/articles-id

Nearly half of US citizens say Washington’s post-9/11 wars ’worth the cost’
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/39760

Nearly half of US citizens believe the wars waged by Washington in Afghanistan, Iraq, and beyond after the 11 September 2001 attacks have been “worth it,” a YouGov poll published on 2 August shows.

Soyons résolument optimistes : près de la moitié des Etasuniens pensent que non, ça ne valait pas vraiment le coup de tuer quelque 5 millions de personnes pour venger le 11 septembre...

‘The Board of Peace is failing’: NGO chief warns UN of ‘disturbing’ Gaza situation
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/39607

The head of an umbrella organization representing over 100 NGOs accused US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace for Gaza of “failing” to do its job on 26 August, citing the extreme conditions besieged Palestinian civilians continue to face due to the ongoing genocide.

She said Gaza managed to “claw” its way out of an “engineered famine,” but stressed that the situation remains extremely dangerous for multiple reasons, including severe aid restrictions and non-stop Israeli attacks.

Rayburn added that it is “disturbing” that “a child who may no longer be at imminent risk of starving to death may still be killed by shelling.”

“This is not success. Any reported improvements do not dilute the responsibility that still sits in this room.”

“Success [is] measured by whether the Board of Peace, ISF, and NCAG provide immediate protection for civilians; and in the long term, whether they move Gaza towards the required legal endpoint: The end of Israel’s unlawful presence and realization of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination,” she went on to say. 

She warned that by “these basic measures, the Board of Peace is failing.” Rayburn additionally highlighted the severe aid restrictions imposed on Palestinians in violation of the ceasefire plan.

“Medical items, such as crutches and wheelchairs, considered “dual-use” were repeatedly rejected; arbitrary restrictions were placed on engine oil, forcing a 45 percent price hike; and watermelons and onions were repeatedly rejected for falling outside “the humanitarian policy” – a policy that has never been made available.”

Israeli attack on Syrian air base launched hours after Turkish delegation visited site
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/39463

Début de la nouvelle guerre (suicidaire) israélienne ?

A Turkish military delegation visited the Abu al-Duhur Air Base in northwestern Syria a day before Israel bombed the facility, Reuters reported on 19 August.

The Turkish delegation had gone to the base in Idlib province to inspect rehabilitation work underway, and left hours before the unprovoked Israeli attack, the two officials said, speaking anonymously.

Syrian military officials told Reuters that four unidentified aircraft struck runways and storage facilities at the airfield, though sources said that no one was killed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office claimed Damascus was “on the verge of breaching” what it called a “status quo agreed with Israel in security matters” by permitting Turkish forces to deploy at the base, and said Israel would not tolerate a deployment it considers a threat to its security.

Ankara rejected the claim outright, with the Turkish presidency saying the “untenable allegations put forward by the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office are intended to legitimize Israel’s unlawful airstrikes targeting Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” and accused Netanyahu of chasing “expansionist and destabilizing policies” before elections in Israel.❞

Israel officially allows Jewish rituals at Al-Aqsa Mosque for first time: Report
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/39455

https://thecradle-main.oss-eu-central-1.aliyuncs.com/public/articles/f345a43a-9bcc-11f1-97bc-00163e02c055.webp

Juste pour la photo...

Israel spent over $140bn over three years to finance genocide of Palestinians in Gaza
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/39445

140 milliard pour liquider du Palestinien.

The genocide of Palestinians in Gaza is the longest and most expensive military campaign in Israel’s history, costing an estimated $142 billion so far and set to approach roughly $169 billion, Haaretz reported on 16 August.

Tel Aviv’s genocide has driven Israel’s national debt up by some $130 billion, with the state set to spend around $500 billion on the military over the coming decade, according to Haaretz. 

Israeli War Ministry Director General Amir Baram, who took office in March 2025, set out that trajectory in a strategy paper preparing the army for what he called an intense decade ahead.

The commitment was made without Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu identifying where the money would come from, Haaretz noted, with US aid of $3.8 billion a year expected to shrink and then end entirely in the coming years.

