independent, Patrick Cockburn argues that “Turkey’s Syria invasion [is] rapidly backfiring for Ankara amid unexpected international condemnation”.

In the Guardian, Simon Tisdall maintains that President Erdogan’s “calamitous Syrian blunder has finally broken his spell over Turkey”.

In the Times, Richard Spencer contends that “Turkey has everything to lose in [its] Syria incursion”: “Be careful what you wish for. President Erdogan begged for the US to allow him to take on the Kurdish militia that until the weekend controlled northeast Syria”.

In the Times, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee Tom Tugendhat MP maintains that the UK is not doing enough to protect allies in the Middle East. Tugendhat appeared on Channel 4 News, arguing that the UK has not “been firm enough with the US”.

In the Daily Mail, Michael Burleigh contends that “Bashar Al Assad – the tyrant who drowned his nation in blood – is the real winner in Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of Syria”.

In the Times, Catherine Philp examines the Trump administration’s use of sanctions: “Trump’s favoured foreign policy tool”.

In the Financial Times, Roula Khalaf says the mistakes of both President Trump and President Obama have created a power vacuum in the Middle East.

Reuters reports that two US officials have claimed that the US carried out a secret cyber operation against Iran in the wake of the 14 September attacks on Saudi oil facilities.

Reuters reports that US prosecutors have charged Turkish majority state-owned Halkbank with taking part in a multibillion-dollar scheme to evade US sanctions against Iran .

Reuters reports that Iran has detained a second French national, which is likely to complicate France’s efforts to defuse tensions between the US and Tehran.

BBC News and Reuters report that Lebanon has asked for international help battling hundreds of forest fires that broke out on Monday and have spread abroad. The blazes – the worst in decades – started in Lebanon’s western mountains, amid a heatwave and strong winds.

BBC News reports that a British teenager was “scared for her life” when Cypriot police made her falsely confess to lying about being raped by Israeli tourists, a court has heard. She is on trial in Cyprus, where she is accused of causing public mischief by allegedly falsely claiming to have been attacked at an Ayia Napa hotel in July. She denies the charge.

Reuters reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to pardon a US-Israeli woman sentenced to 7 and a half years in prison on drug charges. Naama Issachar’s case has opened up an unusually public rift between Israel and Russia.

Reuters reports that more Afghans than Syrians have migrated to the EU in 2019, making them the largest nationality illegally entering the bloc.

Reuters reports that a UN report says that that violence linked to Afghanistan’s election last month left 85 civilians dead and more than 370 wounded. The bulk of the casualties were caused by Taliban fighters, who attacked several polling stations in an attempt to derail the vote.

In BBC News, Frank Gardner examines the emerging relationship between Russia and Saudi Arabia: “Once it would have been almost unthinkable: a red carpet roll-out in Riyadh for a Russian leader. “Those Godless Communists” is how some of Saudi Arabia’s more devout citizens once referred to the Soviets during the Cold War. How the world has changed since then”.

Netanyahu asks Putin to free Israeli woman

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked President Putin to free Naama Issachar, 26, an Israeli woman sentenced to seven and a half years last week for drug smuggling after she was arrested in Moscow airport in April with 9g of Cannabis on route from India to Israel. It is believed she is being punished disproportionately to pressure Israel to free a Russian citizen held in Israel pursuant to a US extradition request for cyber security offences.

Netanyahu to return mandate next week

The Israeli media report that Benjamin Netanyahu will not, as expected, declare he can’t form a Government this week, but will make the announcement next week. He has until next Thursday to expand his current support from 55 MKs to reach a 61 seat majority. Benny Gantz will then be asked to form a Government and if, as expected, he fails to form a coalition, talks between Likud and Gantz will intensify in order to build a grand coalition. Netanyahu has cancelled his visit to Japan next week in order to manage political events in Israel.

US target Iran in cyber attack 

The Israeli media report that the US carried out a secret cyber operation against Iran following the September 14 attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities. According to US sources the operation targeted Iran’s ability to spread “propaganda.” The US has not confirmed or denied the attack.