Another Middle East Battlefront Escalates |
By Ivana Saric
Digital Editor, Council on Foreign Relations |
The Iran-backed Houthi rebels fired new strikes at Saudi Arabia today, a Saudi military spokesperson said.
The weekend marked the deadliest attacks in a decade for Saudi Arabia. The group claimed responsibility for back-to-back attacks on Riyadh’s international airport this weekend that reportedly killed around a dozen people and injured hundreds more, among other strikes.
Riyadh responded with strikes on the international airport in Yemen’s capital of Sanaa, Houthi-run media reported. Saudi Arabia had backed Yemen’s recognized government in a counteroffensive to reverse Houthi territorial gains earlier this month.
The Houthi attacks underscore a vulnerability for Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, and could undermine Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s efforts to diversify the kingdom’s economy and attract tourism and foreign investors. Riyadh’s airport remained closed today and multiple executives dropped out of the global energy conference the city is hosting this week.
A key question now is whether the United States might intervene on behalf of Saudi Arabia, its ally. President Donald Trump said this weekend the administration would “look at” backing Saudi efforts against the Houthis. Thus far, the United States has reportedly provided intelligence support to the kingdom but refrained from direct military support.
Iran offered to mediate between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis on Sunday, with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warning that the crises facing the region had no military solution. Riyadh did not immediately acknowledge the offer from Tehran. The Daily Brief will continue tracking the tensions in the Gulf and bring you the latest as it comes. |
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Q&A: CFR’s Joshua Kurlantzick on U.S.-Myanmar Relations |
In Friday’s Daily Brief, we told you about the United States reportedly opening direct talks with Myanmar’s military government. CFR’s Joshua Kurlantzick wrote an expert take about the possible implications of this decision. The Daily Brief caught up with him to learn more.
Why do you think Washington chose this moment to walk back Myanmar’s isolation? What changed?
I think the primary factor was that the [Trump] administration desperately needs access to rare earths, and is looking anywhere for them. That said, I think there is basically no chance the United States will get access to Myanmar's rare earths.
Why would the United States pursue this in Myanmar, which is engaged in civil war?
Even a tiny chance is better than none, given how few choices the United States has, how long it takes to mine and actually get rare earth mining going, the Iran war, and the fact that without other sources China, which has a majority of rare earths, will retain enormous leverage over the United States for years. You argued in your column that the United States’ diplomatic thaw grants the regime legitimacy. Does that affect U.S.’ standing in the international community?
To be fair, a lot of other countries are also now granting the regime legitimacy, including regional democracies like Malaysia, Thailand, and Japan, soon. So the United States is hardly alone. But yes, I think it looks bad to have a thaw with one of the worst regimes in the world, while also massively slashing aid for Myanmar’s desperate population. I should note that there is fairly strong, bipartisan opposition in Congress to this thaw. Congress has actually long been the leading actor on Myanmar policy, not the executive branch. We will see what, if anything, Congress can do.
These answers represent the views solely of the authors. The Council on Foreign Relations is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher, and takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.
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CFR’s Why It Matters podcast is back with a brand new season. For the first episode, the team dove into the fragility of the global health system and how it pertains to the United States. CFR’s Gabrielle Sierra sat down with colleague Prashant Yadav to discuss GLP-1s, a class of drugs used for weight loss and insulin regulation that has surged in popularity in recent years.
As Sierra noted, GLP-1s have become “a stress-test for the entire global drug system—surfacing price disparities, supply shortages, quality control failures, and a patchwork of patent laws.” Tune in to hear them discuss the dramatic price difference for the drugs in the United States and India, the emergence of a gray market on social media, and why the GLP-1 supply chain could even become a national security issue. |
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Every day, the Daily Brief brings you a curated list of the top stories from around the world. |
- Drone Strike From Sudan Kills Dozens Near Ethiopia Border. A rights group has blamed the Rapid Support Forces, a Sudanese paramilitary group, for the deaths of forty-one displaced people gathered near the Sudan-Ethiopia border. RSF did not immediately comment.
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Boat Carrying Migrants Capsizes off East African Coast. A boat traveling from Yemen carrying more than three hundred migrants capsized in the waters near Djibouti, authorities said yesterday. The official death toll is at least 139. The real count may be higher as some people were buried by other migrants rather than the government and are not included in that estimate.
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United States Arrests Colombian Fugitive With Ties to Venezuela’s Maduro Regime. Álvaro Pulido Vargas, a Colombian businessman, is alleged to have laundered more than $2 billion and bribed officials in former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s government. The details of his arrest were not immediately made public. He is scheduled for a court appearance in Miami tomorrow.
- Belize and Paraguay Officials Face Chinese Sanctions. Beijing has sanctioned Belize’s foreign minister and Paraguay’s communications minister over their ties to Taiwan. The two South American countries are among only twelve diplomatic allies of the island.
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India Detains, Then Releases, ‘Cockroach’ Movement Leaders. Three leaders of the Cockroach Janta Party were detained for one day over the weekend after organizing protests demanding the resignation of an election official. The group’s legal director said that the three had agreed not to participate in breaches of peace for a year as part of the terms of their release.
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Rescue Efforts Underway After New Floods Hit Nepal. Villages along the Budhi Gandaki River in northern Nepal were evacuated and dozens of foreign trekkers were reported to be stranded as new flash floods swept parts of the country Sunday.
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NATO Outlines Plan to Shield Allies From Russia. Seeking to reassure members, the alliance’s top commander presented a military strategy to counter a potential Russian assault on its eastern flank. He said the plan is designed to stop an initial attack, prevent nuclear escalation, and cut off supplies if aggression continues, among other goals.
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UK Prime Minister Says Air Base Incident ‘Almost Certainly’ Iran. United Kingdom (UK) Prime Minister Andy Burnham said today that he could “confirm our assessment” that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard “almost certainly” directed last month’s suspected plan to attack the U.S.-run RAF Fairford air base in England. Burnham had previously said Iran was likely behind the plan that spurred the United States to subsequently withdraw its bombers.
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Kurdish Militants Leave Some Iraq Camps as Part of Peace Process With Turkey. Militants from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party have withdrawn from four camps in Iraq, Turkish security sources said today. The move is a step toward the group’s commitment to disband as part of a peace process with Turkey.
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Host: Ivana Saric
Editor: Xian Chiang Waren
Email Operations: Eric Rojas
Editorial Director, News: Phil McCausland
Editor-at-Large: Robert McMahon
Chief Digital Content Officer: Millie Tran |
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