47079
The Cradle is an online news magazine covering West Asian geopolitics from within.
Death and more death: The BAALISTS are coming for Iran | Ep. 155
Watch on YouTube
ISIS never left Syria, it just changed uniforms
Washington now calls Damascus a partner in fighting ISIS – but the ‘new’ Syrian army is built from the very commanders who once ruled Raqqa’s ‘caliphate’
By Fuad Walid Itayim
Sweden to deploy warplanes, troops to Greenland
The deployment is intended to strengthen NATO’s military presence in the Arctic and ease internal tensions sparked by the US annexation threats
Washington, Tehran showing 'flexibility' in renewed talks: Turkish FM
The US is reportedly willing to 'tolerate' Iranian enrichment of uranium with limitations as part of a nuclear deal
‼️ Two Palestinians were injured by Israeli gunfire in Al-Mawasi, Khan Yunis, southern Gaza.
Читать полностью…
❗️Earlier today, at least two Israeli settlers from the Uri Tzafon movement, which advocates for the ethnic cleansing of south Lebanon and the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanese villages, crossed the fence near the southern Lebanese town of Yaroun into Lebanese territory. Israeli forces were deployed and reportedly removed them from the area.
Читать полностью…
❗️Local efforts underway to rebuild Gaza’s 900-year-old Al-Samra Bathhouse with support from occupied Bethlehem
The ancient Al-Samra Bathhouse, located in the heart of Gaza’s Old City, was established some 900 years ago and stands as a testament to the region’s rich architectural and cultural heritage. Flourishing under successive civilizations, including during the Ottoman era, the bathhouse remained a cherished destination into modern times. Known for its marble walls, ancient stonework, massages, and hot baths, it has long played a central role in social traditions, particularly pre-wedding rituals where grooms prepare for marriage.
Salim al-Wazir, who has owned and worked at the bathhouse for 55 years after inheriting it from his ancestors, describes it as deeply rooted in Palestinian history and community life. According to Middle East Monitor, during the current genocide in Gaza, the site was bombed, as part of what residents say is a broader assault on historical landmarks.
With support from the Palestinian Heritage Society in Bethlehem, efforts are now underway to restore the bathhouse. Workers are sorting and reusing original stones, reclaiming clay ceilings, and using traditional materials to replicate its historic design. Despite shortages of raw materials, local experts and residents are determined to rebuild the landmark in its original form.
❗️German parliament speaker visits Israeli-controlled part of Gaza as part of PR stunt curated by Israel
The speaker of Germany’s lower house of parliament, Julia Kloeckner, briefly visited the Israeli-controlled part of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, becoming the first German official to enter the territory since October 2023. According to parliament, she spent about an hour in an area under Israeli military control, allowing Israeli authorities complete control over how to frame the optics and messaging.
Kloeckner said it was vital for politicians to obtain “reliable assessments of the situation” and welcomed Israel’s decision to grant her entry, though she acknowledged her insight was limited.
She urged Israel to continue allowing access and warned that the so-called yellow line, which marks Israeli military zones inside Gaza, must not become a permanent barrier. Germany’s foreign ministry did not immediately comment on the visit.
⭕️ Palo Alto Networks to list shares on Tel Aviv stock exchange after CyberArk deal
Nasdaq-listed cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks announced on Thursday that its shares will also be listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, following the completion of its $25 billion acquisition of Israeli firm CyberArk Software.
With the dual listing, Palo Alto Networks is set to become the largest company on the TASE by market capitalization, as it is currently valued at $115 billion. The company did not specify when trading in Tel Aviv will begin.
"Listing on the TASE is a powerful tribute to CyberArk's Israeli roots and our commitment to the local tech ecosystem," Palo Alto said in a statement to Reuters.
"It allows local institutional and retail investors easier access to Palo Alto's shares and further integrates us into the fabric of Israel's economy."
❗️Israeli settlers attack Palestinian vehicles with stones in the town of Tamoun, south of Tubas in the occupied West Bank.
Читать полностью…
❗️According to investigative journalism outlet Declassified UK, US nationals rank among the top foreign passport holders to have served for Israel during the Gaza genocide. British passport holders are the sixth highest group among dual nationals and the second highest among multi-nationals, those holding British, Israeli, and one or more additional passports.
Читать полностью…
❗️Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem:
“The leadership of the Palestinian Authority and the Fatah movement continues its exclusionary approach and unilateral policies in everything related to Palestinian affairs, despite broad popular and factional consensus on the need to unify the national position and vision in order to confront the unprecedented dangers facing the Palestinian cause.
