The Financial Times, BBC, Guardian, Telegraph, Times, Independent and Reuters report that the US has announced a withdrawal from Syria. The Financial Times reports that the White House has said the US is withdrawing troops from the country. President Donald Trump claimed victory over Isis in Syria as the White House said the US had begun to pull troops out of the country. The troop withdrawal was quickly branded a “mistake” by two influential Republican senators, pointing to possible disagreements between the White House and the Pentagon over Syria policy. “We have defeated ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency,” Mr Trump wrote on Twitter on Wednesday morning. Sarah Sanders, White House press secretary, said US troops had “started returning home” after defeating the “territorial caliphate” but that the US was “ready to re-engage at all levels to defend American interests whenever necessary”. The Independent reports that Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the withdrawal of US troops would be ”a mistake”. “An American withdrawal at this time would be a big win for ISIS, Iran, Bashar al-Assad of Syria, and Russia. I fear it will lead to devastating consequences for our nation, the region, and throughout the world,” he said in a statement.

The Guardian and the Times report on Britain’s reaction to the US withdrawal from Syria. The Guardian reports that the British government has contradicted Donald Trump’s claim that Islamic State has been defeated in Syria. A UK government spokesman said of the fight against ISIS: “Much remains to be done and we must not lose sight of the threat they pose. As the United States has made clear, these developments in Syria do not signal the end of the global coalition or its campaign. We will continue to work with members of the coalition on achieving this.” The statement added: “We remain committed to the global coalition and the campaign to deny Daesh territory and ensure its enduring defeat, working alongside our critical regional partners in Syria and beyond. As the situation on the ground develops, we will continue to discuss how we achieve these aims with our coalition partners, including the US.” Tom Tugendhat MP, the chair of the foreign affairs select committee, said Trump’s move was a surprise. “This is an operation the US was conducting, and conducting effectively, not just in Syria but to maintain support for the government in Iraq as well,” he said. The Times reports that defence minister, Tobias Ellwood, criticised the president’s victory declaration. “I strongly disagree,” he tweeted. “[Isis] has morphed into other forms of extremism and the threat is very much alive.”

Richard Spencer in the Times, reports that the sudden withdrawal of the US from Syria is a “green light for more Iranian meddling”.

Reuters  reports that Turkey has said Kurdish militants east of the Euphrates in Syria “will be buried in their ditches when the time comes”, after President Donald Trump began what will be a total withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria. “Now we have Manbij and the east of the Euphrates in front of us. We are working intensively on this subject,” state-owned Anadolu news agency on Thursday reported Defence Minister Hulusi Akar saying during a visit to a Qatari-Turkish joint military base in Doha. “Right now it is being said that some ditches, tunnels were dug in Manbij and to the east of the Euphrates. They can dig tunnels or ditches if they want, they can go underground if they want, when the time and place comes they will be buried in the ditches they dug. No one should doubt this.” It was not clear when Akar was speaking.

The Financial Times reports that Switzerland is close to launching an initiative to let companies sell food, medicine and medical devices to Iran using a payments channel that would be the first such mechanism to win Washington’s approval since it re-imposed sanctions against Tehran. The Swiss humanitarian supplies plan, which is the subject of delicate ongoing talks with the US and Iran, comes as leading EU powers hope within weeks to set up a much-touted mechanism to finance broader trade with Tehran. The Swiss economic affairs department told the Financial Times it was “striving” to set up the humanitarian payments channel “as soon as possible” but could not give a start date. “Discussions are still ongoing with US authorities, Iran and Swiss companies.”

The BBC and Independent  report on Israel’s call for UN action against Hezbollah. The BBC reports that Israel has called on the UN Security Council to act against the militant group Hezbollah after the discovery of four tunnels under the Lebanese border. PM Benjamin Netanyahu said the tunnels, which violated a Security Council resolution, were “not merely an act of aggression” but “an act of war”. He urged the UN to designate Hezbollah as a terrorist organisation in its entirety, impose heightened sanctions on it and hold Lebanon to account. The Independent reports that ahead of a UN Security Council meeting to address the tunnels on Wednesday, the PM said the Lebanese government “is doing nothing at best, it is colluding at worse”. He told the Israeli Knesset: “The people of Lebanon have to understand that Hezbollah is putting them in jeopardy. And we expect Lebanon to take action to protest against this, and not to give into this.”