UN reveals only three percent of Gaza’s farmland remains usable
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/39441

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced on 18 August that only three percent of Gaza’s cropland remains “accessible and undamaged” according to satellite image analysis.

The joint assessment with the UN Satellite Centre (UNOSAT) put accessible farmland at 4,091 hectares as of 24 June 2026 – roughly a quarter of Gaza’s total – but found that only 448 hectares had escaped damage. 

The remaining 3,643 accessible hectares are too badly damaged to plant and will need rehabilitation before any crop can be planted.

Overall, usable land has contracted by 153 hectares, or 25.5 percent, since October 2025, with Deir al-Balah and Khan Yunis registering the sharpest losses.

After the invasion: Who really took Iraq’s oil?
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/39302

The conclusion is not that China ‘stole’ oil that Washington and London had intended to seize. Under the federal model, Iraq’s reserves remain state property. Nor was western power irrelevant. The war opened Iraq to international oil companies, while the dollar system created after the invasion preserved extraordinary US leverage. 

But the contracts and political conditions did not yield the high-profit field order western majors preferred. Chinese companies, backed by lower costs, strategic patience, and a longer view of energy security, occupied much of the space they left behind.

Iraq has consequently become a case study in the changing balance of global power. The older image was of western armies clearing a path for western oil companies. 

Chinese companies have taken a different approach. Both state-owned firms and smaller independents have entered difficult projects offering limited short-term returns. Lower costs, domestic supply chains, Chinese equipment, and extensive engineering capacity have helped them withstand risks that drove several western majors to scale back or leave.

The invasion’s oil legacy is therefore found less in direct Anglo-American possession of the fields than in the system built around them: an economy still overwhelmingly dependent on crude exports, revenues routed through New York, and an industry opened to foreign capital on terms Baghdad has repeatedly revised.

Yet the companies most willing to work those fields are increasingly not from the states that invaded Iraq in 2003. They are Chinese – and their rise is one of the clearest signs that the postwar order escaped the hands of its architects.

Number of Palestinian children detained without charge by Israel nearly doubles
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/39258

The number of Palestinian children and minors held in administrative detention in Israel “rose sharply” over a recent one-year period, according to newly obtained data from the Israel Prison Service (IPS), the Times of Israel reported on 7 August.

Between January 2025 and March 2026, the number of children and minors in administrative detention rose from 103 to 191, according to IPS data obtained by the organization Parents Against Child Detention.

Israeli occupation troops clear 10 million tons of rubble in Gaza to ’erase evidence’ of genocide
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/39245

Israël efface ses traces à Gaza.

The Israeli military is conducting an organized operation to clear the rubble from neighborhoods it destroyed in the Gaza Strip, erasing crucial evidence of genocide and the remains of victims still unaccounted for under the rubble, the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor reported on 3 August.

According to the Palestinian rights group, the Israeli military and civilian contractors have crushed and removed 10 million tons of rubble from their original sites within the areas of Gaza under Israeli occupation and control.

Tel Aviv is using some 400 pieces of heavy machinery to excavate, demolish, crush, and transport rubble created by Israel’s bombing and demolition of Palestinian homes, apartment blocks, hospitals, schools, and mosques across the strip.

Nearly 100 Israeli trucks are leaving Gaza daily, carrying rubble to undisclosed sites within Israel and further south of the occupied West Bank.

Doing so is “destroying crucial evidence of genocide and the remains of victims still unaccounted for under the rubble,” Euro-Med wrote.

Israeli occupation forces burn over 120 hectares of centuries-old olive groves in south Lebanon
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/39204

Israeli occupation troops set fire to over 120 hectares (1,200 dunams) of olive groves and fruit orchards in the Lebanese border town of Yaroun in Bint Jbeil District, with the blaze burning for over 36 hours.

“My heart broke at the sight. Together with several residents, we watched the fields burn until we were in tears,” Hafez Ghacham, municipality chairman of Yaroun, told L’Orient-Le Jour on 3 August.

