CEP Mentions
The Daily Mail: Iran Stages Secret Talks To Send Deadly Russian Anti-Ship Missiles To Houthi Rebels In Yemen - Sparking Fears Putin Could Be 'Stoking Conflict' In The Region To Undermine The US And Ensure Trump's Re-Election
“... Edmund Fitton-Brown, Senior Advisor to the Counter Extremism Project and former Ambassador of the UK to Yemen, told MailOnline early Wednesday that the claims are 'very concerning if true' and appear 'credible' so far as Iran and Russia are 'locked in a rejectionist-disruptor embrace.' 'One key Russian objective is to show US weakness and thus make Trump’s reelection more likely,' he said. 'That potential strategic gain overrides all other considerations.' The Wall Street Journal reported in July that Putin was considering sending the missiles to the Houthis, but Iran's role as an intermediary has not been previously reported. Russia previously sent the missiles to Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, now at the center of the regional conflict with Israel.”
United States
Associated Press: US Navy Replenishment Ship Damaged After Refueling Warships In The Middle East
“A U.S. Navy replenishment ship operating in the Middle East sustained damage after refueling vessels, and the cause is under investigation, officials said Tuesday. The USNS Big Horn was damaged after it resupplied the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group. The carrier group remains in the region amid heightened tensions over the Israel-Hamas war and Israel’s ongoing strikes targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon. A U.S. Navy official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss matters yet to be made public, declined to elaborate on where the damage took place. A photo released by the U.S. military dated Sept. 5 showed sailors aboard the Lincoln receiving supplies from the Big Horn, while another on Sept. 11 showed the Big Horn alongside the Lincoln. The Lincoln is patrolling the Arabian Sea. The official said the Big Horn’s crew was safe, and there was no sign of an oil leak from the vessel.”
Iran
Reuters: Exclusive: Iran Brokering Talks To Send Advanced Russian Missiles To Yemen's Houthis, Sources Say
“Iran has brokered ongoing secret talks between Russia and Yemen's Houthi rebels to transfer anti-ship missiles to the militant group, three Western and regional sources said, a development that highlights Tehran's deepening ties to Moscow. Seven sources said that Russia has yet to decide to transfer the Yakhont missiles – also known as P-800 Oniks - which experts said would allow the militant group to more accurately strike commercial vessels in the Red Sea and increase the threat to the U.S. and European warships defending them. The Wall Street Journal reported in July that Russia was considering sending the missiles. Iran's role as an intermediary has not been previously reported. The Houthis have launched repeated drone and missile strikes on ships in the crucial Red Sea shipping channels since November to show support for Palestinians in the Gaza war with Israel.”
Afghanistan
Voice Of America: Women's Rights Activists At UN Call For Inclusion In Negotiations With Taliban
“Afghan women and their international supporters are calling for the inclusion of women in any negotiations on the future of Afghanistan amid the Taliban's increasing restrictions on women in the country. In a side event on the eve of the United Nations General Assembly, co-hosted by Ireland, Indonesia, Switzerland and Qatar together with the Women's Forum on Afghanistan, women's activists called on the international community to stand with Afghan women in the face of the Taliban's repressive measures. Academy Award-winning actress Meryl Streep, who participated in the meeting, said Afghan women have been stripped of their rights under the Taliban. "A bird may sing in Kabul, but a girl may not, and a woman may not in public," she said. "This is extraordinary. This is a suppression of the natural law. This is odd." Streep was referring to the Taliban's newly imposed morality law that prohibits women from speaking aloud in public.”
Lebanon
Reuters: Hezbollah's Tunnels And Flexible Command Weather Israel's Deadly Blows
“Hezbollah's flexible chain of command, together with its extensive tunnel network and a vast arsenal of missiles and weapons it has bolstered over the past year, is helping it weather unprecedented Israeli strikes, three sources familiar with the Lebanese militant group's operations said. Israel's assault on Hezbollah over the past week, including the targeting of senior commanders and the detonation of booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkies, has left the powerful Lebanese Shiite militant group and political party reeling. On Friday, Israel killed the commander who founded and led the group's elite Radwan force, Ibrahim Aqil. And since Monday, Lebanon's deadliest day of violence in decades, the health ministry says more than 560 people, among them 50 children, have died in air barrages. The Israeli military chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, said on Sunday that Aqil's death had shaken the organization. Israel says its strikes have also destroyed thousands of Hezbollah rockets and shells.”
