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The Cradle is an online news magazine covering West Asian geopolitics from within.
⭕️ Turkish officials have arrested 343 people during overnight demonstrations across multiple cities in response to the detention of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, the Interior Ministry announced today.
Protests occurred in over a dozen cities, including Istanbul, Turkiye's largest city, and the capital, Ankara, according to the ministry's statement.
The ministry stated that the arrests were made to prevent “disrupting of public order” and cautioned that authorities would not tolerate “chaos and provocation.”
Since Wednesday, tens of thousands of Turks have participated in largely peaceful protests following Imamoglu's detention on charges such as graft and aiding a terrorist organization. He is considered President Tayyip Erdogan’s primary political opponent and has outperformed him in certain opinion polls.
The mayor’s party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), Turkiye’s main opposition, denounced the arrest as politically driven and encouraged supporters to protest lawfully.
❗️The Lebanese army finds primitive rocket platforms in south Lebanon, used in the rocket fire towards Israel that occurred this morning.
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❗️Injuries reported from Israeli drone fire near Ahmed al-Shuqairi School in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza Strip.
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❗️An Israeli drone kills two and injures several others in its targeting of displaced Palestinians’ tents in northern Gaza.
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❗️Israeli newspaper Maariv reports that residents of the Upper Galilee town of Metula are currently being evacuated.
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❗️Israeli artillery shelling targets Al-Marj neighborhood in Houla, south Lebanon.
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❗️Ongoing Israeli artillery shelling reported on the western areas of the northern Gaza Strip.
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❗️The view from the southern Lebanese village of Iqlim al-Tuffah, during the current wave of Israeli airstrikes.
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❗️Lebanon: Al-Mayadeen correspondent in the south:
"Israeli artillery shelling targets the outskirts of the town of Khiam."
❗️Gaza Ministry of Health:
○ "130 martyrs (including 2 recovered martyrs) and 263 injuries were admitted to Gaza Strip hospitals over the past 48 hours.”
○ "A number of victims remain under the rubble and on the roads, unable to be reached by ambulance and civil defense crews.”
○ "The death toll and injuries since 18 March 2025 has reached 634 martyrs and 1,172 injuries.”
○ "The death toll from the Israeli aggression has risen to 49,747 martyrs and 113,213 injuries since 7 October 2023.”
❗️Metula Mayor David Azoulay accused the Israeli government and army of trying “to normalize” a situation of occasional rocket fire from the north.
“We won’t allow them to normalize this. I call on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and of course IDF Northern Command head Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin to act offensively and make it so that not one bullet is fired ever again at northern communities,” he told the Ynet news site.
“This is a failure, this is exactly the policy of containment of [before] October 7,” he said. “Instead of dealing with nonsense, start providing security to the country’s residents.”
❗️US Special Envoy to West Asia Steve Witkoff:
“If we can remove terrorist organizations as a threatening factor, then we can achieve normalization everywhere. I believe Lebanon can normalize relations with Israel – real normalization, meaning a peace agreement between the two countries. It is absolutely possible.”
BREAKING | Israeli warplanes bomb a residential apartment in Beit Lahia, north of the Gaza Strip.
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❗️Statement by Hamas:
"The criminal Zionist occupation army's destruction of the Turkish Friendship Hospital in central Gaza today is a sadistic act that reflects the barbarism of this occupier, which continues its genocide against the Palestinian people.
The destruction of the only hospital in Gaza specialized in treating cancer patients comes after a green light from the US administration, allowing the occupation to proceed with its war of extermination against our people, with total disregard for international law.
We call on the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, and all relevant legal bodies to take action against this rogue entity and its criminal leaders for this heinous and barbaric crime, along with the many war crimes that have been and continue to be committed against our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip."
❗️Sham TV, citing media sources:
Two Ministry of Defense personnel were injured in the Israeli bombing of Palmyra Military Airport.
❗️Israeli army statement:
"The IDF struck dozens of Hezbollah’s rocket launchers and a command center in Lebanon
A short while ago, the IDF struck dozens of Hezbollah rocket launchers and a command center from which Hezbollah terrorists were operating in southern Lebanon.
The rocket fire launched this morning (Saturday) toward the Galilee constitutes a blatant violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon and is a direct threat to the citizens of the State of Israel. The State of Lebanon bears responsibility for upholding the agreement.
The IDF will continue to act as required in order protect Israeli citizens."
❗️Al Manar correspondent:
“The enemy (Israel) launched more than 20 raids on southern Lebanon.”
❗️ Civil Defense in South Lebanon:
“Two martyrs and 10 wounded in an Israeli raid on the town of Toulin.”
❗️Local sources in Gaza report that two people were injured by an Israeli quadcopter drone in Al-Maghraqa, central Gaza Strip.
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❗️RT correspondent Saed Swerki:
“One martyr and and many injured in an artillery attack on Beit Lahia, north of the Gaza Strip.”
❗️Israeli warplanes bomb the village of Yahmar al-Shaqif, south Lebanon.
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❗️Al Manar correspondent in south Lebanon:
“One martyr and 3 wounded in the enemy’s targeting of the center of the town of Tulin.”
BREAKING | Israeli warplanes launch a series of airstrikes across southern Lebanon.
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⭕️ In an interview with Al Hadath TV channel, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam emphasized that his government was formed without direct partisan representation and stressed its commitment to neutrality among all political groups.
Salam reiterated that the ministerial statement explicitly advocates for the state's exclusive control over arms, a principle to which all ministers are committed. He declared that decisions regarding war and peace are solely the responsibility of legitimate state institutions, particularly the Council of Ministers, signaling a departure from previous policies.
Salam also delivered a clear message, stating that the "Army, People, Resistance" slogan is no longer relevant and called for a new phase focused on reaffirming state authority throughout all of Lebanon's territories.
❗Israeli settlement Kiryat Shmona mayor Avichai Stern issued a statement, asking the Israeli army if he still believed it was safe for people to return to their homes near the border.
“I have just one question for the head of the IDF’s Northern Command, Maj. Gen. Ori Gordin, who said that nothing is preventing a return to the north. Do you still think that?” Stern said in a statement cited by Hebrew media outlets.
❗️Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz:
○ "We will not allow a reality of fire from Lebanon on the Galilee communities."
○ "We have promised security to the Galilee communities, and that is exactly what will happen. The fate of Metula is the same as Beirut.”
○ “The Lebanese government bears responsibility for any fire from its territory. I have instructed the IDF to respond accordingly."
❗️The Israeli army announced earlier today that it intercepted 3 rockets launched from southern Lebanon towards the Upper Galilee settlement of Metula.
The army also said that it will “respond severely to the morning's attack. The State of Lebanon bears responsibility for upholding the agreement.”
⭕️ Israel's attacks on the besieged Gaza Strip have not stopped. Attacks in the last hour include strikes on Beit Lahia in the north, Khan Yunis in the south, and Deir al-Balah in the center, as well as shelling targeting the Netzarim Corridor.
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🇾🇪 BREAKING | Spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces Yahya Saree announces that Ben Gurion Airport is now unsafe for air traffic after being targeted with a Palestine 2 hypersonic ballistic missile, marking the third operation in 48 hours.
Saree warns airlines to avoid the airport until the aggression on Gaza ends. Additionally, Yemeni drones targeted multiple warships from the USS Harry Truman carrier group for the sixth consecutive day in response to US attacks on Yemen.
❗️Syrian Observatory for Human Rights:
"Israeli airstrikes target Palmyra Military Airport in central Syria."