Reuters reports that lawmakers from both U.S. parties introduced legislation on Wednesday to give Congress more say in any deal on civil nuclear power cooperation between the United States and Saudi Arabia. The Trump administration is eager to strike a deal with Saudi Arabia to share nuclear power technology with the kingdom, as the domestic industry struggles to compete with lower-priced power sources such as natural gas. The No Nuclear Weapons for Saudi Arabia Act would require the House of Representatives and the Senate to approve any so-called 123 agreement with the kingdom. Typically, such agreements go into effect unless majorities of Congress pass joint resolutions of disapproval. It is unlikely that the legislation will pass before the end of the current Congress in January, but the bill raises scrutiny of any deal. It also calls on Saudi Arabia to release details of Khashoggi’s killing before a deal is approved.

The Financial Times reports that Saudi ministers presented next year’s state budget that will boost spending, despite the kingdom’s stated aim of reducing its yawning fiscal deficit in the near future. Speaking in the ornate ballrooms of the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh, ministers touted the economic reform programme launched by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in 2016, which they said had moved from the planning stage to implementation. The budget announcement came as Saudi Arabia continues to grapple with the aftermath of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October, which sparked international condemnation. On Wednesday, Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan, insisted Saudi Arabia remained “attractive for investment”, saying “growth opportunities for investors are high and investors will find many of them”.

The Guardian reports that the general secretary of Interpol, Jurgen Stock, has warned that Europe is facing a new wave of terrorism as radicalised individuals return and jihadists are released from jail. “We could soon be facing a second wave of other Islamic State linked or radicalised individuals that you might call Isis 2.0.” he said, adding: “A lot of these are suspected terrorists or those who are linked to terrorist groups as supporters who are facing maybe two to five years in jail. Because they were not convicted of a concrete terrorist attack but only support for terrorist activities, their sentences are perhaps not so heavy…In many parts of the world, in Europe but also Asia, this generation of early supporters will be released in the next couple of years, and they may again be part of a terrorist group or those supporting terrorist activities.”

The Independent reports that the number of journalists murdered for their reporting almost doubled in 2018, contributing to another deadly year for the profession after a period of declining casualties. The rising toll, together with the record numbers of journalists jailed around the world over past three years, amounts to a “global crisis of press freedom”, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Wednesday. The brutal murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi captured the world’s attention this year. But he was just one of 34 journalists murdered because of their work in 2018, up from 18 the year before. Nine journalists were killed in Syria, three in Yemen, and two Palestinian journalists were shot and killed covering protests in the Gaza strip. For the first time since 2012, the CPJ did not confirm any journalists were killed because of their work in Iraq.

All the Israeli media report on US President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw US forces from Syria. Maariv’s main headline declares, “We will defend ourselves.” Yediot Ahronot notes, “as far as Israel is concerned, the American withdrawal comes at a particularly bad time: relations with Russia have not been put fully back on track since the downing of a Russian plane in Syria, and despite the Hezbollah tunnel threat, the US has continued to supply the Lebanese army with weapons, and has been unwilling to pressure it into taking action against Nasrallah.  Syria President Bashar Assad and his sponsors in Tehran and Moscow can be pleased. For years they have been calling on the US to withdraw.” A short time after the White House announcement, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that the US Army presence was illegal and that its presence upset the peace process. Housing Minister Yoav Galant said that in the wake of the American withdrawal, Israel must “make an increased effort to block the Shiite storm in the Middle East.” Former Prime Minister Ehud Barak said, “Trump is abandoning Syria and the Iranians are celebrating… Trump doesn’t work for Bibi, and neither does Putin. It’s all a deception. Only Israel is responsible for its future and its fate.” Smadar Peri writes about the impact on Kurdish militias: “In the last three years they enjoyed protection, training and weapons from the US Army in the salient that they established in north eastern Syria. But now, without American protection, the Syrian army troops to the south and the Turkish army troops to the north threaten to invade their territory.” Regarding Israel’s position she notes: “Without the American presence near its northern border, Israel has lost a major element of deterrence and potential military aid in the case of a regional escalation. The Russian army, which will now become the main power in the country, has no commitment toward Israel.” She warns: “The withdrawal of American troops from Syria is a milestone event that threatens to change the regional balance of power and to create a new reality on the ground, a reality that is not necessarily going to be good for Israel.” Also writing in Yediot Ahronot, Shimon Shiffer says: “Trump is now responsible for abandoning—some might even say forsaking—Israel in the face of Iranian aggression in the region: as long as Russia is the power-broker in the region, and in the absence of American deterrence in Syria, what is going to prevent the Iranians and Hezbollah from turning the Golan into a forward base?”