The insistence of the Authority’s leadership, away from national consensus, on imposing new realities on the Palestinian political system confirms its narrow factional outlook and personal calculations, without any regard for the sensitivity of the current stage our people are going through.
The continued manipulation of the Palestinian political system by the Authority’s leadership in response to external pressures has distorted this system and altered its functions away from national considerations, allowing foreign forces to continue interfering in the structuring of our national institutions.
What remains required is a serious and genuine national dialogue among all national and popular actors to reform national institutions and agree on a unified national vision to repel hostile external interventions and confront the policies of Israel’s right-wing government.”
❗️Israel orders demolition of playground near Hebron that serves nearly 500 residents
Israeli authorities have notified residents of Umm Al-Khair, near Hebron, of plans to demolish their community playground in the southern occupied West Bank. The military order was issued by the Civil Administration, a 'Defense' Ministry body overseeing building permits in the territory, and was posted at the site’s gate on Tuesday. The playground, built nearly two years ago with donor funding, serves roughly 500 residents.
Local residents told Arab News that the demolition threat followed a campaign by Regavim, a pro-Israeli settler organization that labeled the playground an obstacle to settlement expansion. In January, authorities postponed the demolition of a football pitch at the Aida refugee camp near Bethlehem after an international outcry.
The move comes amid broader Israeli efforts to expand control in the occupied West Bank. Recent measures have strengthened Israeli authority over land use in areas administered by the Palestinian Authority, steps critics say amount to de facto sovereignty and further undermine prospects for a Palestinian state.
VIDEO | "The solution for Gaza is either through emigration or by eliminating all the residents.”
The proposal to forcibly displace or “eliminate” all residents of Gaza was aired on Israel’s Channel 14 on 10 February, featuring strategic adviser Ramy Piro, who advocated for the ethnic cleansing and extermination of Palestinians.
❗️Israeli army's Farsi account on X:
"We ask patriotic Iranian citizens to please follow only our official contact channels and get in touch with us for any form of collaboration.
The pages and links mentioned in this post (link in bio) are the only official and valid accounts.
Please be assured that only the official Persian-language pages of the Israeli government on the Telegram platform should be followed and contacted for any interactions.
Interacting with accounts that present themselves instead of official pages may expose you to incorrect information or even hostile actors."
❗️Palestinian paramedic Hatem Rayan dies in Israeli custody amid surge in prisoner deaths
The Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club announced the death of paramedic Hatem Ismail Rayan (59) from Gaza in Israeli custody. He was detained on 27 December 2024 from Kamal Adwan Hospital during its siege, along with his injured son Muath Rayan, who remains imprisoned.
His family said Rayan had recently suffered a stroke but insisted on continuing his humanitarian work before his arrest, which came amid a broader campaign targeting medical staff during the siege and destruction of Gaza’s hospitals, described by Palestinian institutions as part of the ongoing genocide.
Three detained doctors have been declared dead since the war began.
Rayan is among more than 100 detainees who have died in Israeli prisons and military camps since the start of the genocide, with 88 identities confirmed so far, including 52 from Gaza, bringing the total number of identified Palestinian prisoner deaths since 1967 to 325.
Palestinian prisoner media attributes these deaths to torture, systematic starvation, medical neglect, sexual abuse, and degrading detention conditions, calling prisons a central arena of extermination and the deadliest phase in the history of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement.
They noted that over 9,300 Palestinians remain imprisoned, 3,358 under administrative detention and 1,249 classified as “unlawful combatants,” with roughly half held without trial, and held Israeli authorities fully responsible for Rayan’s death while urging international action to end decades of impunity.
CIA launches campaign to rebuild spy network within China
Beijing imprisoned or killed nearly 20 US intelligence assets during a 2010 crackdown
Israeli lawfare group moves to shut down Canadian outlet The Maple
The organization described its campaign as a mission to ‘bankrupt terrorism one lawsuit at a time’
⭕️ According to reports, Palestinian prisoner Hatem Rayan has died in Israeli prisons. He was detained from Jabalia camp during Israel's brutal invasion of north Gaza known as the “Generals’ Plan.”
He is the father of the late Bashir Rayan, one of the fighters who carried out the raid on military Site 16 during the 2014 war on Gaza.
VIDEO | Israeli forces continue to target the outskirts of the southern Lebanese village of Maroun al-Ras with artillery shells.
Читать полностью…
BREAKING | Israeli artillery shelling targets the outskirts of the town of Maroun al-Ras, in southern Lebanon.
