The Guardian, the Financial Times, the Times, BBC News Online, Sky News, the Telegraph, the Daily Mail, the Daily Express, Metro, the Independent, the Sun and ITV News report that Israel’s military said its positions in the Golan Heights were fired at with a barrage of Iranian rockets, prompting it to respond with extensive strikes targeting Tehran’s forces across Syria. The attack, if confirmed, would mark the first time Iran has fired rockets in a direct strike on Israeli forces, dramatically ratcheting up what has for years been a conflict fought through proxies. The Independent reports that Israel has launched its most intensive attack on Iranian positions in neighbouring Syria since the civil war began in 2011, bringing two of the region’s major powers to the brink of full-scale armed conflict. BBC News Online and the Financial Times also reported that Israel is reported to have carried out a missile strike on a military outpost south of the Syrian capital, Damascus, on Tuesday night.

The Guardian reports that the European Union is scrambling to arrange a crisis meeting with Iran after US President Donald Trump pulled out of the JCPOA nuclear agreement, as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Europe had a “very limited opportunity” to save the deal. A day after Trump broke with the landmark 2015 agreement and warned he would seek to hit European businesses that continued to trade with Tehran, the EU vowed to take steps to immunise firms from any US sanctions. In a phone call on Wednesday between French President Emmanuel Macron and Rouhani, the French President stressed his willingness “to continue enforcing the Iran nuclear agreement in all respects”. The statement added that Macron had “underlined the importance that Iran do the same”.

The Guardian and Telegraph report that Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, has vowed the UK will not walk away from the Iran nuclear deal and said it was Trump’s responsibility to come up with detailed proposals for a better way to constrain Iran’s nuclear programme. Johnson had travelled to Washington last week to urge the Trump administration to stick with the landmark 2015 deal, which curbed Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for easing international economic sanctions. Speaking on Wednesday, Johnson said the UK would do its utmost to protect British companies from any extra territorial sanctions imposed by the US. He said he would come up with specific proposals in due course after consultations with his European partners, but insisted the dispute with the US would not affect wider Anglo-American relations.

The Times and Telegraph report that Rouhani will face major resistance from the country’s supreme leader and its hardliners in his bid to save the landmark nuclear deal. Despite Rouhani’s assurances that Trump’s decision to back out of the agreement would not spell its end, conservative elements in Iran have already begun celebrating its demise. During the opening session of parliament on Wednesday, a group of hardline MPs set fire to a paper US flag and the text of the nuclear deal as they chanted “death to America”. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran’s government faced a big test to preserve “the dignity and the grandeur of the Iranian people” and warned against trusting foreign leaders.

The Guardian published an editorial which argues that his withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) “creates a narrative for war”. It further argues that “goading Iran’s hardliners to restart weapons programmes is an extremely high-risk strategy likely to trigger to a military confrontation between the US and Iran and probably the Syrian regime. The problem is that such a conflict would most likely also involve Russia and Israel, the latter an undeclared nuclear power and Iran’s most vocal critic.”

The Daily Mail and the Guardian report that Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in Russia on Wednesday for talks on military coordination. The discussions were prompted by recent tensions in the Middle East over apparent Israeli airstrikes on Syria and the Trump administration’s exit from a nuclear deal with Iran.

The Independent reports that Trump has added to the international tension triggered by his decision to abandon the Iran weapons deal, warning Tehran not to restart its nuclear programme and vowing there will be “very severe consequence” if it does so. “I would advise Iran not to start their nuclear programme,” Trump told reporters at the start of a Cabinet Meeting in Washington when asked about the possibility of Iran once again trying to develop a weapon. “I would advise them very strongly. If they do there will be very severe consequences.”

The Times published a column by Iain Martin which argues that Trump is right to get tough with Tehran. He argues “that [the] unlikely combination of conflicting interests operating in concert makes me suspicious and sceptical, and at least willing to consider the possibility that the US team is on to something with its determination to introduce some unpredictability and to force a reckoning”.

The Telegraph published a column by Colin Freeman which argues that Iran “has a certain ‘never again’ mentality, with no desire to repeat the mass martyrdom [of the Iran-Iraq War] if at all possible. Hence the desire for a nuclear bomb, a weapon that will make any rival power –Western-backed or otherwise – think twice about taking them on in the first place”.

The Telegraph published a column by Timothy Stafford, Senior Research Fellow with the Henry Jackson Society, which argues that “Trump is hoping his good cop, bad cop tactics will force Iran into a new deal”.

The Independent, BBC News Online and the Daily Mail via AP report that Israel has ordered the head of the local office of Human Rights Watch to leave within 14 days, accusing him of supporting a boycott against the Jewish state. The New York-based human rights monitor said it would stand by Omar Shakir, a US citizen of Iraqi descent. It accused Israel of trying to suppress criticism of its human rights record and said it would challenge the decision in court.