Israel Hayom says: “The American decision sends Israel the message that it is going to have to cope with all of the worst players in the region on its own….. The timing of the American decision isn’t ideal for Israel either. Netanyahu and the government are currently focused on the effort to garner international support against Hezbollah and its invasive tunnels. Just as that effort is at its peak, the president has taken a step that is liable to play into the hands of Hezbollah’s sponsor and the Iranian-Syrian axis as a whole, without demanding anything in return—which is a disappointing development in its own right.  Either way, the conclusion is clear. The American decision indicates that even if the friendliest president [to Israel] resides in the White House, his guiding principle will be to do what is best for America, even if that comes at the cost of tarnishing the United States’ image in the short-term. The bottom line is that when it comes to foreign affairs and security, no one is going to do the job for us. Not even Trump.”

Haaretz quotes Prime Minister Netanyahu discussing the tunnels from Lebanon: “It is important to understand what Hezbollah is doing here. It is committing a double war crime. It’s targeting Israeli civilians, while hiding behind Lebanese civilians. Targeting Israeli civilians, while hiding behind Lebanese civilians. That’s a double war crime. The people of Lebanon have to understand that Hezbollah is putting them in jeopardy. And we expect Lebanon to take action against this, to protest against this, not to give in to this. And the fact that the Lebanese army is doing nothing means that they are either unable or unwilling or both to do anything about this. But it doesn’t absolve Lebanon’s culpability. Their territory is being used to attack our territory. Their territory is being used to dig terror tunnels, to terrorise, kidnap and murder our citizens. Therefore, we hold Lebanon accountable.”

Maariv reports that the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee in the Knesset issued a report stating the IDF is prepared for war. The report followed claims by the Defence Ministry ombudsman that was critical of IDF preparedness and that there are significant gaps in the army’s readiness for conflict. While this new report notes that problems exist — ones also acknowledged by the IDF — it assessed that the military’s operational preparedness had “significantly improved since Operation Protective Edge” (the 2014 Gaza war). It said the study had found “a dramatic increase in readiness by almost every indicator — whether in the number of training drills, whether in munitions stocks, spare parts inventory and more.”

Haaretz includes an update on Prime Minister Netanyahu’s corruption investigations. The State Prosecutor’s Office yesterday recommended that Netanyahu be charged with bribery in two corruption cases, known as Cases 2000 and 4000. Deliberations at the attorney general’s office will commence in the coming days. Case 4000 involves suspicions that Netanyahu, in his capacity as communications minister from 2014 to 2017, intervened with regulators to help Bezeq with a 1 billion shekel deal to benefit its owner, Shaul Elovitch. In exchange, Elovitch, a long-time friend of Netanyahu’s, allegedly ordered the Bezeq-owned news site Walla to provide favourable news coverage of the prime minister and his wife, Sara. According to State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan, the attorney general will discuss “the complex ethical and legal issues that arise from these cases based on the opinions he will hear in order to make a decision.” Nitzan also said that the opinion drafted by the prosecutor’s office is 800 pages long. Despite the fact that police published its recommendations on Case 4000 only two weeks ago, the preparation of the opinion on this case started earlier.  In response, the Prime Minister’s Office said: “The leaks and the media pressure are meant this time as well to apply wrongful pressure in order to file indictments against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at any price. We are certain that an examination of the evidence while ignoring the background noises will prove that there’s nothing [to the allegations].” Maariv includes a quote from Finance Minister and Chairman of Kulanu Moshe Kahlon who said if an indictment is filed, Netanyahu will not be able to continue serving as prime minister.”