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The Cradle is an online news magazine covering West Asian geopolitics from within.
WATCH | Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expresses strong support for Pakistan and its people, urging de-escalation between Pakistan and India to prevent tensions from escalating to a "grim level."
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⭕️ Global military spending sees largest increase in 2024 since Cold War ended
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) reported today that global military spending reached $2.7 trillion in 2024, marking the largest increase since the Cold War's end, with particularly significant hikes in Europe and West Asia.
Israel experienced the most significant increase in military spending, with its share of GDP ranking second highest, following only Ukraine.
Overall, military budgets in West Asia surged by 15% from 2023, reaching an estimated $243 billion, the report noted.
❗️Iran's Deputy Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Behzad Akbari, announced today that a major and complex cyber attack on the country's infrastructure was detected yesterday, and preventive measures were successfully implemented.
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Iran vows to probe ‘mistakes’ leading to deadly port explosion
In an interview that has been deleted, an Iranian lawmaker accused Israel of orchestrating the blast at Shahid Rajaee Port
⭕️ The World Food Programme (WFP) plans to cut 25-30% of its global staff, potentially affecting up to 6,000 jobs, due to a significant funding shortfall. Projected donor funding for 2025 is also down by 40% to $6.4 billion.
Despite the cuts, WFP emphasized they are necessary to sustain essential operations. The organization currently employs around 23,000 people in 120 countries.
(AFP)
⭕️ Pakistani Defense Minister Muhammad Asif stated today that a military incursion by India was imminent following last week's deadly attack on tourists in Kashmir that killed 26.
"We have reinforced our forces because this is now imminent. In such a situation, some strategic decisions must be made, and those decisions have been made," Asif said during an interview at his office in Islamabad.
He also emphasized that Pakistan is on high alert and would only use its nuclear weapons if "there is a direct threat to our existence."
(Reuters)
❗️Gaza Civil Defense announced earlier today that 8 out of 12 firefighting, rescue, and ambulance vehicles in the southern Gaza Strip have stopped operating due to fuel shortages.
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Lebanese president vows full state control of arms, declares 'no return to language of war’
The US has been increasing pressure on the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah, which has rejected any surrender of its weapons
❗️An Israeli drone has been hovering at a low altitude over the Lebanese capital of Beirut and its southern suburb for the past few hours.
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❗️US President Donald Trump tells reporters that the Iran nuclear talks are "doing very well," adding that he believes a deal will happen very soon.
"We'll have something without having to start dropping bombs all over the place."
⭕️ A former senior Israeli military officer Dan Sharoni has been sentenced to six years and eight months in prison after being convicted of 67 sex offenses and privacy violations against civilians and subordinates.
The charges include indecent acts, privacy violations, computer hacking, and secretly filming dozens of female soldiers and civilians nude.
❗️An Israeli drone fired a missile at an open area in the town of Aitaroun in southern Lebanon without causing any casualties, a short while ago.
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⭕️ Riyadh Air CEO Tony Douglas said on Monday that the Saudi startup airline would be ready to purchase Boeing aircraft originally intended for Chinese airlines if deliveries are halted due to the escalating trade war between the United States and China.
Boeing is seeking buyers for potentially dozens of planes that have been blocked from entering China because of tariffs, after repatriating a third aircraft to the US amid a delivery dispute that sparked fresh criticism of Beijing from US President Donald Trump.
(Reuters)
"This is the [ceasefire] agreement of humiliation ... where is (Lebanese President Joseph) Aoun? Having lunch in Rome?"
A woman stands next to the crater left by yesterday’s Israeli airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs and asks who will protect them from ongoing ceasefire violations.
So far, the Israeli military has breached the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon 3,028 times, killing at least 150 people.
'Full-fledged war crime': US airstrikes kill dozens of African migrants in Yemen
The US Navy has been conducting indiscriminate attacks across Yemen nearly every day for over a month
Saudi Arabia, Qatar pledge $15m to eliminate Syria's World Bank debt
The new Syrian government is seeking to open the country to international lenders and impose austerity measures such as slashing subsidies and mass public sector layoffs
UPDATE | The death toll from the Shahid Rajaee Port explosion in south Iran's Bandar Abbas has risen to at least 65 according to Iranian state media.
