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The Cradle is an online news magazine covering West Asian geopolitics from within.
⭕️ A new Amnesty International report says that the United Arab Emirates supplied Sudan's Rapid Support Forces (RSF) with advanced Chinese-made weaponry.
"By analysing pictures and videos showing the aftermath of attacks by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), Amnesty International identified Chinese GB50A guided bombs and 155mm AH-4 howitzers. This is the first time GB50A bombs have been documented in active use in any conflict worldwide, " adding that "the weapons were almost certainly re-exported to Sudan by the UAE."
❗️Israeli media reports that at dawn, an Israeli military vehicle in the Shujaiya neighborhood was hit by an anti-tank missile, injuring several soldiers. Helicopters evacuated the wounded, and the Israeli army responded with artillery fire.
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⭕️ According to Reuters, Iran is planning to send Russia Fath-360 launchers for short-range ballistic missiles that the US says were already sent to Russia last year for use in Ukraine.
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De-dollarization 'gains momentum' in Asian markets
The ASEAN+3 bloc of nations approved a landmark financial assistance mechanism this week that ditches the greenback for the yuan and other regional currencies
WATCH | As part of the Qassam Brigades' "Gates Of Hell" series of operations east of Rafah, its fighters carried out a complex ambush targeting Israeli soldiers.
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Israel's military strategy in Lebanon: Escalation, propaganda, sedition
Tel Aviv’s carefully calculated, multi-pronged political and military campaign against Lebanon aims to weaken Hezbollah, paralyze the state, and reshape West Asia’s balance of power – one violation at a time.
By Mohamad Hasan Sweidan
Breaking | Yemen’s Ansarallah strikes Ben Gurion Airport, enforces no-fly zone over Israel
Ansarallah’s military spokesman just announced a “qualitative operation” targeting Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport in Lod with a hypersonic ballistic missile, claiming the strike successfully hit its target.
The spokesman said the attack is part of enforcing a no-fly zone over Israel’s airspace in response to Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza.
In a separate operation, Ansarallah reported striking a “vital Israeli enemy target” in Tel Aviv with a Yaffa drone.
The group renewed warnings to international airlines that continue flights to Israeli airports, stating that the air traffic ban over occupied Palestine will remain in effect until the aggression on Gaza ends.
Damascus appoints extremist with ISIS links as north Syria army leader
The US criticized the appointment, despite its own past support for ISIS and its offshoot, the Nusra Front, which now rules Syria under a new name
Chinese exports surge despite US tariffs
China has reduced exports to the US as President Trump's tariffs take effect, but this has been offset by boosting trade with other Asian countries
❗️The Jerusalem Governorate announces that Israel has reissued a 14-day demolition notice
to residents of the Al-Waad apartment building in Wadi Qaddum, East Jerusalem, home to around 85 Jerusalemites.
A similar order was issued by the municipality in 2022, but efforts and actions by local residents and institutions at the time successfully halted the demolition.
Update | Mira appears in a new video stating she willingly married Ahmad and was never abducted. While some view this as closing the case, many others remain skeptical.
The online uproar stems from fears sparked by a wave of dozens of real recent abduction cases.
❗️The Kurdish PKK group announced in a statement that it convened its congress from 5 - 7 May:
"The PKK 12th congress was successfully held in the Media Defense Areas from 5 to 7 May. The congress was conducted in two different areas in parallel, with delegates representing all areas of work."
The congress was convened to discuss a landmark letter from leader Abdullah Ocalan, released in late February, in which he stated that the PKK had fulfilled its mission and called for a transition from armed struggle to political engagement in the fight for Kurdish rights. He urged the group to disband and disarm.
The PKK announced that decisions on disarmament and dissolution were made during the congress, and the outcomes will be made public “very soon” after results from two separate areas are consolidated.
❗️Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responds to the “Very Scary Satellite Images," allegedly showing a third Iranian nuclear site, calling the allegations unfounded efforts to sway public opinion before the resumption of the US-Iran nuclear talks.
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❗️Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Mike Johnson threatens "pro-Hamas rioters" on college campuses, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio says that "pro-Hamas thugs" are not welcome to the US.
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❗️Times of Israel reports that approximately 550 Palestinians have left Gaza since 18 March, 2025. In contrast, Egyptian Shorouk News reported that about 103,000 Palestinians exited via the Rafah crossing between November 2023 and March 2024.
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⭕️ A Qatari team has launched a new effort to locate the remains of US captives killed by Islamic State in Syria around ten years ago. The search began Wednesday, led by Qatar’s international search and rescue unit and joined by several Americans. The same unit had previously been deployed to disaster zones in Morocco and Turkiye, and has so far uncovered three sets of remains.
(Reuters)
⭕️ When asked about Israeli involvement in the US-backed aid mechanism for Gaza, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said, “The Israelis are going to be involved in providing necessary military security because it is a war zone but they will not be involved in the distribution of the food or even bringing the food into Gaza."
(Al-Arabiya)
❗️Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Turkiye's 24 TV that he was the target of an assassination attempt during his tenure as head of the National Intelligence Organization around 4 or 5 years ago.
“We were physically subjected to an assassination attempt, as well we were poisoned and also received treatment,” said Fidan, adding that he was given “a heavy dose of arsenic and mercury. … It later showed up in the tests.”
