Russia, Syria Conduct Air Strikes in Syria After Surprise Rebel Advance |
The Syrian military and its ally Russia struck targets in northwestern Syria overnight in an effort to retaliate for a shock rebel advance that has upended the country’s thirteen-year civil war. Battle lines in the war had been largely static since 2020, but rebel forces captured much of the city of Aleppo over the weekend and said they controlled all of the country’s Idlib province. The rebel push comes as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s backers Hezbollah and Russia were embroiled in other conflicts. The United States, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom said in a joint statement yesterday that they were closely monitoring the situation in Syria and urged de-escalation by all parties.
The surge in fighting in Syria has also prompted fighters from Iran-backed Iraqi militias to cross into the country, Syrian and Iraqi sources told Reuters. Former al-Qaeda affiliate group Ha’yat Tahrir al-Shama appears to be playing a protagonist role among the rebels. Some of the rebels are also backed by Turkey, which has been frustrated by delays in talks with Syria about the return of Syrian refugees. (Reuters, NYT, State Department)
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“Both [Hezbollah and Russia] are deeply invested in Syria, but they do not have the forces they had in 2015 and 2016 that were used to crush the insurgency,” CFR Senior Fellow Steven A. Cook writes in this Expert Brief. “Whether the rebel groups can consolidate their gains depends on the response from the regime, the Russians, Hezbollah, and any other groups the Iranians might deploy to help Assad.”
“My guess is the Turkish calculation goes something like this: Every day that this offensive continues and moves further and opens up more space, every day, that’s another 5,000 refugees that we can send back to Syria,” the Middle East Institute’s Robert Ford told the New York Times.
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Mass Protests Against Georgia’s Stalling of EU Entry Talks Continue Over Weekend |
Police unleashed tear gas and water cannons against demonstrators in Tbilisi who were protesting the government’s announcement that it would stall accession talks to the European Union (EU) until 2028. Authorities briefly detained opposition leader Zurab Japaridze; officials said Sunday that forty-four people had been hospitalized in the protests so far. (RFE/RL, Reuters, AP)
Germany/Ukraine: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made a surprise visit to Kyiv today and pledged more than $680 million in additional military support for Ukraine. (Le Monde, AFP)
Andrea Kendall-Taylor joins CFR’s Center for Preventive Action to consider security reverberations from Ukraine across Europe.
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Washington Announces New Steps to Curb Chinese Access to Cutting-Edge Tech |
Washington set restrictions on shipping two dozen types of semiconductor manufacturing equipment, certain advanced memory chips, and several software development tools to China. They will go into effect on December 31. The Commerce Department also said it was adding 140 Chinese entities to a restricted trade list, without immediately specifying them. (NYT, Bloomberg)
South Korea: Negotiators in Busan failed to reach an anticipated legally binding deal on limiting plastic pollution, as some nations disagreed over whether to limit certain chemicals used to make plastics. They agreed to pick the talks back up next year. (AP)
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Bangladesh Probe Estimates Illegal Siphoning of Money Under Previous Government |
An average of $16 billion per year was possibly illegally drained from the country during the rule of ousted former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. That’s according to a committee established by interim Prime Minister Muhammad Yunus, which investigated several government contracts under Hasina’s rule. (Bloomberg)
China/Nepal: Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli began his term’s first diplomatic visit to China, breaking with the tradition of a maiden trip being paid to India instead. He is due to discuss restarting several stalled Belt and Road Initiative projects in Nepal. (PTI)
Noah Berman, Andrew Chatzky, and CFR’s James McBride detail China’s massive Belt and Road Initiative.
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Middle East and North Africa |
Israel Strikes Lebanese Border Village As Cease-Fire Largely Holds |
Israel struck a border village yesterday, but no casualties were immediately reported and a days-old cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah continued. Meanwhile, Hamas leaders met with Egyptian officials yesterday about efforts toward a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, unnamed Hamas sources told Reuters. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees halted aid deliveries to Gaza through a border crossing due to looting, it said. (AP, Reuters)
In this YouTube Short, CFR expert Steven A. Cook discusses the prospect of a Gaza cease-fire.
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Biden Arrives in Angola to Highlight U.S. Investments in Africa |
President Joe Biden’s visit to Cape Verde and Angola is the first to sub-Saharan Africa by a sitting U.S. president since 2015. In Angola, he is highlighting U.S. support for an eight-hundred-mile rail corridor that connects Angola’s western port to its interior, a project also backed by Europe. (CNN)
Namibia: Preliminary results yesterday from the November 27 presidential election estimated the ruling South West African People’s Organization (SWAPO) was on track for reelection. If SWAPO secures the vote, Namibia will have its first female president. The main opposition presidential candidate said on Saturday that the party would not recognize the election results, alleging irregularities. (Bloomberg, BBC)
CFR expert Michelle Gavin lays out the high stakes going into Namibia’s vote.
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Canada Says New Border Measures Will Follow Trump-Trudeau Meeting |
Canada will increase security enforcement on its border with the United States in a “visible and muscular way” that could include more drones, helicopters, and personnel, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump on Friday following Trump’s threat of 25 percent tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports earlier last week. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum had a call with Trump on Thursday regarding his concerns. (Bloomberg, WaPo)
Canada/Indonesia: The countries signed a comprehensive trade deal after three years of negotiations that is due to liberalize 90.5 percent of tariffs on Indonesian goods entering Canada. Indonesia estimates that trade between the countries was $3.4 billion last year, while Canada places it even higher at $5.1 billion. (Reuters)
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Biden Pardons His Son Hunter |
Biden issued a “full and unconditional” pardon of his son Hunter, who faced sentencing on federal gun and tax charges. His move goes against previous pledges he would not issue such a pardon; Biden said the charges were politically motivated and thus “wrong.” (NYT) |
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