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❗️Soldiers from Israel's Givati Brigade filmed themselves throwing grenades at tents set up in the courtyard of a UN school sheltering displaced Palestinians in Gaza.
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⭕️ ICJ hearings on Israel’s humanitarian obligations to Gaza commence
Speaking at the start of public hearings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on Monday, Palestine’s legal representative Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh KC described Israel’s actions in Gaza as "not just murderous and inhumane, they are genocidal," warning of a "real and imminent risk of irreparable prejudice" to Palestinians.
UN legal counsel Elinor Hammarskjöld said Israel’s obligations include allowing all UN entities to operate for the benefit of the population, while Palestinian official Ammar Hijazi said Israel is using humanitarian aid as "a weapon of war," and that "starvation is here."
Over 40 countries and several international organizations, including the UN, Arab League, and OIC, are participating in the hearings; Israel declined to present oral arguments but submitted a written statement.
Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar attacked the ICJ on Monday, calling it "a rotten, anti-Israel, and anti-Semitic body" and denouncing the proceedings as "another shameful" case against Israel.
⭕️ Official says Israel won't accept five-year truce plan with Hamas
An Israeli official tells the Times of Israel that there is "no chance" Israel will accept the five-year truce plan currently being discussed by Arab mediators, saying such a deal would only allow Hamas to "rearm, recover and to continue its war against Israel."
BREAKING | Yemeni Armed Forces announces that it targeted the USS Truman in the Red Sea with missiles and drones, forcing it to retreat northward, and a vital Israeli target in Ashkelon.
The attacks come in response to US airstrikes that killed and wounded dozens of civilians, including African migrants, in Yemen's capital Sanaa and in Saada.
As the EU courts Central Asia, Turkiye’s strategic depth faces new challenges
The EU’s pivot to Central Asia for energy and resources is redrawing regional alignments – with Turkiye increasingly sidelined in its traditional sphere of influence.
By Onur Ozersin
❗️Israel has killed at least 42 Palestinians in strikes across the Gaza Strip since dawn today, most of them in Gaza City and the northern Gaza Strip.
(Medical sources to Al Jazeera)
⭕️ A technical delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency has arrived in Iran for discussions with nuclear experts, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei announced today, following the UN nuclear watchdog chief's visit to Tehran earlier this month.
"The delegation arrived in Iran and will hold technical talks with Iranian experts today, including on safeguards," Baghaei said during a press conference.
Putin thanks North Korean troops for assistance in retaking Kursk from Ukraine
Pyongyang acknowledged for the first time its deployment of troops to assist Russia in its war against Ukraine
❗️The Israeli military launches heavy airstrikes on residential areas in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza.
At least 36 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli air raids on Gaza since dawn today, 30 of them in Gaza City and the northern part of the strip.
⭕️ UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy will host Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa in London today, marking the first official visit by a PA Prime Minister to the UK since 2021.
The UK government said the invitation to Prime Minister Mustafa reflects "the UK’s steadfast support for the Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people," and its aim to strengthen bilateral ties.
During the visit, the Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister Mustafa will sign a Memorandum of Understanding stressing that the PA is the sole legitimate governing authority in the occupied West Bank, and emphasizing the need to unify Gaza and the West Bank under its leadership.
BREAKING | At least 10 Palestinians, including 4 children, have been killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City.
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❗️Elderly Palestinian prisoner Rashid Muhammad Ibrahim al-Sarfandi, from the city of Jericho, has been released after 16 months of detention in Israeli prisons.
The amount of weight he appears to have lost offers just a glimpse into the harsh conditions Palestinian prisoners are forced to endure.
❗️Turkiye has denied claims made in a Haaretz report that Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is pressuring Hamas to make concessions on ceasefire talks with Israel.
The claim that Fidan pressured Hamas into concessions during his meeting with Hamas officials in the Qatari capital Doha on Sunday "does not reflect the truth," said Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Oncu Keceli.
On Sunday, a Hamas delegation headed by Mohammad Darwish met with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan for the third time in a week. They discussed efforts to achieve a ceasefire and updated Fidan on the results of their recent meeting in Cairo, while also discussing the ongoing starvation war and Turkish humanitarian efforts.
Following the meeting, Fidan said the talks with Hamas show that "the movement will be more willing to accept an agreement that goes beyond a simple ceasefire and aims for a permanent resolution to the crisis with Israel."