Syrian Rebels Capture Second Major City as Offensive Rolls Forward |
Rebel forces captured Syria’s fourth-largest city of Hama yesterday, advancing their week-old offensive despite efforts by Syria and its ally Russia to head them off. Syria’s army announced it had withdrawn from the city. Syria’s additional backers Iran and Hezbollah have consulted with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on how they could shore up his position as the fighters now move toward the city of Homs, a frontier of an area critical to the government. The leader of the main group driving the rebel offensive, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, told CNN yesterday that he aimed to overthrow Assad.
Jolani leads Ha’yat Tahrir al-Sham, a group that split from al-Qaeda in recent years and that the United States classifies as a terrorist organization. Thousands of people began fleeing from Homs beginning last night, the British monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Meanwhile, the head of a U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish force told reporters yesterday that the self-declared Islamic State group had taken control of some areas in Syria’s east. (WaPo, Reuters, CNN)
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“The looming battle for Homs could prove decisive to a regime that has so far struggled to muster a response to the rebel advance,” the Wall Street Journal’s Isabel Coles writes. “The battle would also present a crucial test of whether Russia or Iran are willing and able to intervene to shore up President Bashar al-Assad’s crumbling defenses.”
“With the nation’s humanitarian crisis worse than ever before, and the world’s will and ability to assist lower than ever, the Syrian people have been suffering. Realizing that there is no light at the end of the tunnel, Syrians started taking back to the streets and calling for Assad’s downfall,” the Middle East Institute’s Charles Lister writes for Foreign Policy. “Meanwhile, amid Syria’s economic collapse, organized crime as well as industrial-level drug production and trafficking has infiltrated the core of Assad’s security apparatus.”
This Expert Brief by CFR Senior Fellow Steven A. Cook looks at what Syria’s revived civil war means for the region.
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South Korea’s Ruling Party Leader Calls for Suspension of President |
The ruling People Power Party was not among those that originally backed the impeachment motion against President Yoon Suk Yeol following his brief attempt to implement martial law. But party leader Han Dong Hoon said today that Yoon should be immediately suspended from his duties. The impeachment motion is scheduled for a vote Saturday evening. (Nikkei)
John Delury writes for Asia Unbound on what’s next for South Korea after the martial law debacle.
Japan/Philippines: The countries signed an over $10 million security assistance deal yesterday in which Japan will provide equipment to boost maritime surveillance. The two countries have ongoing maritime disputes with China in the East and South China Seas. (Reuters) |
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UN Slams Taliban Ban on Women in Medical Classes |
The UN human rights office condemned a ban on women receiving private medical education in Afghanistan, saying it “puts the lives of women and girls at risk in multiple ways.” Afghanistan already has one of the world’s highest maternal mortality rates. (UN News) CFR’s Clara Fong and Noël James look at how Taliban rule is fueling a movement to end gender apartheid.
India: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claimed on social media that the U.S. State Department was targeting India through funding investigative journalism group the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). OCCRP has published articles on India’s business conglomerate the Adani Group, whose leader has been subject to recent U.S. indictments. It said its editorial process was independent, while the Indian foreign ministry and the State Department did not immediately comment. (Reuters)
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Middle East and North Africa |
OPEC+ to Delay Production Increase Over Market Glut Concerns |
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) announced plans to delay and slow down previously planned production increases, underscoring oversupply concerns. Non-OPEC+ producers, such as the United States, have been growing more prominent in oil supplies in recent years. The International Energy Agency said oil markets will face a surplus next year even if OPEC+ does not add a single barrel more. (Bloomberg)
CFR expert Benn Steil’s Global Energy Tracker breaks down who’s using what around the world.
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CFR’s Robert McMahon and Carla Anne Robbins discuss turmoil in South Korea, the collapse of the French government, Syrian rebels seizing the cities of Aleppo and Hama, and more. |
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The country is experiencing a cost of living crisis, which will be at the top of voters’ agendas tomorrow as they fill out their ballots. Polls suggest a tight race in the presidential election between Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia and former President John Mahama, the leader of the main opposition party. (AP)
CFR expert Ebenezer Obadare connects the dots on Africa’s growing democratic momentum.
U.S./South Africa: Consulting firm McKinsey agreed to pay $122 million to authorities in both countries over its actions revealed in an anticorruption probe. The company paid bribes to win consulting work with South African state-owned companies worth millions of dollars, the prosecution agreement said. (FT)
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U.S. Issues $4 Billion in Loan Financing to Poland for Defense Purchases |
The financing will help Poland modernize its military, the Polish defense minister said. Poland has become the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member that spends the highest portion of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. U.S. loans and guarantees to Poland within the last two years now stand at over $11 billion. (Reuters, U.S. Department of State)
Caroline Kapp and CFR expert Liana Fix question whether the bar for NATO’s defense spending is high enough.
France: President Emmanuel Macron pledged to appoint a new prime minister in the coming days who could form a government reflecting a broad mix of parties. Macron faced calls to step down himself after his government collapsed earlier in the week but rejected them in his speech yesterday. (NYT)
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EU, Mercosur Announce Conclusion of Trade Deal |
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and heads of Mercosur countries announced an agreement today on the tenets of a long-delayed pact that would create a free trade area of some 780 million people. France opposes the deal, while Germany and Spain say it will help respond to the near-closure of the Russian market and concerns over overreliance on China. It now faces ratification by European countries and the European Parliament. (Euronews, Reuters)
This Backgrounder gets into Mercosur, South America’s fractious trade bloc.
U.S./Bahamas/Mexico: Officials from the Bahamas and Mexico both said yesterday they did not agree with a proposal floated by U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump for them to accept third-country deportees. (Euronews, AP)
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Trump Announces New Choices on China, NASA |
Trump’s latest high-level nominees for his administration include former Georgia Senator David Perdue for ambassador to China and businessman Jared Isaacman to helm NASA. Perdue has worked in Singapore and Hong Kong in the past and is seen as less hawkish on China than some of Trump’s other nominees. Isaacman has flown on flights with SpaceX, which is already a recipient of many NASA contracts. (Bloomberg, Reuters)
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