Читать полностью…
❗️Gaza Government Media Office:
"We renew our welcome for the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza and call on it to urgently arrive and begin carrying out its national duties in the Strip
In light of the ongoing political and administrative developments, and out of national concern for maintaining institutional order and ensuring the continuity of essential services for our great Palestinian people, we renew once again our welcome for the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza and stress the importance of its urgent arrival in the Strip to commence its duties and assume its national responsibilities.
We affirm our full readiness to transfer the relevant authorities and our complete preparedness for all related procedures, in accordance with clear professional and legal frameworks that safeguard the rights of citizens and employees, ensure the uninterrupted continuation of services, and achieve the highest levels of efficiency and transparency.
We also emphasize that all governmental institutions and departments in the Gaza Strip, along with their employees across all sectors, are fully prepared to engage and cooperate completely with the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza in a manner that serves the public interest, contributes to improving the level of services, alleviates citizens’ suffering, and strengthens administrative and institutional stability.
We reaffirm the unity of Palestinian land and the unity of the political geography between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, stressing that strengthening national unity and internal cohesion constitutes a top national priority at this sensitive stage."
❗️East of Gaza City’s Al-Zaytoun neighborhood, near Kuwait Roundabout on Salah al-Din Street, Israeli army vehicles and bulldozers carried out a sudden incursion, accompanied by heavy gunfire targeting civilians and passing vehicles, resulting in multiple injuries.
Ambulance crews, medical services, and the Palestinian Red Crescent attempted to reach the area but faced major difficulties due to ongoing gunfire and the dangerous field conditions.
After nearly three hours of continuous efforts, crews managed to evacuate one critically wounded person with a gunshot injury to the chest and transfer them to the Red Crescent field hospital in the Saraya area for treatment.
VIDEO | An Israeli reconnaissance aircraft is seen flying over several cities in the northern and central occupied West Bank.
Читать полностью…
Syria’s Al-Hawl Camp ‘emptied’ of ISIS members' families: Report
Tens of thousands of ISIS members and their families were let out of the camp after Syrian troops took it over from the Kurdish-led SDF last month
Top US pollster to end presidential approval surveys as Trump ratings drop
Gallup's recent surveys show Trump’s approval rating ranks among the lowest in modern presidential polling
❗️Pakistan's PM to attend first meeting of Trump’s 'Board of Peace'
Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is set to attend the inaugural meeting of US President Donald Trump's "Board of Peace" next week in Washington, the country’s foreign office announced today.
The first session is scheduled for 19 February.
"I can confirm that the prime minister will attend the upcoming BoP meeting," the foreign office spokesman, Tahir Andrabi, told a weekly press briefing in Islamabad.
Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar will also accompany the prime minister, he added.
"We have joined the BoP in good faith," Andrabi said, adding, "We are in it not in isolation, not as one voice, but as collective voice of eight Islamic-Arab countries."
❗️Times of Israel: Egypt & EU will refuse to train Hamas-linked police in Gaza
Neither Egypt nor the European Union will provide training to Hamas-affiliated police officers in Gaza, according to an Egyptian and a European diplomat speaking to The Times of Israel, following reports that Hamas is trying to secure roles for its 10,000 officers.
In December, officials told The Times of Israel that the new police force would exclude Hamas-affiliated personnel, despite earlier reports suggesting that Hamas members might continue policing Gaza as part of the new force.
The Egyptian and European diplomats now reaffirm that neither Cairo nor Brussels will train any Hamas-linked personnel. The European diplomat notes that EU-trained officers would be vetted by Israel for ties to the resistance group.
Russia pledges 'humanitarian' oil shipment for Cuba
The island nation is facing severe energy shortages and a food crisis due to a US siege and threats of tariffs against countries that assist Cuba
❗️Israeli spyware firm Paragon exposes live victim dashboard on LinkedIn
Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions revealed a live government surveillance dashboard in a LinkedIn selfie, exposing unredacted victim details including a Czech phone number, an Israeli contact, and active monitoring toggles for apps such as WhatsApp and Signal. The Tel Aviv-based firm, now US-owned after a $900 million acquisition, sells its Graphite spyware to governments for infiltrating messaging apps.
Citizen Lab has tracked Graphite’s use in zero-click iMessage exploits, while US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) holds a $2 million contract to monitor anti-ICE protests, raising civil liberties concerns. The leaked image was not a demo but a live control panel, granting full access to targeted devices.
Graphite has reportedly been deployed worldwide, including in Australia, Canada, Europe, Israel, Singapore, and the US, targeting journalists, activists, and political opposition figures. Paragon has not publicly responded to the exposure.