Syria Audio Feature: The Israeli Airstrikes...Now What? --- Scott Lucas with the BBC

Defense Research Facility Hit by Airstrike on WednesdayI joined BBC Radio Scotland this morning to assess the aftermath of Wednesday's Israeli air attacks on Syrian targets.

The take-away line: the primary effect of Israel's airstrikes will not be on the Syrian conflict --- that outcome still turns on the battle between the Assad regime and the insurgency --- and it will not be "retaliation" by Iran and Syria against Israeli territory.

Instead, the likely impact will be on the region beyond Syria. Watch in particular for an escalation of tension between Israel and Hezollah on the Israeli-Lebanese border.

The discussion begins at the 2:18.12 mark.

Israel, Palestine (and Beyond) Live Coverage: UN Declares Jewish Settlements in West Bank "Illegal"

2220 GMT: Egypt. The protesters in front of the Presidential Palace appear to be settling in for a long and drawn out battle:

Protesters moving back towards prez palace,dragging sheets of metal,cylindrical police pods anything they can get their hands on #Egypt

— Bel Trew - بل ترو (@Beltrew) February 1, 2013

#csf appeared to have withdrawn back towards gates of prez palace. Protesters building barricade. Extraordinary #Egypt

— Bel Trew - بل ترو (@Beltrew) February 1, 2013

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Syria Live Coverage: Israeli Jets Strike Inside Syria --- But What Was the Target?

Mass funeral prayer for some of the 80 executed men pulled from the Quweig River near Aleppo on Tuesday

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2059 GMT: The Israeli Attack. The White House has given implicit support to the Israeli airstrikes by shifting responsibility to Damascus and invoking the chemical weapons threat.

"We've been very clear that Syria should not further destabilize the region by transferring, for instance, weaponry to Hezbollah," said Deputy US National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes. "We also, of course, have been very clear beyond that that we're closely monitoring Syria's chemical weapons as well."

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Israel (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Netanyahu Claims Narrow Victory

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1700 GMT: Palestine. A 21-year-old Palestinian woman died after being shot in the face by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank today.

Lubna Hanash was killed in a shooting outside a college near Al-Arrub refugee camp, eight kilometres (five miles) north of Hebron, medics said.

Witnesses said a civilian car with Israeli plates stopped on the main Hebron-Bethlehem road in the southern West Bank and two men wearing military fatigues got out and began shooting towards a nearby Palestinian college. Medics said another two people were injured by gunshot wounds.

A military spokeswoman said troops on a routine patrol had been "confronted by Palestinians with Molotov cocktails" and opened fire in self-defence, wounding several of them.

Meanwhile, a 15-year-old Palestinian who was hit in the face by Israeli gunfire last Friday died of his injuries, an Israeli hospital spokeswoman told AFP.

Saleh Amarin had been seriously hurt by a bullet fired by Israeli troops during clashes in Aida refugee camp, north of Bethlehem.

The two deaths raised to six the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli gunfire since 10 January.

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Israel (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Election Day

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2045 GMT: Israel. Exit polls, announced at the close of balloting 45 minutes ago, indicate Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing alliance has a narrow lead in the Knesset but has lost ground to centre-left parties.

Netanyahu now faces the task of forging a new coalition Government with only 31 seats for the alliance between his Likud Party and the nationalist Yisrael Beitenu. Sixty-one members are needed for a majority in the 120-seat Knesset.

He is expected to seek an alliance with a new nationalist party, Habayit Hayehudi, led by the emerging politician Naftali Bennett. It is expected to win 12 seats, the same number as the religious Shas Party.

The surprise of the election may be the centre-left Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party, which has finished second to the Likud-Beitenu coalition and just ahead of Labour.

Yesh Atid, led by journalist-turned-politician Yair Lapid, is projected at 18 or 19 seats and Labour with 17.

