Israel Rescues Two Hostages From Rafah in Southern Gaza |
Israel’s military rescued (Reuters) two Israeli-Argentinian hostages from the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, it announced today. It was the second rescue of its kind since the war broke out in October. The raid came as Israel is studying the possibility of carrying out a ground invasion of Rafah. U.S. President Joe Biden said such an operation should only proceed if Israel has a credible and executable plan for ensuring the safety of people sheltering there. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that (NYT) any ground invasion to occur only after Israel has plans to allow those sheltering to move to safety. Biden is meeting today (CNN) at the White House with Jordan’s King Abdullah II to discuss negotiations regarding a potential pause in fighting and the release of the remaining hostages held by Palestinian militant group Hamas. Rafah has become a temporary home to roughly one million Palestinians who have fled northern Gaza as Israeli forces seek to destroy Hamas. Israeli forces carried out air strikes on Rafah as cover for the raid that saw the two hostages freed, they said. The strikes killed at least sixty-seven people, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said. |
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“The Israelis remain interested in a cease-fire, but they do not want a cessation of fighting to provide Hamas with the opportunity to regroup,” CFR expert Steven A. Cook writes in this In Brief. “The Israelis are clearly willing to countenance international opprobrium for rejecting what they regard as a bad cease-fire deal that will allow Hamas to survive and fight another day.” “We can expect [King Abdullah] to call for a cease-fire, as he has been doing vocally, and call for access to much more humanitarian aid [to Gaza],” the U.S. Institute of Peace’s Lucy Kurtzer-Ellenbogen tells NPR. “I think what you will hear is another call that has been mentioned by him and other Arab countries in the last few days at a summit in Saudi Arabia that not only does the war need to end, but that there needs to be a political horizon to a two-state solution.”
Read the full suite of Foreign Affairs and CFR.org resources on Israel and the current conflict.
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Japan to Spend up to $300 Million on Government-Backed Chip Research Center |
The money will support (Bloomberg) a research center established last year and tasked with developing advanced chip technology, Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said. The newly announced contract will focus on technologies including artificial intelligence-enabling chip design.
Indonesia/Qatar: Indonesia canceled (Reuters) plans over the weekend to buy $790 million worth of used fighter jets from Qatar, a spokesperson for the Indonesian defense ministry said. Lawmakers had criticized the decision to buy older jets when it was announced last year.
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Qatar Frees Eight Indians It Had Previously Sentenced to Death |
The Indians who had been imprisoned in Qatar on espionage charges were the focus (India Today) of an intense eighteen-month Indian diplomatic campaign for their freedom. They were accused of spying in October 2022 and their death sentences were substituted for time in prison in December 2023. Myanmar: The army will enforce (BBC) military conscription of at least two years for men aged eighteen to thirty-five and women aged eighteen to twenty-seven, it said over the weekend. The announcement comes as government forces are struggling to defeat insurgent rebels.
The Center for Preventive Action tracks the conflict in Myanmar.
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Middle East and North Africa |
Houthis Announce Attack on Cargo Ship in Red Sea |
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels said today that they targeted (Reuters) a ship as part of their ongoing campaign in the Red Sea. While they claimed it was a U.S. ship, a United Kingdom maritime trade agency tracking ships in the area said a Greek-owned carrier with a Marshall Islands flag was hit by missiles in two incidents. The vessel suffered some damage but its crew was unharmed.
On this episode of The President’s Inbox podcast, Katherine Zimmerman discusses the Houthi threat to Red Sea shipping.
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Clashes at Senegal Protests Over Election Delay See Third Death |
A sixteen-year-old was killed (RFI, AFP) on Saturday during demonstrations that have taken place since President Macky Sall announced that presidential elections originally scheduled for the end of this month would be delayed until December. Authorities have so far arrested more than two hundred people, Amnesty International said. For the Africa in Transition blog, CFR expert Michelle Gavin looks at how democracy has been deferred in Senegal. Somalia: Militant group al-Shabaab claimed (Bloomberg) an attack on a Somali army training post that killed four United Arab Emirates (UAE) troops and a Bahraini officer on Saturday. It was a rare fatal incident involving UAE troops in the country. |
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Center-Right Candidate Elected President of Finland |
Both victorious candidate Alexander Stubb and his center-left opponent strongly supported (Politico) joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and adopting a tough stance against Russia. During his campaign, Stubb raised the prospect of hosting a small number of NATO officers in Finland and allowing nuclear weapons to be transported through Finnish territory.
Greece/Serbia: Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis voiced his support (AP) for European Union membership for Serbia and the Western Balkans today while on a two-day visit to Belgrade.
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Argentina’s Milei Visits Pope Francis |
Argentine President Javier Milei attended a ceremony (AP) yesterday in the Vatican to canonize Argentina’s first female saint. The meeting represented a thaw between Milei and the Catholic leader. Milei once called Pope Francis an “imbecile” for defending social justice.
Venezuela: Human rights groups called for (AFP) the release of Rocío San Miguel, a prominent lawyer and critic of the Venezuelan government who was detained on Friday. Authorities said her detention was linked to her alleged involvement in a plot to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro, but the Venezuelan human rights group Provea said it was due to her work defending human rights.
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NATO, White House Push Back Against Trump Comment on Alliance |
Former President Donald Trump said (Semafor) over the weekend that he would encourage Russia to do what it wants to NATO allies who do not contribute enough financially to the alliance. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that suggestions that allies will not defend each other “undermines all of our security,” while the White House called Trump’s comments “appalling.” The U.S. Senate, meanwhile, advanced (AP) an aid package for Israel and Ukraine worth more than $95 billion over the weekend, despite some Republican opposition. |
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