The Syrian and Iranian foreign ministers have condemned Israeli airstrikes on two areas near Damascus, calling it an act of aggression that proves Israel was "in the same trench" with extremist groups fighting the Syrian government.

Israeli warplanes bombed the two areas Sunday, striking near Damascus' international airport as well as outside a town close to the Lebanese border. The Syrian government said the attacks caused material damage. Israel has not commented on the strikes.

Israeli troops on Monday went on alert along the border with Lebanon over fears of a military operation as a cabinet minister stressed that the Jewish State has a policy of preventing arms transfers to Hizbullah.

The state-run National News Agency said Israeli soldiers were on alert mainly in the area of the Shabaa Farms.

Speaker Nabih Berri revealed on Monday that Israel has already started stealing amounts of Lebanon's offshore gas, expressing astonishment at the government’s “lack of interest,” al-Akhbar daily reported.

The Speaker told the daily that he received almost certain information from an international scientific figure that Israel is stealing Lebanon's gas from a basin near the maritime borders with occupied Palestine, and at cut-rate expenses.

Israel had a critical role in stopping a deal with Iran on reining in its nuclear program from going ahead last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday.

The deal would have "effectively left Iran as a threshold nuclear power," he told a Washington think-tank in a recorded speech.

Several suspects have been arrested in connection with an arson attack which last month targeted a Jewish-Arab school that is a rare symbol of coexistence in Jerusalem, Israeli police said Sunday.

"Police and Shin Bet (security services) have arrested several suspects for having set fire to a classroom of a bilingual school on November 29," police spokeswoman Luba Samri told Agence France-Presse.

Israel said Monday it will not allow "sophisticated weapons" to fall into the hands of its enemies, after furious claims from Syria that Israeli warplanes carried out air strikes near Damascus.

Tel Aviv refused to confirm or deny the strikes, but its forces have previously targeted weapons allegedly destined for arch-foe Lebanon's Hizbullah.

Ultra-orthodox Jewish women in Israel have begun an unprecedented campaign to have women candidates on the lists of religious parties for next March's early general election, media reported on Sunday.

"We want ultra-orthodox women -- five percent of the population -- to have a say in the Knesset and demand that the heads of the ultra-orthodox parties choose at least one candidate of their choice," activist Esty Reider-Indorsky, a driving force behind the move, told public radio.

Bedouin children play football barefoot in the dirt of their West Bank encampment, but they may not be able to enjoy the dusty piece of land for much longer.

Khan al-Ahmar, which lies between Jerusalem and Jericho, is one of more than 20 Palestinian Bedouin communities facing forced eviction.

A Chinese man accused of smuggling "highly sensitive" parts for nuclear production to Iran was extradited to Boston on Friday where he will face federal charges.

Sihai Cheng, charged alongside an Iranian man and two Iranian businesses, allegedly exported pressure sensors to Iran that could be used to manufacture nuclear weapons, a government statement said.

Fadi has endured verbal abuse and even the threat of suicide bombers during 15 years at the wheel of Jerusalem's public buses, but like dozens of Palestinian drivers he has finally had enough.

The 35-year-old began his career in west Jerusalem at a far more dangerous time, during the second Palestinian intifada when dozens of suicide bombers were targeting Israeli public transport on a regular basis.