The Telegraph and Reuters report that the Lebanese army have opened fire on Israeli surveillance drones over southern Lebanon. The military fired shots from M16 assault rifles at low-flying Israeli drones over the village of al-Adaisseh, near their shared border. Israel regularly flies unmanned surveillance planes into Lebanese airspace, but it is rare for the Lebanese army to attempt to down them. It appeared to be making good on a promise to “protect its sovereignty” after an Israel drone strike on Hezbollah territory in Beirut.

BBC News reports that Hamas is arresting suspected jihadist activists in Gaza after two suicide bomb attacks on police posts. Three police officers were killed in the attacks, which are thought to have been carried out by extremists linked to Islamic State. Gaza’s interior ministry declared a state of emergency after the bombings.

The Guardian and Reuters report that US Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt has confirmed that the US will not release the long-delayed political portion of its Israeli-Palestinian peace plan before Israel’s elections. The US president said on Monday that the plan might be revealed before the Israeli election.

BBC News and Reuters report that Yemen government forces have re-entered Aden, which they lost to previously allied separatists earlier this month. Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani said troops and militiamen had taken full control of the city after securing the airport and presidential palace. But a separatist militia commander said it was still in control of most areas.

BBC News and the Times report that a Palestinian teenager admitted to Harvard says he has been denied entry to the US after officials objected to his friends’ social media posts. Ismail Ajjawi, who lives in Lebanon, says he was questioned for hours after arriving at Boston’s airport on Friday. His visa was cancelled after immigration officials searched his phone and laptop and was found “inadmissible”.

Reuters reports that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has claimed that the Turkey-US agreement to set up a “safe zone” in northeast Syria was a correct step and that Ankara would not let Washington delay the plan. Ankara revealed last weekend that a joint operations centre for the proposed zone along Syria’s north-eastern border is now fully operational.

Reuters reports that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has called on Iranian citizens to unite to overcome an “economic war” waged by the US, while his government said it would use diplomacy to try to solve the standoff. “We need to unite to fight against and to win this economic war that America has launched against Iran,” Rouhani said in a televised speech. Reuters reports that Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif echoed Rouhani’s on Thursday by declaring that the US must observe the JCPOA and stop engaging in “economic terrorism” against the Iranian people if Washington wants to meet for talks.

The Times reports that a senior Iranian journalist has sought asylum in Sweden after fleeing while on an official visit with the Iranian Foreign Minister. Amir Tohid Fazel, political editor at the conservative Moj news agency, made the decision after learning that four officers had visited his agency in Tehran with a warrant for his arrest. “A colleague was very eager that I inform my family, since he knew that I was not in Iran and that I tell them to leave home,” he told Swedish television.

Reuters reports that the US has imposed sanctions on two networks it says helped boost Iran’s nuclear programme and evade US sanctions, the Treasury Department said. One of the networks used a Hong Kong-based front company to avoid sanctions and target US technology and components on behalf of people tied to Iran’s government and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the US Treasury Department said in a statement.

Reuters reports that the Taliban has claimed it is close to an agreement with US officials on a deal that would see US forces withdraw from Afghanistan in exchange for a Taliban promise that the country would not become a haven for international militants. “We hope to have good news soon for our Muslim, independence-seeking nation,” said Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Taliban’s political office in Doha.

In the Guardian, Martin Chulov and Oliver Holmes write that drone attacks in the Middle East suggest drone warfare could extend to distant battlefields: “A spate of drone attacks in Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and now Lebanon has raised the spectre of a new era of conflict in the region, due to the ability of stealth-like weapons to penetrate distant battlefields and hit closely guarded targets”.

In the Guardian, Peter Beaumont asks: “Why is China hiding its oil tankers from US trackers?”: “Signs Beijing may be importing Iranian oil as Trump’s two biggest foreign policy headaches converge”.

In the Independent, Richard Hall reports on the trials of four suspected Isis wives in Baghdad: “Did they go willingly? What was their role? Will they finally face justice?”.

In the Financial Times, Mehul Srivastava and Chloe Cornish argue that Israel’s ‘shadow war’ against Iran has been laid bare in the recent air strikes against Iranian targets and Iran-backed militias in Syria, Iraq and Lebanon.

In the Financial Times, Mehul Srivastava and Steve Johnson report that Israel’s central bank has become the latest to fall in line with a global move towards easier monetary policy, keeping interest rates unchanged but hinting at cuts to come if inflation remains subdued and the currency continues to strengthen.

Reuters examines the growing rift between the UAE and Saudi Arabia: “The immediate source of strain is Yemen’s ruinous war. Friction had been growing for months over the conflict, which was initially expected to last a few weeks but has dragged on for years and killed tens of thousands with no end in sight”.

In Reuters, Ronen Zvulun examines Jerusalem’s underground nightlife scene: “Jerusalem, ancient sacred city and heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, takes on a wholly different tone around midnight”.

Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz held his first meeting with UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab in London yesterday. A report in The Times of Israel said Katz urged the UK to follow in the US’s footsteps and designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation. Citing Iran’s malign activities throughout the region, Katz said the terror designation would be the “appropriate and just response” to the attacks masterminded by IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani. Following the meeting, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab tweeted a photo of himself and Katz and said Israel “remains a close partner and friend”.

US envoy Jason Greenblatt announced yesterday that the Trump administration would not release its long-delayed Israeli-Palestinian “peace vision” until after the Israeli election, Israeli media reported yesterday. Prime Minister Netanyahu at a campaign event told supporters, however, that the US would release it “shortly after” the election, asking the crowd who they would rather have in office to negotiate with the Trump administration.

Channel 12 reported last night that Blue and White leaders, including party leader Benny Gantz, had their phones compromised by Russian hackers. The report was sourced to a private cyber security firm recently hired by Gantz to investigate leaks from within the campaign. Blue and White officials denied the details of the report, saying no information was compromised and describing the details of the report as politically motivated. Writing in Yediot Ahronoth, Yuval Karni said: “Regardless of whether Benny Gantz and top Blue and White campaign officials’ telephones were hacked or not, and regardless of whether senior party officials’ computers were attacked by Russian hackers or not—the affair primarily points to the typical sloppiness of Blue and White Party leader Benny Gantz and his personal chief of staff.”

Israeli media reported on an incident last night near the Israel-Lebanon border, where Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) personnel fired on three Israeli drones. Subsequent video of the incident showed LAF soldiers using small arms to fire at the Israeli aircraft, which were not believed to be damaged. The Lebanese government and Hezbollah vowed to target Israeli aircraft in its airspace after last weekend’s alleged Israeli drone attack in Beirut.

Israeli media reported that a rocket was fired at Israel from Gaza yesterday evening. While the projectile exploded inside the Gaza Strip, failing to enter Israeli territory, the attack did set off Red Alert sirens in neighbouring communities. Israeli jets in response targeted a Hamas observation post in the northern Gaza Strip.