‘Deeply concerning’: New study shows emigration from Israel hit record high in 2025
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/39142

The record-high levels of Israeli citizens emigrating from Israel remained the same and did not slow down throughout all of 2025, according to a 3 August study released by Tel Aviv University, which referred to the numbers as “deeply concerning.”

The new study has cited data from Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics.

According to the study, between 2023 and 2025, 268,509 Israelis fled Israel for trips lasting at least three months.

Over 90,900 Israelis remained outside Israel for three months straight or more. 

That came after 91,499 Israelis emigrated for prolonged periods of time in 2024, as well as 86,509 in 2023.

Annual departures between 2010 and 2019 averaged approximately 60,000 per year. From 2013 to 2015, only 183,219 Israelis left for similar periods. 

The study was carried out by Tel Aviv University’s Professor Itai Ater. 

“In 2025, we continue to see deeply concerning numbers of Israelis leaving the country for a significant period of time, adding to the exodus seen in 2023 and 2024,” the professor is quoted as saying in his report.

“These figures on their own do not yet pose a threat to Israel’s resilience. However, looking ahead – and if there is no change – there is growing concern that emigration will escalate in a manner that endangers Israel’s security and economy,” Ater added. 

The study expresses serious concern that this trend will continue to worsen, creating a “snowball” effect.

Wall Street in ’panic’ over Saudi–UAE rift as financial firms prepare ’contingency plans’: Report
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/38770

The report explains that such major firms have for years expanded across both Saudi and Emirati markets – which combined make up more than $3 trillion in sovereign wealth. 

Gulf states have spent billions in AI, finance, and infrastructure sectors over the past several years.

“Concerns are running high enough for some global investment banks and even officials within at least one regional government to run internal assessments to decide how they would respond if the economic rivalry worsens,” the report states. 

The executives cited by Bloomberg said they do not expect “a direct confrontation” between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but warned that companies are “concerned they might be forced to make harder choices between Riyadh or Abu Dhabi moving forward as both sides grow more assertive.”

CPJ reviews removal of four Palestinian journalists killed by Israel from Gaza casualty database: Report
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/38691

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is reconsidering the removal of at least four Palestinian journalists and media workers from its Gaza casualty database following criticism that this may exclude Palestinians killed during Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Electronic Intifada (EI) reported on 7 July.

According to exclusive information obtained by EI, current and former CPJ insiders say the organization is considering changing its definition of who qualifies as a journalist, noting that the review risks narrowing protections for Palestinian media workers. 

CPJ previously removed 20 names from its database of media casualties after reviewing new information, including eight individuals accused of ties to Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).

Saudi Arabia blocking payments to Emirati banks: Report
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/3867

Saudi Arabia has delayed or blocked financial transfers to accounts in the UAE, raising concerns that tensions between the two Gulf states could worsen, according to a 7 July report.

Sources told the Financial Times (FT) that transfers from Saudi banks to UAE accounts – belonging to businesses and individuals – have been returned or held up since May, usually without any reason given.

“Saudi Arabia is blocking or delaying financial remittances sent from domestic banks to UAE accounts,” the report says.

Marwan Barghouti to run for Palestinian presidency from inside Israeli prison : Report
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/38618

A Palestinian source told Sky News Arabia that Barghouti “has informed his lawyer that he intends to run for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority in elections scheduled for the first quarter of next year.”

“He is determined to contest the presidency and has no intention of withdrawing his candidacy if the presidential elections are held,” the source added. 

The source said that Washington and the EU have urged Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas to hold both legislative and presidential elections simultaneously. 

This would run contrary to “previous plans that called for legislative elections in November of this year and presidential elections in the first quarter of next year.”

Lebanon demands ’exclusion’ from Iran–US deal amid nonstop Israeli attacks
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/38617

Selon un journaliste libanais, les autorités libanaises insistent pour ne pas faire partie du comité conjoint USA/Iran visant au respect du cessez-le-feu au Liban.