Associated Press: Israel Bombards Hezbollah, Killing A Top Commander, While Families Flee Southern Lebanon
“Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander Tuesday as part of a two-day bombing campaign that has left more than 560 people dead and prompted thousands in southern Lebanon to seek refuge from the widening conflict. With the two sides on the brink of all-out war, Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets into Israel, including a longer-range projectile that set off air raid sirens in Tel Aviv and across central Israel. It was the group’s farthest strike yet in nearly a year of exchanges. Israel said it intercepted the projectile, and there were no reports of casualties or damage. Hezbollah said it had fired a ballistic missile at the headquarters of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, which it said was responsible for the targeted killing of its senior leaders. Israel said it struck the site the missile was launched from in southern Lebanon. Families that fled southern Lebanon flocked to Beirut and the coastal city of Sidon, sleeping in schools turned into shelters, as well as in cars, parks and along the beach.”
Middle East
Voice Of America: Hamas Demands 'Immediate Action' To End War In Gaza
“Hamas said in a statement Tuesday that it is expecting the U.N. to take “immediate action” to end the war in Gaza. “We demand immediate action to stop the Israeli aggression and the war,” said the Hamas statement, which was directed at United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. But the Palestinian group also said it will not participate in new cease-fire talks. It said will not waver from its position “against entering new negotiations that would provide (Israel) with cover to continue its aggression.” In recent days, there have been fewer strikes on Gaza as Israel escalates attacks in Lebanon it says are aimed at Hezbollah. However, Israel launched deadly strikes Tuesday across Gaza, killing at least 22 people and injuring at least 40, according to Palestinian health officials. One of the strikes, on the Nuseirat refugee camp, six Palestinians were killed, three of them women.”
Associated Press: 4 Soldiers Killed And 9 Injured In An Unspecified Accident, United Arab Emirates Says
“The United Arab Emirates announced Wednesday that four soldiers were killed and nine others injured in an accident. The UAE’s state-run WAM news agency carried a military statement that offered no other immediate details, simply calling the incident Tuesday night “an accident … while they were carrying out their duty in the country.” The Emirates, home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, has one of the strongest militaries of the Gulf Arab nations.”
Somalia
Reuters: Somalia And Ethiopia Feud Over Arms Influx
“Somalia accused Ethiopia of smuggling weapons on Tuesday amid fears that arms going into the conflict-riven Horn of Africa nation could end up in the hands of Islamist militants. The neighbors traded barbs a day after an Egyptian warship unloaded heavy weaponry in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, the second shipment since a security pact in August. Landlocked Ethiopia, which has thousands of troops in Somalia to fight al Qaeda-linked insurgents, has fallen out with the Mogadishu government over its plans to build a port in the breakaway region of Somaliland in exchange for possible recognition of its sovereignty. The spat has drawn Somalia closer to Egypt, which has quarreled with Ethiopia for years over Addis Ababa's construction of a vast hydro dam on the Nile River. Ethiopia's Foreign Affairs Minister Taye Atske Selassie said he was concerned arms from "external forces would further exacerbate the fragile security and would end up in the hands of terrorists in Somalia," Ethiopia News Agency reported.”
Africa
Reuters: Why West Africa Is Now The World's Terrorism Hotspot
“Having slipped undetected into Mali's capital weeks ago, the jihadis struck just before dawn prayers. They killed dozens of students at an elite police training academy, stormed Bamako's airport and set the presidential jet on fire. The Sept. 17 attack was the most brazen since 2016 in a capital city in the Sahel, a vast arid region stretching across sub-Saharan Africa south of the Sahara Desert. It showed that jihadist groups with links to al Qaeda or Islamic State, whose largely rural insurgency has killed thousands of civilians and displaced millions in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, can also strike at the heart of power. Overshadowed by wars in Ukraine, the Middle East and Sudan, conflict in the Sahel rarely garners global headlines, yet it is contributing to a sharp rise in migration from the region towards Europe at a time when anti-immigrant far-right parties are on the rise, and some EU states are tightening their borders.”
Associated Press: Burkina Faso’s Ruling Junta Claims Foiling An Attempt To Destabilize The Country
“Burkina Faso’s ruling junta said it thwarted an attempt to destabilize the African country “with the help of foreign powers.” A transitional government has been running the West African country after the military seized power in 2022, capitalizing on popular discontent with previous democratically elected governments over security issues. Growing attacks by extremists linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group have devastated Burkina Faso, where thousands have been killed and more than 2 million people displaced while pushing tens of thousands to the brink of starvation. The junta had set a goal to conduct an election in July to return the country to democratic rule, but four months ago, it extended its transition term for five more years. Burkina Faso’s Security Minister Mahamadou Sana said on national television Monday night that “persons residing in Ivory Coast have been involved in subversive activities against our country.”
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