The Times reports that the ‘battle for Damascus’ has intensified, with both rebel and government forces streaming towards the capital. The paper also notes concerns that the Syrian regime could use its chemical weapons stockpile, or allow it to fall into the hands of other groups. The Daily Telegraph notes comments by Israeli military intelligence head Maj.-Gen. Aviv Kochavi, who warned that the withdrawal of Syrian army forces from the Golan Heights could allow global Jihadist elements to take up positions along the border with Israel. The Guardian’s Middle East editor, Ian Black, writes that, “with the crumbling of old certainties”, Israel is viewing regional developments with concern. The Daily Mirror notes that Iraq has ordered its citizens to leave Syria and to return home. The Financial Times looks at the impact of the fighting in Syria on Lebanon, as the country’s Sunni population begins to protest against Hezbollah and Amal, the militant Shia groups backed by Syria and Iran. Under the headline ‘After Assad’, the Times leader notes that, unlike Libya, Syria sits in one of the most volatile regions in the world. There is widespread coverage of the decision by Kadima party leader Shaul Mofaz to quit the coalition, only ten weeks after he brought his party into government. The Daily Telegraph looks at the growing role of cyber warfare in the efforts to contain Iran’s nuclear programme, and carries assessments by Iranian dissident groups that the country’s leaders are overseeing “a massive expansion of the country’s nuclear weapons programme”. The Guardian reports that a leaked UN report details a multi-million dollar industry which smuggles arms and people from Eritrea is contributing to the breakdown of law and order in the Sinai Peninsula, and a wave of illegal immigration into Israel. The Sun and the Daily Mirror report on the terrorist who killed four people in a gun attack on a Jewish school in Toulouse, as well as three soldiers. The gunman told police that the attacks were a protest against Israel, and that the killings “soothed” him.

The Israeli media is dominated by the announcement yesterday that Kadima has quit the government coalition, following the failure to agree on legislation to replace the Tal law, which governs the conscription of ultra-Orthodox men into the IDF. In an exchange of letters, Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz and Prime Minister Netanyahu accused each other of missing an “opportunity to make a historic change”. In the comment columns, Yediot Ahronot’s Nahum Barnea describes the now-defunct coalition agreement as “a marriage of convenience” which quickly lost its magic. Ben Caspit, writing in Maariv, notes that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and former Kadima leader Tzipi Livni are both able to claim that they took no part in the failed attempt to broker an agreement. Yediot Ahronot assesses that the government coalition, now back to 66 members, will find it hard to pass a budget this winter, and that elections are therefore likely in the spring of 2013. The Jerusalem Post reports that the state will not oppose a petition by residents of Migron, an unauthorised outpost slated for evacuation by August 1^st, who claim that they have now purchased the land their homes are built on. Haaretz notes the decision by Israel’s Higher Education Council yesterday which granted full university status to Ariel College.