Editor’s Note: There will be no Daily News Brief on Monday, January 15, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. |
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U.S., UK Strike Houthis in Yemen Following Red Sea Attacks |
U.S. and United Kingdom (UK) forces launched airstrikes (NYT) overnight on more than a dozen Houthi rebel targets in Yemen in retaliation for their attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea. Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands also participated in the operation. U.S. President Joe Biden said that Washington and its partners would not tolerate attacks on its personnel or efforts to block freedom of navigation, while the Houthis said at least five of their fighters had been killed (AP) and that the strikes would “not go unanswered or unpunished.”
The strikes underscore the expanded scope of the conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has spilled over its main theater of the Gaza Strip to include Houthi attacks on the waterway. A group of thirty-nine navies, including the United States and the UK, advised (Bloomberg) the global shipping industry to temporarily stay away from the strait connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
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“Disrupting or destroying the Houthis’ ability to disrupt shipping is hardly akin to the overambitious [U.S.] policies of the past aimed at regime change and remaking of societies. Rather, it’s a move to protect a vital national interest,” CFR expert Steven A. Cook writes for Foreign Policy.
“Retaliatory strikes [against the Houthis] would also increase the likelihood that the Israel-Hamas war will expand across the region and that the civil war in Yemen will resume. Over the past year and a half, a UN-negotiated truce kept serious conflict in Yemen at bay, but direct U.S. strikes on Houthi targets could reignite internal warfare,” RAND Corporation’s Alexandra Stark writes for Foreign Affairs.
Read the full suite of Foreign Affairs and CFR.org resources on Israel and the current conflict. |
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Taiwan Prepares for Presidential, Legislative Elections |
Public debate ahead of tomorrow’s elections has focused on relations with China and the state of Taiwan’s economy, which grew (DW) by an estimated 1.4 percent last year. The candidates’ campaigns in what polls have suggested could be a tight race will end at midnight (AP) tonight.
On this episode of The President’s Inbox podcast, CFR expert David Sacks discusses Taiwan’s election.
North Korea: A group from Russia is expected to become (Reuters) the first known tourists allowed to enter North Korea next month since Pyongyang began restricting entries amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
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Myanmar Junta, Rebels Agree to Temporary Cease-Fire |
China brokered the cease-fire (Reuters) between Myanmar’s government forces and guerrilla groups that have been clashing in the country’s northeast. A previous cease-fire attempt in December was broken by both sides. While China, a representative of a rebel group, and the Myanmar government said today that they have reached a deal, its full details were not immediately released (AP).
Afghanistan: The UN mission in Afghanistan said yesterday it was concerned (AP) about a series of arbitrary arrests of women and girls for alleged violations of the Taliban government’s headscarf policy that had occurred since January 1.
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Middle East and North Africa |
Israel Rejects Genocide Allegations at World Court, Calling Them ‘Grossly Distorted’ |
Attorneys for Israel said South Africa’s allegations at the International Court of Justice that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians were “grossly distorted” and that halting its offensive in Gaza would leave it defenseless (Reuters). Israel has called on the court to dismiss the case.
At this CFR meeting, experts discuss Israel’s military strategy in Gaza.
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CFR’s Robert McMahon and Carla Anne Robbins discuss Taiwan’s election, Apple’s battle with patent infringement allegations, the fifty-fourth World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, and more. |
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U.S., African Nations Reach Preliminary Agreement to Extend Trade Access |
Preferential access under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) is due to expire in September 2025, but South Africa’s trade minister said today that African countries reached an understanding (Bloomberg) with the United States to extend it for another decade, pending U.S. Congress’s approval. AGOA allows more than thirty African countries to export goods tariff-free in an effort to spur more U.S.-Africa trade.
This Backgrounder by Claire Klobucista and CFR’s Mariel Ferragamo looks at AGOA.
Burundi/Rwanda: Burundi said it closed its border (AFP) with Rwanda yesterday following Rwanda’s alleged support for a rebel group that carried out attacks on Burundi soil in December. Rwanda denies backing the rebels.
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Pentagon: More Than $1 Billion of U.S. Military Aid to Ukraine Was Not Properly Tracked |
The Defense Department’s inspector general said in a report released yesterday that more than $1 billion worth of supplies sent to Ukraine, including drones and night-vision goggles, was not properly tracked (NYT) by U.S. officials. Though the report offered no evidence that the equipment was misused, U.S. law requires such equipment to be tracked because of its battlefield impact and attractiveness to arms smugglers.
Bulgaria/Romania/Turkey: The three countries agreed to work together (AFP) to clear mines in the Black Sea, which Russia installed on the coastline early last year. After Russia invaded Ukraine, Turkey invoked a clause of an international treaty that banned navy ships from other countries from entering the sea. Under that treaty, it blocked the UK from sending two mine-hunting ships to the area last month.
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Ecuadorian President Announces Plans For New Prisons in Wake of Violence |
Ecuador will build (Reuters) two new maximum security prisons after a spate of violence this week following a high-profile prison break, President Daniel Noboa Azín said yesterday. Since Monday, more than 150 prison guards have been taken hostage, and many remain captured after the riots; their families appealed to Noboa for help securing their release.
Argentina: Monthly inflation reached 25.5 percent (Buenos Aires Herald) in December, bringing the country’s annual inflation rate in 2023 to 211.4 percent, its highest level since 1990. It is the first inflation rate that reflects economic reform measures taken by new president Javier Milei, who devalued the peso last month.
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Federal Aviation Regulators Launches Probe Into Boeing After Panel Blow-off |
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is investigating (WaPo) whether the aircraft giant Boeing followed safety rules after a panel flew off a 737 Max 9 aircraft while in flight last week and the FAA learned of “discrepancies” on other Max 9 planes. The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating the malfunction. |
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Reuters traces how Russia’s campaign to “reeducate” Ukrainian children removed from their homes comes at an enormous human cost. |
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