Iran-Backed Militia in Iraq Announces Halt to Attacks on U.S. Forces |
The Kataib Hezbollah group was likely responsible for the deaths of three U.S. troops in Jordan over the weekend, the Pentagon said. Yesterday, the militia group said it would suspend (
NYT) “military and security operations against the occupation forces,” suggesting that both Iran and Iraq had pressured it to do so. The announcement came as U.S. President Joe Biden also said yesterday that he had decided what the U.S. response would be to the deadly Jordan attacks, but did not provide further details. A Pentagon spokesperson said (CNN) in reports following the statement by Kataib Hezbollah that “actions speak louder than words.”
Kataib Hezbollah has carried out most of the attacks on U.S. outposts in Iraq and Syria since the current war between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas began on October 7. Strikes between Iran-backed militias and U.S. forces have prompted Baghdad to try to negotiate an end to U.S. military operations in Iraq, but Washington said it did not want to negotiate under fire, unnamed Iraqi and U.S. officials told the
New York Times. Meanwhile, the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said today that they plan to continue (Reuters) their own attacks on U.S. and British warships in the Red Sea.
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“[Kataib Hezbollah leader] Abu Hussein's dramatic turnaround is intended to forestall an imminent U.S. military operation that the Iranian and Iraqi governments wish to avoid,” the Washington Institute for Near East Policy’s Michael Knights and Hamdi Malik write.
“If the United States wants to bring peace to the region, it must find new ways to constrain Iran and its proxies. Just as important, the United States must reduce their desire to challenge the regional order,” Istituto Affari Internazionali’s Maria Fantappie and Johns Hopkins University’s Vali Nasr write in Foreign Affairs.
Read the full suite of Foreign Affairs and CFR.org resources on Israel and the current conflict.
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FBI Chief to Testify to House Panel About Chinese Hacking Threat |
Hackers linked to the Chinese government are targeting U.S. critical infrastructure such as the electrical grid and transportation systems, FBI Director Christopher Wray is expected to tell (AP) a House of Representatives panel today. The FBI and Department of Justice received permission in recent months to fight a Chinese hacking operation that compromised thousands of devices, unnamed Western security officials told Reuters.
At this CFR meeting yesterday, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan discussed U.S. policy toward China.
Thailand: The country’s Constitutional Court ruled today that the progressive Move Forward Party must stop all activities (NYT) relating to its signature proposal that seeks to loosen a law that penalizes insulting the monarchy. The ruling could lead to the party’s dissolution.
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Former Pakistan PM Receives New Fourteen-Year Prison Sentence |
The corruption sentence for former Prime Minister Imran Khan came (
WaPo) a day after he was given a ten-year sentence for a separate case. Pakistani authorities said the fact that the sentences come just ahead of February 8 elections is coincidental, but Khan’s party said the sentences are part of an effort to politically disenfranchise it. The party plans to appeal.
Myanmar: The junta extended (Nikkei) a state of emergency rule in the country until July 31. It is the fifth such extension since members of the military ousted Myanmar’s elected government in 2021.
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Middle East and North Africa |
Israel’s Military Says It Has Been Flooding Some Gaza Tunnels With Seawater |
The Israeli military said yesterday that the measure is aimed at dismantling Hamas’s operations network, and is carried out (
Times of Israel) after soil and water system analysis to ensure that nearby groundwater is not contaminated. In December, a UN official warned (NYT) against flooding the tunnels due to potential damage affecting the Gaza Strip’s drinking water and sewage systems. |
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Zimbabwe Opposition Figure Freed After Two Years in Pretrial Detention |
A judge gave (AP) Job Sikhala, an official with Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, a suspended sentence for inciting violence, but Sikhala rejected the charges and said he was seeking an acquittal. He had been detained awaiting trial for charges Amnesty International described as “baseless.”
West Africa: The African Union offered help mediating (Reuters) talks between the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the military governments of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger after the three countries announced on Sunday that they planned to withdraw from the bloc. ECOWAS requires a yearlong period between a withdrawal announcement and full exit, opening a potential window for negotiations.
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French Government Announces Aid for Farmers Amid Protests |
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said delayed subsidies would be paid (
NYT) to farmers by March 15, cattle ranchers will receive new tax relief, and wine growers would get emergency aid. Farmers had set up barricades across the country and several vowed to remain at their posts despite the announcements. Attal said new measures would be unveiled in the coming days.
Spain: A Catalan pro-independence party blocked (
The Guardian) a government-sponsored bill that would give amnesty to some separatists. The party had called for the bill in exchange for supporting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s leadership bid, but said the current version does not offer enough legal protection to those under investigation for terrorism-related crimes. |
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Kenyan President Says He Aims for Police Deployment to Haiti to Proceed Despite Ruling |
President William Ruto said that a Kenyan court ruling against a proposed Kenya-led multinational police deployment to Haiti still left room for the deployment to move forward if certain conditions were met. Haitian and Kenyan officials are moving (BBC) to meet those needs, he said. This Backgrounder by Rocio Cara Labrador and CFR’s Diana Roy describes Haiti’s multiple crises.
U.S./Mexico: Witnesses told investigators from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
that a close aide to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador was involved in receiving donations from a drug cartel during López Obrador’s 2006 presidential campaign, ProPublica reported. The DEA also gathered evidence that traffickers were told they could help choose some police commanders.
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Federal Reserve Meets on Interest Rates, Considers Cuts for 2024 |
Analysts expect (Bloomberg) the Federal Reserve to hold interest rates steady at a meeting today for the fourth straight time, but suggest it may lower them later in the year. The Fed’s meeting comes a day after the International Monetary Fund announced (
NYT) it expects the world economy to grow the same amount in 2024 as it did last year, suggesting fears of a global recession amid overlapping crises will not bear out.
This Backgrounder by Anshu Siripurapu and CFR’s Noah Berman and James McBride explains the Federal Reserve.
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