News Digest — 5/9/25
Israel Believes Trump Lacks Senate Support For Saudi Nuclear Deal Without Israel Involvement
Israeli officials are closely monitoring the recent statements from Trump and admitted they were caught off guard. However, despite the apparent US green light for the Saudi nuclear initiative, Israeli reactions have remained relatively calm.
“The president won’t be able to get approval to push forward a civilian nuclear program for Saudi Arabia without the Israeli component,” an Israeli official told Israel Hayom. “He doesn’t have a Senate majority for any agreement that doesn’t include Israel or that moves forward without its consent.” He continued that the Americans had made inquiries with Israel regarding its position, but chose to advance the initiative after determining that Israel could not meet Saudi demands regarding the Palestinians.
According to a report by Reuters on Thursday (8th), the US has dropped its demand that Saudi Arabia normalize ties with Israel as a condition for moving forward with civilian nuclear cooperation talks. The report, based on two sources familiar with the matter, comes just days before Trump’s planned visit to the kingdom.
Two senior officials close to the president recently said in closed-door conversations, the content of which reached Israel Hayom, that Trump had decided to stop waiting for Israel and to move ahead with initiatives in the Middle East without coordinating with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to the news media, Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are expected to agree on several regionally significant issues during their upcoming meeting – issues that are highly relevant to Israel, but according to Saudi and American sources, Israel will not be a party to those understandings.
Washington’s decision to drop the normalization requirements is a significant reversal.
Unusual Wave Of Attacks In Southern Lebanon; Hezbollah Positions Targeted
The Israeli Air Force reportedly carried out a series of intense airstrikes in southern Lebanon Thursday morning (8th), in what Lebanese and Saudi outlet Al Hadath described as an unusual escalation in the eastern sector of the region.
According to reports, the strikes included around 20 attacks focused on the Nabatieh area, including the village of Roumine, and were carried out in two separate waves. Sources told Al Hadath that the strikes targeted Hezbollah positions, calling it an attack on a “significant target.” The Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen network described the air raids as forming a “belt of fire.”
The strikes follow a separate targeted killing reported Wednesday (7th) in the Sidon area of southern Lebanon. Lebanese media said Khaled Ahmad al- Ahmad, a senior Hamas operative, was killed in an airstrike on his vehicle. The Israel Defense Forces later confirmed the operation, stating that al-Ahmad served as head of operations for Hamas’ Western Lebanon Brigade and was actively planning terror attacks against Israel.
“During the war, the terrorist promoted multiple plots targeting IDF soldiers, the State of Israel, and its citizens,” the IDF said. “In recent weeks, he facilitated the transfer of weapons and coordinated attacks against Israel. His activities posed a direct threat to Israel and its people. The IDF will continue to pursue Hamas operatives wherever they operate.”
Last week, the IDF eliminated two Hezbollah operatives in southern Lebanon. One was said to have been gathering intelligence near the border, and the other was identified as a fighter in Hezbollah’s Radwan Force. According to the IDF spokesperson, the strikes occurred about 20 minutes apart in the area of the village of Meiss al-Jabal and were conducted using unmanned aerial vehicles.
IDF Sets Up Medical Facility In Southern Syria For Druze Wounded In Clashes
The Israel Defense Forces on Thursday (8th) said it had set up a medical facility inside southern Syria, next to the Druze village of Hader, to treat those wounded during sectarian violence in the country.
“The facility is part of a number of efforts that the IDF is carrying out to support the Syrian Druze population, and to maintain their security,” the military said in a statement, describing it as a “forward mobile triage.”
More than 30 wounded Syrian Druze have been evacuated by the IDF to hospitals in Israel in recent weeks.
“The IDF continues to monitor developments and maintain readiness for defense and various scenarios,” the army added.
Sectarian violence in Syria has escalated in recent weeks as Islamist supporters of the country’s new regime have targeted Druze communities in clashes in southern Syria. Reports have put the death toll from the fighting at around 100.
Israel has vowed to protect the Syrian Druze community from threats, and the IDF has struck targets in the country as a “warning” to the new regime.
Israel has attacked hundreds of military sites in Syria since forces led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former al-Qaeda affiliate, deposed Syria’s longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in December. Citing potential danger following the ouster, Israel sent troops into the Syrian side of the demilitarized zone that separates the two countries. Israeli soldiers are currently deployed to nine posts inside southern Syria, mostly within the UN-patrolled buffer zone.
Troops have been operating in areas up to around 15 kilometers deep into Syria, aiming to capture weapons that Israel says could pose a threat to the country if they fall into the hands of “hostile forces.”
Israeli officials have said that they seek to completely demilitarize the southern Syria area, and not allow any armed groups to enter it and gain a foothold, including those of the new Syrian government.
On Monday (5th), the IDF said it located and demolished “the main headquarters of the former Syrian regime at the peak of Mount Hermon,” during recent operations in Syria.
The military compound was raided by the 810th “Mountains” Regional Brigade, alongside combat engineers and paratroopers.
At the facility, which belonged to the Assad regime, the IDF said it found bunkers and numerous weapons, including artillery cannons, rockets and launchers, mortars, explosives and mines.
IRGC Chief Threatens To ‘Open Gates Of Hell’ On Israel, US
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander Hossein Salami warned on Thursday (8th) that Iran would retaliate against Israel and the US should the two countries strike Iran.
“I’m issuing a serious warning: if you make one wrong move, we will open up the gates of hell on you,” said Salami, as quoted by Iran International.
“Sit down and stay in your place… we have made extensive preparations. These are serious warnings to Zionist officials, to US officials. The criminal Prime Minister of the Zionist regime talks a lot these days, threatening Iran,” he added.
