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The Cradle is an online news magazine covering West Asian geopolitics from within.
Trump lands in Riyadh to secure major US–Saudi investment, weapons deals
The President arrived in Riyadh with high-profile US business leaders to attend the Saudi–US Investment Forum
❗️Trump’s Gulf tour doesn’t bode well for Israel
“The president’s approach to foreign policy is heavily influenced by economic statecraft,” said CFR’s Steven Cook, highlighting Trump’s focus on Gulf wealth over Israeli alignment.
US President Donald Trump’s ongoing Gulf tour stopping in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, marks a sharp shift in regional priorities, with Gaza treated as a sideshow and Israel notably left off the itinerary. According to Politico, Trump is focused on transactional diplomacy, pushing for multibillion-dollar oil, trade, and investment deals, including a potential $1 trillion in Saudi investments.
(Politico)
Syria's de facto president to skip Arab League summit in Iraq: Report
Many Iraqi politicians opposed the government's invitation to Sharaa and called for his arrest due to his past as a commander of Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq
❗️Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman greets US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk in Riyadh.
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In 1972, Gaza was under full Israeli military occupation following the 1967 war. That year, Israel began forcibly reshaping Gaza's landscape by building districts like Sheikh Radwan to concentrate displaced Palestinians and clear space for future colonial settlements.
In the south near Rafah, Israel established the Canada Camp to confine refugees expelled by airstrikes and home demolitions. Families there endured suffocating restrictions on movement, were blocked from working, and denied basic services. These scenes, filmed by Palestinian filmmaker Mustafa Abu Ali and archived by The Palestinian Archive (palestinian_the) and INA Histoire, expose Israel's long-term strategy of displacement and control. The footage is from 1972.
❗️Official statement by Hamas:
– “Israeli forces carried out a cowardly assassination against Palestinian journalist Hassan Aslih, directly targeting him while he was receiving treatment at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis for a previous injury sustained from an Israeli bombing that hit the journalists’ tent in Khan Younis. This double crime reflects a systematic insistence on eliminating free voices and silencing the truth, with no regard for any human or legal values.”
– “This compounded crime constitutes a blatant violation of all international and humanitarian laws and exposes the moral and media bankruptcy of the occupation.”
– “With the martyrdom of journalist Hassan Aslih, the number of journalists killed since the start of the Zionist aggression on Gaza rises to 215.”
– “We call on the international community, UN bodies, and journalistic and human rights institutions to act urgently to stop the occupation’s crimes against Palestinian journalists, to impose deterrent sanctions on this criminal entity and its murderous leaders, and to sever all political and media relations with it.”
❗️Nine Palestinian abductees arrive at Gaza hospital after release from Israeli captivity
Nine Palestinian detainees were transferred this morning to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah after months in Israeli detention. Abducted from various areas during the ground invasion, the detainees arrived in visibly dire condition, with several showing signs of severe torture. Medical staff confirmed at least one was unable to move due to the extent of abuse.
❗️Embarrassing NYT exposé reveals failed US campaign against Houthis in Red Sea
A New York Times investigation has revealed that President Trump’s plan to bomb the Houthis into submission and reopen Red Sea shipping lanes collapsed within a month, leaving the US military entangled in yet another costly and inconclusive Middle East operation. Despite launching a heavy air campaign, the US failed to achieve air superiority, with the Houthis downing several American Reaper drones and continuing attacks on naval vessels, including a US aircraft carrier. Two $67 million fighter jets even tumbled off the carrier into the sea.
With nearly $1 billion in weapons burned through in just the first month, Trump pulled the plug on 5 May after Omani officials offered a face-saving exit.
❗️Gaza Health Ministry:
“The Ministry of Health condemns the heinous crime committed by the occupation forces at dawn today against patients and the wounded, by directly targeting the surgical building at Nasser Medical Complex.”
“The bombing led to the martyrdom of two and the injury of others among the patients and the wounded while receiving treatment, in addition to the working medical staff.”
“The repeated targeting of hospitals, the pursuit of the wounded, and their killing inside treatment rooms confirms the occupation’s intention to inflict greater damage on the health services system and threaten the treatment opportunities for the wounded and sick, even on hospital beds.”
❗️Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (MbS) receives US President Donald Trump in Riyadh.
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⭕️ Gaza mourns beloved Palestinian journalist Hassan Aslih, who was brutally assassinated by Israel overnight while in his hospital bed at Nasser Hospital, where he was receiving treatment after being targeted and wounded on 7 April.
Hassan Aslih has been a target of the Israeli military since the start of the war on Gaza.
The Trump-Netanyahu dogfight: A clash of colossal egos begins
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❗️According to Israel's public broadcaster KAN, freed US-Israeli soldier Edan Alexander refuses to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu.
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❗️Highlights from Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem's latest speech:
– “We want Syria to remain united and whole, and we strongly condemn the repeated Israeli aggression."
– “What we hear today about the war on Gaza is essentially the killing of people in tents—children, women, men, and the general population."
