43030
The Cradle is an online news magazine covering West Asian geopolitics from within.
❗️Yesterday, two Merkava tanks and an Israeli military bulldozer, accompanied by an infantry unit, crossed the border near Bir Shuaib, east of the town of Blida, entering Lebanese territory with the aim of leveling the land.
In response, the Lebanese army dispatched reinforcements to its position near the area of the Israeli breach, as the enemy carried out a bulldozing operation in an olive grove directly across the border.
Following the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the site of the breach at dawn, it was revealed that Israeli bulldozers had destroyed and uprooted the Lebanese road adjacent to the border, along with the paved area surrounding the Bi’r Shuaib site, which is hundreds of years old, penetrating 50 meters into Lebanese territory.
(Al-Manar correspondent in south Lebanon Ali Shoeib)
⭕️ Syria agrees with Qatar’s UCC Holding to advance large-scale power generation projects, with foreign investment estimated at around $7 billion, UCC announced in a statement today.
The deal includes the construction of four combined-cycle gas turbine power plants with a total output of 4,000 megawatts, along with a 1,000 MW solar power facility in southern Syria.
WATCH | US 'aid' mercenaries operating under the GHF fire stun grenades at Palestinians seeking aid, according to a circulating video and local reports from Gaza.
Читать полностью…
⭕️ Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia are considering allowing more cross-border financial products
An exchange-traded fund tracking bonds issued by the Saudi government started trading in Hong Kong on Thursday, the first fixed-income fund listed in the territory to offer such exposure.
Apart from the fund, more products are "in the pipeline" for approval to trade between Hong Kong and Riyadh, said Julia Leung, CEO of Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission.
"We're very comfortable in the cross listing of whatever products," Leung told those attending the Capital Markets Forum organised by Saudi exchange operator Tadawul Group.
(Reuters)
⭕️ Ireland officially approved the drafting of a legislation to cut off trade with Israeli settlements on Tuesday
Although Ireland's trade with the settlements is minimal, Prime Minister Micheal Martin described the initiative as a "symbolic move," building on the country’s formal recognition of a Palestinian state last year, alongside a few other European nations.
According to Foreign Minister Simon Harris, the proposed law will be reviewed by a parliamentary committee in the coming weeks. The finalized version will then undergo full parliamentary review before being put to a vote in both chambers, likely before the end of the year.
(Reuters)
❗️US envoy to Syria Thomas Barrack raised the US flag over the ambassador’s residence in Damascus today, marking the first time it has flown there since the embassy was shut down in 2012.
Читать полностью…
BREAKING | An Israeli drone targeted and killed a Lebanese man shortly after he arrived to operate a water station in the Ali al-Taher forest near Nabatiye, southern Lebanon.
Читать полностью…
❗️Israel has killed at least 55 Palestinians in attacks on the Gaza Strip since dawn today.
(Medical sources to Al Jazeera)
❗️"600 days of fighting. Thankful for the privilege to kill, murder and annihilate the ugliest creatures in nature."
Found on an Israeli soldier's Instagram account.
BREAKING | Intense gunfire and shelling by Israeli forces targeted citizens heading to the GHF's aid distirbution center in the Netzarim Corridor.
Читать полностью…
EU imposes sanctions on Syrian army brigades over ‘torture, arbitrary killings’
Damascus's forces continue to carry out sectarian killings and persecute minorities in Syria
❗️While meeting with Jordanian FM Ayman Safadi, US special envoy to Syria, Tom Barrack, described Jordan as a "critical tessera of the Syrian mosaic."
Читать полностью…
⭕️ Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu praised Turkiye for making Istanbul the main platform for Russia-Ukraine negotiations, citing its key role in both the Black Sea grain deal and recent prisoner exchange talks.
Moscow has proposed holding a second round of talks in Istanbul on 2 June, following successful negotiations earlier in May.
❗️Gaza Ministry of Health:
– “67 martyrs including 5 recovered martyrs and 179 injuries arrived at Gaza Strip hospitals during the past 24 hours. (The statistics do not include hospitals in the North Gaza Strip Governorate due to the difficulty of accessing them)."
– “The death toll and injuries since 18 March 2025 has reached 3,986 martyrs and 11,451 injuries.
⭕️ UN World Food Programme (WFP) says that 'hordes of hungry people' stormed one of its warehouses in central Gaza yesterday
According to initial reports, two people were killed and several others injured. In a statement, the WFP emphasized, "Gaza needs an immediate scale-up of food assistance. This is the only way to reassure people that they will not starve."
❗️Israeli journalist Amit Segal (Channel 12) reveals new details about the Witkoff proposal — with clarification from an Israeli source:
– Ten living captives will be released — not nine as previously stated.
– On the first day, 5 living captives and 9 deceased captives will be released.
– On the seventh day, another 5 living captives and 9 deceased captives will be released.
– US President Donald Trump will announce the ceasefire and guarantee that all parties honor the agreement.
– Israel will immediately halt all offensive military operations in Gaza.
– In exchange for the release of the ten living captives, Israel will release 125 Palestinians serving life sentences and 1,111 prisoners from Gaza who were detained after 7 October, 2023.
– In exchange for the release of the 18 deceased captives, Israel will return 180 bodies of Gaza residents, also in two phases.
– On the tenth day, Hamas will provide a full list and detailed medical reports on the condition of the remaining Israeli captives held in Gaza.