The Daily Mail via AFP reports that the ultra-Orthodox make up a growing percentage of Israeli settlers in the West Bank, a sign of the rapidly expanding population of strictly religious Jews as Israel approaches the 70th anniversary of its founding on 14 May. With more than 56,000 residents, Beitar Illit is one of the most populated settlements in the West Bank. Along with Modiin Illit, another West Bank settlement with 70,000 mainly ultra-Orthodox residents, it illustrates a key demographic change taking place in Israel and its settlements.

The Daily Mail via AFP reports that Gulf Arab countries were on Wednesday bracing for the economic and security fallout after President Donald Trump announced the United States was exiting the Iran nuclear deal. Three countries led by Saudi Arabia immediately backed Trump, while Qatar reacted cautiously. Oman and Kuwait also gave circumspect positions. Trump dealt a hammer blow to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Tuesday, removing key sanctions relief for Tehran and casting its future into doubt.

The Israeli media is dominated by news of Iranian missile fire at the Golan Heights last night and Israel’s reponse in hitting Iranian targets in Syria.  The IDF bombed Iranian intelligence sites, logistic headquarters, an Iranian military camp north of Damascus, weapons storehouses in Damascus’s international airport, Iranian intelligence outposts and more and the Iranian launcher that had fired the missiles at Israel was destroyed. Israel also warned the Syrian army lest it intervene. Nevertheless, Syrian anti-aircraft batteries fired dozens of missiles at the IDF planes. No planes were damaged. In response, the IDF attacked five Syrian batteries.

Kan Radio News reports that schools throughout Israel will open today as usual. After a situation assessment meeting by the Home Front Command and in coordination with the Northern Command, it was decided not to permit assemblies of more than 1,000 people in the Golan Heights.

Channel 10’s Tali Moreno and Alon Ben David carried out a long interview with Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman. Lieberman emphasised that “the group that sits here in the Kirya is acting responsibly and judiciously. No one wants an escalation [and] certainly no one wants war. But everything that is necessary to defend the security of the citizens of Israel – we’ll do. When the Iranians are about to fire missiles on the State of Israel, it’s better to pre-empt them. I might be wrong, there might be people who would prefer first to absorb [an attack] and then to think. At least in my worldview, if someone is about to fire missiles on us, it’s always better to pre-empt.” He added that “there are some things that can’t be allowed. If, for example, the Iranians intend to deploy anti-aircraft systems that will shut down our air routes from the north all the way to Tel Aviv – including the IAF and including civilian air traffic – no one will agree to that. I think that that is the basic logic that guides us.” When asked about Gaza, Lieberman raised the notion of “Rehabilitation in exchange for demilitarization”.

Maariv reports on the Herzliya Conference. The former director of Israel’s Shin Bet security agency, Yoram Cohen, told the conference: “Reaching an arrangement with the Palestinians is an Israeli national interest and we should aspire to do that. An arrangement that will significantly reduce [Israel’s] control over the Palestinians, which will reduce the hostility, which will contain security arrangements and which will preserve Israel’s character as Jewish and democratic.” Cohen noted, however, that he did not believe it would be possible to reach a final status arrangement in the coming few years. On that premise, he said that Israel needed to adopt a policy that refrained from irreversible measures that would prevent a future arrangement, such as construction outside the settlement blocs, and adopting a policy that would facilitate creating the conditions for a future arrangement, such as placing a limited part of Area C under Palestinian sovereignty and encouraging countries in the region to establish infrastructure in the Gaza Strip for the welfare of the local population.

Haaretz reports that Israeli Interior Minister Arieh Deri confirmed that talks have resumed with the UN on migrants and that the Holot Detention Facility will remain closed.

In Yediot Ahronoth Yossi Yehoshua discusses details of the reported strike on Tuesday night in Kiswah, slightly south of Damascus. He argues that “Iran doesn’t want a war, but it does want to take revenge on Israel” adding that Iran wants “a confined and controlled response”.

In Maariv, Yossi Melman says that “as of now, Israel has the upper hand. Israel has proven, time after time, that Iran is vulnerable to Israeli intelligence infiltrations. But we must not err in the illusion and rest on our laurels. Iran promised to take revenge, and anyone familiar with the behaviour of the Islamic Republic since it was established 40 years ago knows that it will continue its efforts to retaliate and to take revenge and will wait for the opportunity and the place and the time that best suit it.”

In an opinion piece in Yediot Ahronoth Shlomo Pyuterkovsky praises Netanyahu over his handling of the JCPOA nuclear agreement with Iran. “We don’t have to love Netanyahu. We can definitely disagree with his positions and criticize his decisions. But we can’t help but be impressed with his adherence to the supreme principle of ensuring the existence of the State of Israel and the ability of his diplomatic skills based on the path in which he believes.” Pyuterkovsky adds that “there is nothing like this week’s events to remind us that he is one of the best and most skilled statesmen that the State of Israel has had in the last 50 years”.