“If you make a mistake, we’ll act on you in a way that you forget the True Promise 1 and 2,” he said, in reference to Iran’s attacks on Israel last year.
“Don’t count on THAAD. Every time you fire a projectile, we will fire more than you.” Salami threatened.
The threats come amid renewed tensions over Iran’s nuclear program. While the US and Iran held three rounds of talks recently, a planned fourth round of negotiations was postponed without a new date announced.
On Wednesday (7th), US President Danald Trump said that Iran has a choice when it comes to its nuclear program: ‘Blow up its nuclear facilities peacefully, or have them blown up viciously.’
In an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump was asked whether the US had given Iran a choice between turning over its nuclear centrifuges and uranium or “get bombed” and his reply was, “It’s that simple.”
Salami’s threats also follow a warning from Defense Minister Israel Katz, who on Thursday (8th) directed a pointed message to the Iranian regime, which he accused of funding, arming, and operating the Houthi terrorist organization.
“I warn the Iranian leadership, the era of proxies is over, and the axis of evil has collapsed. You bear direct responsibility. What we did to Hezbollah… Hamas… Bashar al-Assad… and the Houthis… we will do to you in Tehran. We will not allow anyone to harm Israel – and those who do will be severely harmed,” Katz stated.
Iran’s Hidden Nuclear Facility Uncovered By Satellite Imagery – Report
New satellite images obtained by Fox News on Thursday (8th) have shown a secret Iranian nuclear weapons facility in an exclusive report by the American source.
The facility is located in the country’s northern province, the Semnan Province. Iranian officials have code-named the facility the “Rainbow Site” and have masked it as a chemical production company under the name “Diba Energy Siba.”
The site reportedly covers over 2,500 acres, according to the source, and has been operational for over 10 years.
Citing the Network Contagion Research Institute , the US source said that the factory’s primary function is tritium extraction. Tritium is a “radioactive isotope of hydrogen,”according to Oxford languages’ definition, with the Fox News report saying that it is also used to enhance nuclear weapons.
The Fox News revelation comes nearly a week after the foreign minister of the Islamic Republic, Abbas Araghchi, said: “As a founding signatory to the NPT [Non-Proliferation Treaty], Iran has every right to possess the full nuclear fuel cycle,” implying that the Islamic nation believes it should be allowed to keep enriching uranium even with a deal with the US.
A fourth round of Iran-US nuclear talks was supposed to be held on Sunday (11th) in Oman, according to Iran’s Nour News, citing an unnamed Iranian official. Evidently it was canceled, with no new date set.
Former Hostage Reprimands Pulitzer Prize Board For Award To Palestinian “Poet” – Emily Damari
Dear Members of the Pulitzer Prize Board:
My name is Emily Damari. I was held hostage in Gaza for over 500 days. On the morning of October 7, 2023, I was at home in my small studio apartment in Kibbutz Kfar Aza when Hamas terrorists burst in, shot me and dragged me across the border into Gaza. I was one of 251 men, women, and children, including elderly people kidnapped that day from their beds, their homes, and a music festival. For almost 500 days I lived in terror. I was starved, abused, and treated like I was less than human. I watched friends suffer. I watched hope dim. And even now, after returning home, I carry that darkness with me – because my best friends, Gali and Ziv Berman are still being held in the Hamas terror tunnels.
So imagine my shock and pain when I saw that you awarded a Pulitzer Prize to Mosab Abu Toha. This is a man who, in January, questioned the very fact of my captivity. He posted about me on Facebook and asked, “How on earth is this girl called a hostage?” He has denied the murder of the Bibas family. He has questioned whether Agam Berger was truly a hostage. These are not word games – they are outright denials of documented atrocities. You claim to honor journalism that upholds truth, democracy and human dignity, and yet you have chosen to elevate a voice that denies truth, erases victims, and desecrates the memory of the murdered.
Do you not see what this means? Mosab Abu Toha is not a courageous writer. He is the modern-day equivalent of a Holocaust denier. And by honoring him, you have joined him in the shadows of denial. This is not a question of politics. This is a question of humanity. And today you have failed it. (X)
(x.com)
Indian Operation Eliminates Pakistani Terrorist Involved In Beheading of Jewish Journalist Daniel Pearl
India announced on Thursday (8th) that its militia eliminated a terrorist who participated in the murder of Jewish American journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002.
The Indian government disclosed that Abdul Rauf Azhar was killed in “Operation Sindoor,” whose purpose was to eliminate terrorist infrastructure.
At the time of Pearl’s brutal execution, Azhar was involved with al-Qaeda and Jaish-e-Mohammed, a movement to incorporate the Kashmir region into Pakistan.
India launched Operation Sindoor after terrorists killed 26 Indian tourists in Kashmir last month.
Daniel Pearl was the South Asian bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal in New Delhi but moved to Karachi, Pakistan, to cover terrorism there in the wake of September 11.
In January 2002, Pearl was kidnapped from a hotel in Karachi by members of the National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty, who alleged he was a spy and gave a list of demands to the US for his freedom.
Not satisfied with the response of the US, the terrorist beheaded Pearl in a video that was later made public.
Before his execution, Pearl famously declared in the video: “My father’s Jewish, my mother’s Jewish, I’m Jewish. My family follows Judaism. Back in the town of Bnei Brak, there is a street named after my great-grandfather, Chaim Pearl, who was one of the founders of the town.”
Although Azhar was involved in Pearl’s beheading, the actual killer of Pearl was a Pakistani-British terrorist identified as Ahmad Saeed Omar Sheik, who was convicted of the crime and spent 18-years on death row. He was later moved to a government safe house with visitations by only his wife and children.