– The United States, Egypt, and Qatar will act as guarantors of the temporary ceasefire, and US envoy Steve Witkoff will arrive in the region to finalize the details of the agreement.
UPDATE | According to Gaza's Interior Ministry, Israel bombed a number of police officers at the Saraya Junction in central Gaza City while they were carrying out their duty to confront a group of thieves this afternoon. The attack resulted in the deaths of several police officers and passersby.
Читать полностью…
Israel greenlights 22 new illegal West Bank settlements to 'block Palestinian state'
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says Israel is seeking to expand its borders and eliminate the indigenous Palestinian population
BREAKING | At least 9 Palestinians were massacred when Israeli warplanes bombed the Saraya area in Gaza.
According to medical sources to Al Jazeera, Israel has killed at least 64 Palestinians in attacks on the Gaza Strip since dawn today.
Lebanon using Israeli intel to dismantle Hezbollah infrastructure: Report
The intelligence is being passed along to the Lebanese army by the US, which has been heavily pressuring Beirut to fully disarm Hezbollah
⭕️ Archaeology as Annexation
——
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sparked outrage across the region after publishing a video of himself walking through a massive underground tunnel beneath Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem on Monday.
The tunnel, part of the "City of David" project, stretches from the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan to the area directly underneath the mosque.
The "City of David" project has been widely condemned as an attempt to reshape Jerusalem's identity through politicized archaeology and illegal settler expansion. It promotes a narrative that prioritizes Jewish biblical claims while erasing Islamic and Palestinian heritage, with carefully curated tours and infrastructure designed to appeal to Jewish and international tourists.
Backed by the settler organization Elad, the project has led to home demolitions and forced evictions in Silwan to make way for archaeological digs and Jewish settlement growth.
The project emphasizes biblical archaeology to substantiate Jewish claims to Jerusalem, often highlighting discoveries tied to King David and ancient Israelite civilization. Critics argue that it selectively interprets archaeological findings, downplaying non-Jewish or later Islamic and Christian histories of the area.
Netanyahu's appearance in the tunnel was seen as a deliberate provocation. The video was released on the so-called "Jerusalem Day," the anniversary of Israel's 1967 occupation of East Jerusalem, a date routinely marked by settler incursions, racist slogans, and violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. It also coincided with a cabinet meeting in Silwan, where Netanyahu pledged to "preserve a united and complete Jerusalem."
⭕️ Turkish President Tayyip Recep Erdogan says the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are employing "stalling tactics" when it comes to the agreement of integrating into Syria's armed forces.
During a conversation with reporters on his return flight from Azerbaijan, Erdogan reiterated Turkiye's stance on maintaining Syria’s unity and territorial integrity, stressing that the SDF-Damascus agreement must be carried out within the set timeline.
(Reuters)
⭕️ The Iraqi Parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee rejected recent claims by US lawmakers alleging Iranian control over Iraq’s institutions.
MP Mukhtar al-Moussawi dismissed the accusations as “media-driven appeals that lack any real substance,” adding, “There is no Iranian hegemony over Iraq.” He emphasized that Iraq’s ties with Iran are like those with other countries, and that Baghdad-Washington relations remain strong and strategic, unaffected by “suspicious appeals from certain hardline figures in the US Congress.”
BREAKING | Preliminary information about a security incident in Gaza, involving the killing of an Israeli soldier after an explosive device detonated in a military bulldozer that was demolishing citizens' homes in Gaza.
The details are not yet confirmed.
⭕️ "Yemen will not back down from supporting Palestine."
Yesterday, from Sanaa International Airport, Yemeni President Mahdi al-Mashat vowed continued support for Gaza following an Israeli airstrike on the facility, warning of escalating retaliation.
Israel intensifies efforts to stop Germany from 'even hinting' at arms embargo: Report
Since the start of the genocide in Gaza, Berlin has doubled down on its support of Israel by persecuting activists and journalists who speak out in support of Palestinians
❗️❗️ According to RT correspondent Saed Swerki and other journalists in Gaza, Israeli occupation forces opened fire on civilians heading to the US-Israeli distribution point south of the Netzarim Corridor.
Читать полностью…
⭕️ Iraq has signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding with Egypt’s Talaat Moustafa Group and Saudi Arabia’s Al Muhaidib Group to jointly develop part of the Al-Rufail Economic City west of Baghdad.
The deal, overseen by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and involving Iraq's National Investment Commission, aims to boost development in sectors such as housing, education, and hospitality.
⭕️ WSJ: Lebanon disarms most of Hezbollah in south with Israeli intelligence aid
Senior Arab officials said Israeli intelligence relayed through the US has assisted the Lebanese army in locating and dismantling Hezbollah’s remaining arms depots and military positions in the south. The army reports that while some seized weapons are destroyed, others are retained to reinforce its own limited supplies.
According to Salam, the government has met approximately 80% of its goals in disarming militias in Lebanon’s southernmost regions.
“All over the Lebanese territory, the state should have a monopoly on arms,” Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said, striking his fists on a dining table.
❗️Qassam Brigades publishes: as part of the 'David's Stones' series of operations: Footage showing the targeting of an Israeli force that had fortified itself inside a house, and a Merkava tank, with an anti-personnel shell and a Yassin 105 shell in Beit Lahia, in northern Gaza.
Читать полностью…