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The Cradle is an online news magazine covering West Asian geopolitics from within.
❗️Former Lebanese Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader Walid Jumblatt responded to US envoy Morgan Ortagus’s comment about him on X, posting the following photo with the caption: "The ugly American # MorganOrtagus."
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❗️Iranian TV:
"Iran–US nuclear talks in Rome have concluded."
❗️BREAKING | Spokesman for Hamas's Qassam Brigades Abu Obeida:
– "We were able to retrieve a martyr who was tasked with guarding the captive Edan Alexander. The fate of the captive and the rest of the fighter captors remains unknown."
– "We are trying to protect all captives and preserve their lives despite the brutality of the aggression. However, their lives are in danger due to the criminal bombing operations carried out by the enemy army."
– "The occupation is lying about the inhumane treatment of captives and fabricating false testimonies from former prisoners, with the aim of inciting against the resistance and covering up the scandal of its killing of a number of its captives, causing the continued suffering of the rest."
Israel mulls 'limited attack' on Iran as second round of nuclear talks takes place in Rome
US and Iranian officials are engaged in a new round of talks, facilitated by Omani mediation, in hopes of securing a new nuclear and sanctions relief deal
⭕️ The United States is prepared to abandon its push for a Russia-Ukraine peace agreement if tangible progress isn't made soon, President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday.
"Quickly, we want to get it done," Trump told reporters at the White House. "Now if for some reason one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we're just going to say, 'you're foolish, you're fools, you're horrible people, and we're going to just take a pass. But hopefully we won't have to do that."
“If I die, I want a loud death.”
Just days before her wedding, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna was murdered by an Israeli massacre on Wednesday when an airstrike struck her home in northern Gaza. The attack also killed ten members of her family, including her pregnant sister.
“If I die, I want a loud death,” Hassouna posted on social media. “I don’t want to be just breaking news, or a number in a group, I want a death that the world will hear, an impact that will remain through time, and a timeless image that cannot be buried by time or place.”
Israel claimed that the strike targeted a Hamas member.
One day before her death, it was announced that a documentary about Hassouna’s life in Gaza during Israel's assault on the Strip would premiere at a French independent film festival held alongside Cannes.
(The Guardian)
⭕️ Diplomatic movement around US-Iran nuclear talks intensifies
Following Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi's high-level consultations with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, Omani mediators appear to be making parallel diplomatic moves. Omani Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said is expected to arrive in Moscow for Kremlin talks on Tuesday, signaling continued regional coordination ahead of the critical second round of US-Iran nuclear negotiations.
The scheduled meeting will address bilateral economic cooperation while undoubtedly covering the nuclear negotiations that Oman has been mediating. This comes as Russia reaffirms its offer to facilitate the talks, with both Moscow and Beijing positioned as potential guarantors should a new nuclear agreement materialize.
❗️Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that the premier “will deliver a special statement when Shabbat ends [Saturday evening] on a diplomatic matter.”
Hebrew media speculates that the statement will be recorded, without an opportunity for media questions, with potential “diplomatic matters” on the table including the mounting pressure to release the detainees in Gaza and talks between the US and Iran.
❗️Israeli settlers, accompanied by the occupation army, prevented Palestinian crews from the Beit Dajan Village Council, east of Nablus, from installing an electricity line east of the town and confiscated two municipal trucks.
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A video shows German police - notorious for their violent suppression of pro-Palestine protests - providing security for Zionist demonstrators.
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❗️Gaza Ministry of Health:
– "92 martyrs and 219 injuries arrived at Gaza Strip hospitals during the past 48 hours."
– "The death toll from the Israeli aggression has risen to 51,157 martyrs and 116,724 injuries since 7 October 2023."
– "The death toll and injuries since 18 March 2025 has reached 1,783 martyrs and 4,683 injuries."
⭕️ Two US lawmakers, Representatives Cory Mills of Florida and Marlin Stutzman of Indiana, arrived in Damascus on Friday—marking the first visit by American congressional representatives since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December.
A member of the delegation said Mills met with Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa (Abu Mohammad al-Julani) on Friday evening. The two held a 90-minute discussion focused on US sanctions and Iran.
