Israel Forms Emergency Cabinet to Plan War’s Next Phase |
The leader of Israel’s second-largest opposition party, Benny Gantz, joined Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (NYT) and top military officials yesterday to form an emergency war cabinet to plan the next phase of the war. Netanyahu said Israel’s next steps would leave the Palestinian militant group Hamas “crushed and eliminated.” The official opposition leader, Yair Lapid, said he would not accept an invitation to join the unity government if it contained the more extreme officials in Netanyahu’s administration. Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Tel Aviv (NYT) today to support Israel and coordinate conflict response with regional partners, while the leaders of Iran and Saudi Arabia discussed the conflict (Reuters) yesterday on their first phone call since they restored ties in March.
While negotiations to protect hostages and civilians trapped in Gaza continue, Egypt rejected a proposal to open corridors for the general civilian population to leave the territory, unnamed Egyptian security sources told Reuters. Gaza’s only power plant shut down yesterday, leaving hospitals dependent on generators with only a few days worth of fuel left as Israel continues its bombing campaign.
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“Hamas may well have set a trap if it induces an Israeli invasion of Gaza. Before Israel makes that call, it needs to have a strategy for exiting Gaza and a plan for the day after. An Israeli miscalculation in Gaza could trigger a crisis in the Middle East that lasts for generations,” the Georgetown Strategy Group’s R. David Harden writes for the New York Times.
“Even as Israel focuses its forces on the Gaza Strip, it and its allies must simultaneously reestablish a deterrent to the north, to ensure that Hezbollah continues to stay on the sidelines,” the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Brian Katz writes for Foreign Affairs. On The President’s Inbox podcast, CFR experts Elliott Abrams and Steven A. Cook discuss the Israel-Hamas war.
Check out the full suite of Foreign Affairs and CFR.org resources on Israel and the current conflict.
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Chinese, Indian Officials Agree to Maintain ‘Peace and Tranquility’ on Border |
Military officials from both countries held their twentieth round of talks (SCMP) near the disputed Himalayan territory where violence flared in June 2020. They did not agree on a timeline to resolve their dispute, but said they planned to do so “as soon as possible.”
Japan: The government will seek a court order (Kyodo) to dissolve the Unification Church after a nearly yearlong probe into the church’s history of forcing members to make large donations. The assassin of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo claimed the group severely affected his family and that Abe was linked to it.
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Sri Lanka, Chinese Bank Make Preliminary Deal on Debt Restructuring |
The Export-Import Bank of China is Sri Lanka’s largest bilateral creditor, but its hesitance to restructure Sri Lanka’s debt amid the country’s severe economic crisis has held up (FT) a rescue package from the International Monetary Fund. The China-Sri Lanka deal covers $4.2 billion of Sri Lanka’s $41 billion of foreign debt. For the Follow the Money blog, CFR expert Brad W. Setser lays out the importance of getting debt restructuring right. Kyrgyzstan/Russia: Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Kyrgyzstan (AFP) today for a regional summit on his first foreign trip since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against him.
This Backgrounder by Claire Klobucista and CFR’s Mariel Ferragamo discusses the role of the ICC.
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Middle East and North Africa |
SDF Leader: Turkey Damaged Vast Amounts of Power, Oil Infrastructure in Northeast Syria |
Mazloum Abdi, who heads the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said that Turkish bombing in Kurdish-held northeast Syria has damaged more than half (AFP) of the power and oil infrastructure there. He criticized Washington for not doing more to stop the onslaught. |
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Italy to Delay Summit With African Countries Due to Mideast War |
The summit, focused on cooperation on issues including energy and migration, was originally scheduled for next month but will now likely be held in January due to security concerns, unnamed officials told Bloomberg.
Sudan: The UN Human Rights Council voted to open a probe (AFP) into violations of human rights and international law during Sudan’s ongoing war between the army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces.
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NATO Members Pledge More Than $2 Billion in New Military Aid to Ukraine |
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attended a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) meeting in Brussels yesterday, where leaders bolstered support for Kyiv. Germany announced the largest new aid package (NYT), totaling about $1.1 billion in missiles, air defense systems, and tanks. This episode of the Why It Matters podcast discusses the case for rebuilding Ukraine.
U.S./EU: The European Union (EU) and United States are planning to jointly impose a 25 percent tariff on steel and a 10 percent tariff on aluminum imports if they come from non-market countries such as China, according to a draft deal seen by Politico.
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Dominican Republic Partially Reopens Border With Haiti |
The Dominican Republic had previously closed the border amid a dispute over construction of a canal on a shared river and the worsening security crisis in Haiti. The move allows some basic commercial items to pass through (AP), such as food and medicine, but not people.
Mexico: The country gave a military honor (AP) yesterday to a former general who was at the center of a major 2020 diplomatic spat with the United States that strained military cooperation. General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda had been arrested in the United States on drug-related charges, but prosecutors dropped them a month later over Mexico’s heavy objections.
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Scalise Becomes Republican Speaker Nominee, Doubts Remain on Securing Full House Vote |
Republicans elected Representative Steve Scalise (R-LA) as their nominee for house speaker yesterday. To become speaker, he can only lose four Republican votes on the full house floor if all members are present and vote. At least ten Republicans say they will not support Scalise, while two more have not committed how they will vote but conveyed reluctance to confirm him, CBS reported.
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