“The authority’s refusal to appoint a representative for Lebanon in the joint US–Iranian–Lebanese committee to monitor the ceasefire delays the committee’s start of operations,” Sweidan went on to say. 

This “deconfliction cell” reportedly aims to sideline Israel and include Iran, and potentially other regional states – in effect replacing an older mechanism which included Tel Aviv, the US, France, and the Lebanese government. 

The old mechanism gave Israel cover to violate the November 2024 ceasefire for more than a year.

CPJ votes to maintain current definition of ’journalist’ despite Israeli pressure campaign
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/38574

On 1 July, the Board of Directors of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) voted to uphold its definition of a journalist, rejecting claims that a “review” of its database was intended to lift protections for Palestinian and Lebanese media workers killed by the Israeli military.

The board said its policy remains unchanged and continues to recognize journalists working for state-backed outlets or media affiliated with armed groups, provided they are not involved in combat or inciting imminent violence.

CPJ Chair Jacob Weisberg dismissed allegations that the organization sought to remove slain Palestinian and Lebanese journalists from its records, warning that such claims undermine years of documentation and place reporters covering events on the ground at greater risk.

Syrian forces uproot 1,000 families as part of new ‘sectarian displacement campaign’
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/38534

Les « révolutionnaires » syriens se mettent à l’heure israélienne et expulsent les habitants d’un village...

The ongoing campaign began on 29 June after authorities issued evacuation notices to the residents of Homs’s Al-Mazraa and other areas. 

The notices were issued under the pretext of preventing construction on “state-owned” land and the lack of building permits by locals, according to the Syria Justice Archive (SJA). 

Residents received phone messages from the government demanding that they leave “on orders from Homs Governorate leadership.”

They were given 72 hours before authorities cut off electricity and water in the area.

State security forces entered Al-Mazraa and Al-Raqqa near the Al-Waer area, destroying infrastructure and homes and assaulting residents.

“The demolitions were accompanied by verbal abuse and threats from General Security militia members … Residents and bystanders were prevented from filming the destruction. A delegation of villagers traveled to the Homs Province headquarters to seek intervention, but the governor, appointed by the … government, declined to receive them,” sources told SJA.

Locals are describing the situation as a “sectarian displacement campaign.” 

The orders are reportedly only targeting Shia and Alawite properties lacking permits in Homs, but not those belonging to Sunnis. 

Despite the attempt by Damascus to impose a media blackout, images and videos of the events have surfaced on social media.

Rails of power: Inside the race to redraw West Asia’s trade map
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/38445

The section beyond Mecca carries the project’s broader ambition. After more than a century, Turkiye and Saudi Arabia have agreed to revive the line and integrate it with routes leading to the Arabian Sea.

The immediate aim is to move Gulf energy and industrial goods to Europe without passing through Hormuz or Suez. The larger objective is more disruptive. The corridor is positioned as a counterweight to the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), which has been promoted with US backing as a southern alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). 

In this sense, the railway is not simply about logistics. It is part of a contest over who shapes the next phase of Eurasian connectivity.

Lebanon is now part of Iran’s deterrence doctrine
▻https://thecradle.co/articles-id/38305

The most persistent misconception about Iran’s intervention in the defense of Lebanon is that it is driven by ideology – by revolutionary solidarity with Hezbollah, by commitments that rational statecraft would eventually subordinate to national interest. 

This reading is not simply incomplete. It mistakes the symptom for the diagnosis. What is unfolding is a deliberate reconfiguration of Iran’s deterrence architecture, one in which the security of key regional partners is no longer a separate file that adversaries can negotiate away in isolation, but a constituent element of Iran’s own national security perimeter.

Something else is also being overlooked. The confrontation over Lebanon marked the first time the Islamic Republic entered a direct military confrontation, primarily in defense of a key ally. The decision points to a broader evolution in Iranian strategic thinking, one whose implications extend far beyond Lebanon.

Tout l’article est très bon.