The source added that Stutzman is expected to meet with Sharaa today, despite the Syrian leader remaining under both US and UN sanctions.
When questioned about engaging with a sanctioned figure, Stutzman pointed to the Trump administration’s previous outreach to Iran and North Korea. “We shouldn’t be afraid to talk to anybody,” he said.
“There’s an opportunity here—these opportunities come around once in a lifetime,” Stutzman added. “I don’t want Syria pushed into the arms of China, or back into the arms of Russia and Iran.”
(Reuters)
⭕️ The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has granted Israel an extension to respond to South Africa's ongoing genocide case regarding Israel's 'war' on Gaza.
Originally due by 28 July, Israel now has until 12 January 2026 to submit its response to the ICJ.
WATCH | On 18 April 1996, Israel massacred over 100 Lebanese civilians taking shelter in a UN compound in the southern Lebanese village of Qana.
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UPDATE | At least 30 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip since dawn today.
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❗️ Medical sources tell Al Jazeera:
"44 martyrs in Israeli raids on Gaza since dawn today."
❗️The moment Israeli occupation forces bombed the tents of displaced Palestinians in the Mawasi area of Khan Yunis, southern Gaza.
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❗️Israeli police prevent worshippers from reaching Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Holy Saturday celebrations.
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❗️Hebrew media reports that a "difficult security incident" occurred in Gaza leaving at least one soldier in critical condition, with an evacuation operation carried out by helicopter.
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❗️Axios reports that prior to the second round of nuclear talks between the US and Iran, US Special Envoy to West Asia Steve Witkoff held a meeting with Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Mossad Chief David Barnea, who traveled specifically to see him.
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"His mother endured 700 injections to bring him into this world—only to lose him in an instant."
A grieving family mourns Kinan Adwan, their beloved only child, murdered by an Israeli airstrike on their home in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza.
BREAKING | Al-Akhbar's correspondent in southern Lebanon:
"An Israeli drone dropped a bomb on the vicinity of a house in Mays al-Jabal."
⭕️ Ford Motor Company announced on Friday that it has stopped sending its SUVs, pickup trucks, and sports cars to China, as retaliatory tariffs—reaching up to 150% on vehicles—begin to take a toll.
"We have adjusted exports from the US to China in light of the current tariffs," Ford said in a statement.
The wreckage of an Israeli military suicide drone used to bomb the tents of displaced Palestinians in Mawasi, Khan Yunis, southern Gaza.
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❗️Axios, citing a US official, reports that the second round of nuclear talks between Iran and the US has begun at the residence of the Omani ambassador in Rome.
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❗️US envoy Morgan Ortagus responded with "Yawn," on X to Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem’s statement that no one would be allowed to disarm Hezbollah.
She also addressed former Lebanese Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) leader Walid Jumblatt, replying “Crack is whack, Walid,” after he told Al-Araby TV that her demands were impossible to meet.
⭕️ The US army is set to streamline its operations in Syria over the next several weeks and months, cutting its troop presence there potentially up to half, according to Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell on Friday.
"This deliberate and conditions-based process will bring the US footprint in Syria down to less than a thousand US forces in the coming months," Parnell stated.
⭕️ Iran and the US are set to resume nuclear talks in Rome today. According to Iranian officials, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and the Trump administration’s West Asia envoy Steve Witkoff will engage in indirect discussions, with an Omani mediator relaying messages between the two sides. This follows a first round of indirect talks held in Muscat last week, which both parties reportedly found constructive.
While Araghchi and Witkoff exchanged a brief greeting at the conclusion of the previous talks, there have been no formal direct negotiations between US and Iranian officials since 2015, during the administration of former US President Barack Obama.
⭕️ According to Reuters, citing US and Israeli sources, Israel has not ruled out a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities in the coming months, despite US President Trump's said unwillingness to back such an operation.
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❗️Palestinian Center for Human Rights:
“Since the collapse of the ceasefire, 595 children have been killed in Gaza, bringing the total number of child martyrs to 18,044 since the beginning of the war.”