– “It is impossible for Netanyahu, even with the whole world behind him, to strip the Palestinians of their land and their rights."
– “Since 1982 and up until before the current aggression, the resistance has prevented Israel from annexing Lebanese territory."
– “Had Israel been able to gradually nibble away parts of Lebanon every few years, where would Lebanon be today?"
⭕️ US President Donald Trump said that he might ease US sanctions on Syria in response to a query from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
"We may take them off of Syria, because we want to give them a fresh start," Trump said.
(Reuters)
⭕️ Europe Day 2025: Lebanese students take top honors in EU knowledge contest
32 students from 8 public and private schools across Lebanon participated in the fourth edition of the Europe Day Student Competition, held at ESA Business School on May 8. Organized by the EU Delegation to Lebanon, the event tested students’ knowledge of European history, culture, institutions, and member states.
Chloé Farah from Collège Notre-Dame de Jamhour won the competition with the highest score. EU Ambassador Sandra De Waele praised the students and expressed hope for a peaceful and opportunity-rich future for Lebanon. The event also featured a round where European diplomats and Lebanese students teamed up to answer questions about Lebanon and Europe.
(EU Delegation to Lebanon)
⭕️ Italy and Greece reaffirm their support for ceasefire in Gaza
“We reconfirm our support for the full implementation of the ceasefire agreements in Gaza and Lebanon and for a two-state solution with an independent Palestinian State in peace and security,” they said Monday in a joint statement following a bilateral meeting held in Rome.
❗️Trump says he may attend Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Turkey
US President Donald Trump said he is considering attending Thursday’s potential peace talks between Ukraine and Russia in Turkey, telling reporters, “There’s a possibility of it… if I think things can happen.” The talks would mark a major development in efforts to end the three-year conflict.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the idea, stating, “We would like him to find the opportunity to be in Turkey,” and voiced support for direct negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
(CNN)
❗️Gaza Ministry of Health:
– "46 martyrs and 73 injuries were admitted to Gaza Strip hospitals in the past 24 hours."
– "The death toll and injuries since March 18, 2025 has reached 2,780 martyrs, 7,680 injuries."
⭕️ New US Pope Leo XIV told sent a letter to the American Jewish Committee's director, Rabbi Noam Marans, pledging to strengthen Jewish-Catholic relations.
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❗️US approves $1.45B arms deal with UAE ahead of Trump visit
The US State Department has approved two major arms sales to the United Arab Emirates totaling $1.45 billion, just days before President Trump’s visit to Abu Dhabi. The first package, worth $1.32 billion, includes six CH-47F Block II Chinook helicopters with advanced radar, missile warning systems, M-240 machine guns, and logistics support. The second, valued at $130 million, includes F-16 spare parts, night vision equipment, and sustainment services.
(Defense Security Cooperation Agency)
❗️Turkish-American political commentator Hasan Piker said he was held by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at Chicago O’Hare Airport and interrogated for nearly two hours about his political views. According to Piker, CBP officers questioned him specifically about his stance on Donald Trump and Israel’s genocide in Gaza, raising concerns over political profiling and freedom of expression at US borders.
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❗️Brigadier General Ahmad al-Qedra, 44, head of Gaza’s Anti-Narcotics Police and a senior member of the Police Command Council, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Khan Yunis early this morning, according to the Palestinian Interior Ministry.
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❗️Iran’s Foreign Minister: “We are ready to turn the page with Europe”
In an exclusive op-ed published by Le Point, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi criticized Europe’s declining role in Middle East diplomacy and called for a reset in Iran-Europe relations. Araghchi accused the E3 (France, Germany, UK) of strategic passivity and warned that their alignment with US sanctions, particularly after Washington withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal, had undermined European credibility. He cautioned that further misuse of the JCPOA’s snapback mechanism could spark an irreversible escalation and end Europe’s role in the agreement entirely.
❗️Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked US President Donald Trump for his "diplomatic pressure," claiming that without Israel’s military pressure, Israeli-American captive Edan Alexander would not have been released today, and that the two efforts together formed a "winning combination."
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❗️RT correspondent in Gaza Saed Swerki reports that at least 36 Palestinians were killed by Israel in Gaza today, including 16, among them women and children, who were massacred in an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced families in Jabalia.
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❗️Since November, and with the support of UNIFIL, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) have redeployed to more than 120 permanent positions south of the Litani River.
The full deployment is hindered by the presence of Israeli forces on Lebanese territory.
Peacekeepers have discovered over 225 weapons caches and referred them to the LAF.
(UNIFIL statement)
⭕️ Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas lifted the ban on Qatar’s Al Jazeera television network today, allowing it to resume operations in the Palestinian territories starting Tuesday, according to the network’s bureau chief in Palestine, Walid Omary.
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❗️Israeli PM Netanyahu and US envoy Steve Witkoff agree that the Israeli negotiating team will remain in Doha, Qatar until at least Thursday, coinciding with Trump's visit.
(Yedioth Ahronoth)