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Algeria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: At Least 81 Killed in Gas Plant Siege

See also Syria Live Coverage: The Battle for Idlib Begins?
Sunday's Algeria (and Beyond) Coverage: Gas Plant Siege Ends with 23 Hostages, 32 Attackers Killed

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1652 GMT: Yemen. A US drone strike has killed two suspected insurgents and wounded three others, two of them seriously, according to security officials.

The airstrike, which hit a car east of the capital Sanaa, was the third in the same area since Saturday and the 25th in Yemen since 24 December.

On Saturday, two drone strikes killed eight people in Marib Province.

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Algeria (and Beyond) Coverage: Gas Plant Siege Ends with 23 Hostages, 32 Attackers Killed

See also Bahrain Propaganda 101: Regime Looking for a Few Good Women on Twitter
Israel Feature: The Settlers and the Politician Trying to Re-Make the Jewish State
Syria Live Coverage: "Darayya is Being Pounded to Dust"
Saturday's Algeria (and Beyond) Coverage: Hostage Situation Continues at Gas Plant

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2241 GMT: Egypt. Protesters have set a courthouse in Alexandria on fire after the suspension of the trial of six senior police officers for deaths of protesters during the 2011 uprising.

Young men threw rocks at police, who responded with tear gas. Two trucks that transport riot police was set ablaze.

Judge Mohammed Hammad Abdel-Hadi resigned from the case on Sunday, giving no reason. His resignation means a new trial for the officers accused of using excessive force.

Since President Hosni Mubarak was deposed in February, almost 100 police officers have been brought to trial on charges of killing and wounding protesters. All were acquitted or received suspended sentences.

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Israel Feature: The Settlers and the Politician Trying to Re-Make the Jewish State (Remnick)

Naftali BennettAt a makeshift theatre in the port of Tel Aviv, hundreds of young immigrants from Melbourne, the Five Towns, and other points in the Anglophone diaspora gathered recently to hear from the newest phenomenon in Israeli politics, Naftali Bennett. A forty-year-old settlement leader, software entrepreneur, and ex-Army commando, Bennett promises to build a sturdy electoral bridge between the religious and the secular, the hilltop outposts of the West Bank and the start-up suburbs of the coastal plain.

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Algeria (and Beyond) Coverage: At Least 30 Hostages Killed in Rescue Attempt

See also Syria Live Coverage: Another Mass Killing, Another Dispute of Responsibility
Thursday's Mali (and Beyond) Live Coverage: France Prepares Ground Operations While Insurgents Seize 41 Foreigners in Algeria

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2124 GMT: Algeria. An Algerian hostage, who escaped during the army assault on the In Amenas gas plant, has spoken of casualties:

There were so many deaths. I was shocked. I can't say the exact number. Foreign hostages died, Algerian hostages died and there were deaths among the terrorists.

The hostage said one of the leaders of the assailants was killed. Some of the attackers are still in the central working area of the gas facility. People from the area warned, "It's very difficult for the army to stage an assault because everything could explode. It's dangerous."

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Mali (and Beyond) Live Coverage: France Prepares Ground Operations While Insurgents Seize 41 Foreigners in Algeria

2126 GMT: Algeria. Algerian State Television has confirmed that at least four foreigners have been killed into today's attempted hostage rescue:

Two of the victims were Britons and the other two Filipinos, the report said after the end of the operation was announced late on Thursday.

Communication Minister Mohamed Said said earlier that troops had been forced to act after talks with the kidnappers failed.

He said many fighters had been killed in the operation at the In Amenas gas field.

Sources for Reuters report that the death toll may be much higher:

Quoting an unnamed Algerian security source, Reuters reports that 30 hostages were killed in the gas plant attack, including 7 foreigners. The report does not give the nationalities of the foreigners who died.

Eleven militants from six different countries – including one from France – also were killed, the report says. The militants' nationalities were given as 3 Egyptians, 2 Algerians, 2 Tunisians, 2 Libyans a Frenchman and a Malian.

Meanwhile, David Cameron has cancelled a planned speech, but did say that the UK needs to be "prepared for the possibility of further bad news."

1814 GMT: Algeria. A summary of the press conference at the US State Department:

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