Syria announces major natural gas deal with Turkiye
Ankara says it will also supply electricity to the war-torn nation, enabling the extremist-led government in Damascus to 'reconstruct'
Putin hosts Global South allies in Moscow for Victory Day celebration
The presidents of China, Brazil, Serbia, Slovakia, and Palestine were in attendance for a military parade to mark the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II
New Yemeni attack targets Israel as airlines extend flight suspensions
Most international airlines suspended their flights to Israel after Sanaa imposed an aerial blockade over the ethnic cleansing campaign in Gaza
WATCH | Russia marks Victory Day on 9 May with a military parade featuring troops from former Soviet states, attended by leaders from the region and the Global South.
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❗️Israeli Channel 14:
The US THAAD system failed for the second time this week to intercept a missile from Yemen.
❗️Google Earth updates reveal unimaginable destruction in Gaza:
Google Earth has updated its satellite imagery of Gaza to reflect the state of the territory as of December 2024. The new images, particularly from northern Gaza and the Netzarim Corridor, reveal an almost total erasure of once-populated areas, with entire neighborhoods and villages reduced to rubble. In parts of the corridor, not a single building remains standing across entire square miles. While southern Gaza’s imagery only extends to June 2024, before the full-scale demolitions in Rafah, the updated visuals offer a stark, nearly complete view of Israel’s brutal campaign of mass displacement and destruction.
❗️Gaza Ministry of Health:
– "27 martyrs (including 1 recovered martyr) and 85 injuries arrived at Gaza Strip hospitals over the past 24 hours."
– "The martyrdom toll and injuries since March 18, 2025 (when Israel resumed its genocidal war) has reached 2,678 martyrs and 7,308 injuries."
❗️Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir criticized the decision to resume humanitarian aid to Gaza, calling it a "moral and strategic mistake." He urged Prime Minister Netanyahu and cabinet members to reverse the move, stating: “It is foolishness and a moral and strategic mistake for Gazans to get supplies while our hostages are starved. The equation must be clear: Want humanitarian [aid]? Release our hostages.”
(Times of Israel)
US to use Gaza aid plan as 'bait to force displacement': UNICEF
Since March, Israel has imposed a crippling aid blockade on Gaza as part of its effort to starve Palestinians and ethnically cleanse them from the strip
❗️Massive crowds gather at Al-Sabeen Square in Sanaa and other cities across Yemen today for the million-man march in solidarity with Gaza. Crowds are chanting “By God’s power, we defeated America—and we’ll defeat Israel too.”
Yesterday, the leader of Yemen’s Ansarallah movement, Sayyed Abdulmalik al-Houthi, called on the people for a million-man march. The demonstration is intended to express gratitude for what he described as the American failure, affirm defiance of Israel, and show steadfast support for the Palestinian people and resistance fighters in Gaza.
SYRIA | Reports emerge of abduction and forced marriage of young woman in Homs
According to sources close to the family and accounts circulating widely on social media, Mira Jalal Thabat, a young Alawite woman from the city of Talkalakh – Al-Mukhattabiya in Homs province, was abducted on 27 April, 2025, under suspicious circumstances. Mira had reportedly gone to the Teachers' Training Institute in Homs to sit for an exam after receiving a phone call from a woman named Suha al-Akkari. Her father, who personally drove her and waited outside the building, confirmed that she never exited the institute, prompting growing concerns of internal collusion involving members of the faculty and student body.
After days of silence and escalating pressure on Mira’s family, including the arrest of her father, Mira reappeared on 8 May under heavy security presence. In photos shared online, she is seen wearing a niqab and being pulled by the wrist by a man identified as Ahmad, with members of the General Security Forces visibly present. The attire she was forced to wear is not culturally native to Syria, or even West Asia as a whole.
A video released by those involved shows Mira saying she left of her own free will and eloped due to family pressures. However, this narrative is being strongly disputed by her family and others who point out that she had been previously engaged and preparing for her wedding. Activists say her case fits a disturbing pattern of young women being abducted and coerced into so-called “consensual marriages” under the threat of violence, facilitated by armed factions and shielded by a mix of religious pretense and security apparatus complicity.
No official investigation has been announced to date.
Since HTS toppled Assad’s government in December, Syria has seen a disturbing wave of mysterious kidnappings targeting young women, mostly from the Alawite community.
❗️Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office:
– "The occupation authorities are holding 31 Palestinian female detainees under harsh conditions in Damon Prison on Mount Carmel."
– "The detainees are subjected to repeated raids on their rooms—three times in the past week alone—without any reasonable justification."
– "The occupation forces confiscated the communal wall clock, depriving the detainees of knowing the times for prayer and meals."
– "The detainees were forced to hand over their winter clothes in exchange for summer clothing, despite the cold weather."
– "The food provided is scarce and of poor quality; the detainees combine their daily meals to eat them all at once in an effort to stave off hunger."
– "There is a severe shortage of personal hygiene items—for example, only 15 shower scrubs are available for all 31 detainees."
– "Some detainees have had to use bedsheets as makeshift prayer garments due to the lack of appropriate clothing."
– "Several detainees are ill and in urgent need of medical treatment, but the occupation authorities are stalling and neglecting their health conditions."