Weekend of Strikes Across Mideast Hit Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria |
Iran said that an Israeli military strike in Damascus, Syria, on Saturday killed (NYT) senior Iranian military members and vowed to retaliate, while U.S. officials said that attacks by Iran-backed militants injured U.S. troops stationed in Iraq. An Israeli strike also appeared to target (AP) a member of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon yesterday, killing them and a nearby civilian, Lebanese state media reported. The attacks continued a week of cross-border strikes across the region that reflected the multiple actors mobilized following the outbreak of war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Iran and its proxies in particular escalated their strikes over the past week. An ongoing campaign by Iran-backed Houthi rebels against commercial shipping in the Red Sea has drawn a series of U.S. counterstrikes. Yesterday, the U.S. military announced that it presumed (NPR) two Navy SEALS who had disappeared earlier this month on a mission to intercept Iranian shipments of missiles headed toward the Houthis had died.
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“While Iran is clearly asserting its military strength amid the widening regional turmoil, that doesn’t mean its leaders want to be drawn into a wider war,” CFR expert Ray Takeyh and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Reuel Marc Gerecht write for the New York Times. “The elderly supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, is seeking to secure his legacy—by overcoming political headwinds to install a like-minded successor, pursuing a nuclear weapon and ensuring the survival of the regime as an Islamist paladin dominating the Middle East—and that means not getting dragged into a wider war.”
“Iran seems to be signaling that it will adopt a more assertive and direct strategy against perceived threats beyond its borders,” the Center for International Policy’s Sina Toossi writes for Foreign Policy. “Iran’s missile strikes cannot be viewed in isolation, but rather as a part of the deepening regional rivalry between Israel and the so-called axis of resistance led by Iran and its allies.”
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Japan Becomes Fifth Country to Make Lunar Landing |
Tokyo’s spacecraft landed (Kyodo) on the moon early Saturday morning using unprecedented precision-landing technology, but its power supply ran out soon thereafter, Japan’s space agency said. Officials said it could resume functioning if sunlight reaches its panels.
China/Europe: China outpaced Europe (Bloomberg) in peer-reviewed research publications on green energy topics such as carbon capture, lithium batteries, and solar and wind power in 2021, according to a study done for the European Union executive arm. Europe has previously led on publications in all areas except for wind.
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India’s Modi Inaugurates Hindu Temple at Site Where Mosque Was Razed |
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the temple (The Guardian) in the town of Ayodhya at a ceremony with eight thousand official guests including diplomats and Bollywood stars. Because the temple will not be complete until next year, boycotters of the ceremony said that Modi was carrying it out for political gains ahead of elections this spring. A Hindu mob destroyed a mosque at the site in 1992.
Iran/Pakistan: Islamabad wants to work together (Reuters) with Tehran on “all issues” to rebuild trust after each country struck targets in the other’s territory last week, Pakistan’s foreign office said. A phone call on Friday between the countries’ foreign ministers reportedly de-escalated tensions, which have been at their highest in recent years.
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Middle East and North Africa |
Egypt’s Sisi Speaks Out Against Ethiopia-Somaliland Deal |
Egypt “will not allow anyone to threaten Somalia,” President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said (Reuters) yesterday during a news conference with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud. His remarks refer to a recent deal between Ethiopia and the breakaway state Somaliland granting Ethiopia port access in exchange for formally recognizing Somaliland’s sovereignty.
For the Africa in Transition blog, CFR expert Michelle Gavin explains why the deal has opened old wounds in the Horn of Africa.
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Cameroon Launches World’s First Routine Malaria Vaccination Program |
Africa accounts for 95 percent of the world’s malaria deaths, and Cameroon aims to vaccinate (Time) 250,000 youth by 2025. The inoculation Cameroon is using was endorsed by the World Health Organization (WHO) two years ago and is about 30 percent effective after four doses; another shot approved by WHO in October that requires only three doses is being studied for widespread use.
Sudan: Intelligence sources estimate that between ten and fifteen thousand people were killed in ethnic violence in the city of El Geneina last year by paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces and allied Arab militia, according to a UN report seen by Reuters. This estimate for one city is higher than a separate UN estimate that about twelve thousand people have died across the entirety of Sudan since war broke out last April, underscoring the devastating toll of the conflict.
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Attacks Hit Russian Fuel Terminal, Shipping Area in Russia-Occupied Ukrainian City |
Russian energy company Novatek suspended operations (Politico) at a fuel export terminal yesterday after it was hit by a suspected Ukrainian drone attack, while Moscow said that strikes on the Russia-controlled city of Donetsk killed (AP) at least twenty-seven people, Russian officials said. Ukraine did not comment publicly on either attack.
This article by CFR expert Kristen D. Thompson explores how Ukraine’s drone warfare is transforming conflict.
Germany: An estimated 1.4 million people demonstrated (AFP, DPA) against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in rallies in dozens of locations nationwide over the weekend. The protests were sparked by news that the AfD had discussed policies to expel immigrants with right-wing extremists at a meeting in November.
In this article outlining trends to watch in 2024, CFR expert Liana Fix explains how the right is on the rise across Europe.
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Pope Calls for Release of Nuns Kidnapped in Haiti |
Pope Francis pleaded (Catholic News Agency) for the release of six nuns kidnapped in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, on Friday and called for the end to violence in the country.
Argentina: Authorities deported (Buenos Aires Herald) the wife and three children of Ecuadorian drug boss José Macías, also known as Fito, who escaped from prison earlier this month and is thought to be behind the current wave of violence in Ecuador.
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DeSantis Ends Presidential Campaign, Endorses Trump |
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced (NYT) in a video message yesterday that he saw no “clear path to victory” in his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination and dropped out of the race. In the video, he also endorsed former President Donald Trump. DeSantis’s decision comes days before the New Hampshire primary and leaves former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley as Trump’s last remaining challenger.
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