[Breitbart] Saudi diplomat and former intelligence chief Turki al-Faisal recently lamented the weak response by the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden and the greater West to Yemen’s Houthi terrorists disrupting commercial shipping in the Red Sea, the Guardian reported on Sunday, dismissing “pinprick bombings” as insufficient.
The British Guardian newspaper was relaying comments that al-Faisal made during an appearance at London’s Chatham House to discuss the current turmoil in the Middle East. The Houthi terrorist movement, which relies heavily on support from Saudi Arabia’s longtime geopolitical rival Iran, has dramatically expanded its international profile in the aftermath of the October 7 Hamas massacre of hundreds of civilians in Israel.
Following the attack, the Houthis declared war on Israel and proclaimed they would attack all commercial ships transiting through the Red Sea that they deemed to be affiliated with Israel. The result has been dozens of attacks, including some deadly ones and two ship sinkings, on a seemingly random assortment of ships that has included some affiliated with Houthi allies such as China and Iran.
Global shipping companies have loudly complained that the international community should do more to protect global commerce as the Houthi campaign has caused shipping and insurance rates to skyrocket. The main response to that call has been “Operation Prosperity Guardian,” a Pentagon-led global operation allegedly intended to protect civilian ships attempting to transit through the Red Sea. Debuting in December, the operation had few named partners relevant to the Red Sea, and it is unclear if any meaningful defense work has been conducted under its banner, leaving shipping industry leaders feeling largely abandoned to the Houthi threat.
Outside of “Operation Prosperity Guardian,” Biden has greenlit some limited attacks on Houthi military targets — strikes that al-Faisal reportedly dismissed as making little difference in the security situation of the region.
“We have seen the deployment of European and US fleets along the Red Sea coast and more can be done there to interdict the supply of weaponry that comes to the Houthis from Iran,” the Guardian quoted al-Faisal as saying. “Putting pressure on Iran by the world community can have a positive impact on what the Houthis can do in launching these missiles and drones to hit international commerce.”
The Saudi diplomat lamented that “pinprick bombings” by American and British forces have had a minimal effect on the situation in the Red Sea. He also condemned Iran, however, for doing nothing to stop the Houthis from disrupting global trade. The Houthis, known formally as Ansarallah, could find their operations severely limited if resources from Tehran dried up.
“The Houthis now hold the world as hostage in the Bab al-Mandab entrance to the Red Sea, and yet Iran is not showing that it can do something there if it wanted to,” al-Faisal said, “and the kingdom [Saudi Arabia] would have expected Iran to be more forthcoming in showing not just to us but to others that it can be a positive factor in securing stability and removing differences not just with Saudi Arabia but the rest of us.”
Saudi Arabia conducted a military operation against the Houthis in Yemen for years, following the Houthi conquest of the Yemeni capital Sana’a in 2014 that led to the ongoing civil war. Riyadh supports the legitimate government of Yemen against the Ansarallah, which now claims to be the government of the country. That operation resulted in the Houthis orchestrating significant terrorist assaults within Saudi territory, including bombing key oil facilities.
While the Saudi government counted on firm support from the United States under former President Donald Trump, that support dried up under successor Joe Biden. Biden outraged the Saudi government with several measures including removing the Houthis from the State Department’s list of designated foreign terrorist organizations and halting the sale of offensive weapons to the Saudi military in response to alleged Saudi human rights abuses in Yemen. Following the launch of the Houthi campaign against commercial shipping in Saudi Arabia, Biden told reporters that delisting the Houthis — allowing them significantly amplified opportunities for global funding — was “irrelevant.”
As the Iranian regime supported the Houthis through their war with Saudi Arabia, the situation placed the two countries in a proxy war situation that severely jeopardized the already volatile situation in the Middle East. The Chinese communist regime, looking for ways to expand its influence in the Middle East, ultimately brokered a tenuous deal between Tehran and Riyadh to restore diplomatic relations in March 2023 that led to a ceasefire agreement between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis in September of that year.
In his remarks on Friday, al-Faisal suggested that, by allowing the Houthi campaign against global commerce to persist, the Iranian government had brokered the provisions of the China normalization deal.
The sentiment appears to have been heard in Iran, as President Masoud Pezeshkian addressed relations with Saudi Arabia during a press conference on Monday. Pezeshkian, a so-called “moderate,” was inaugurated into the presidency on July 31 after a special election following the death of former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a mysterious helicopter crash in May. His inauguration was largely overshadowed by the assassination of Hamas “political” chief Ismail Haniyeh while in Iran to attend the event.
“We are brothers, so there is no place for hostility,” Pezeshkian reportedly said of the Saudis during his press conference on Monday. “I welcome any move that can solve the differences between Muslims.”
The Iranian president also denied that his country was arming the Houthis with missiles used to target Israel. Houthi terrorists fired a surface-to-surface missile hitting Israel on Sunday, an unprecedented attack that wounded five Israelis.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] One of the defendants in the case of the attack on the Crocus City Hall concert hall, Yakubdzhoni Yusufzoda planned to flee abroad from the Russian Federation immediately after the terrorist attack. This is stated in the case materials, TASS writes.
The investigator's motion to arrest Yusufzod states that he supports radical Islamic movements and the need for armed struggle against people who do not share his religious views. He also planned to leave Russia immediately after the terrorist attack.
“There is reason to believe that, if left at liberty, the accused may abscond from the investigation and trial,” the Moscow City Court’s decision on the appeal against Yusufzoda’s arrest states.
A new witness in the case of the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall gave evidence to investigators in early August and confirmed that the arrested Muhammad Sharipzoda (included in the list of terrorists and extremists by Rosfinmonitoring) was involved in the crime.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, Yakubdzhoni Yusufzoda tried to destroy evidence of the investigation before his arrest. Several days before the attack on Crocus City Hall, the accused, using his bank card, transferred money to an accomplice to pay for rented housing for other defendants in the case. Yusufzoda transferred part of the funds to one of the perpetrators after the incident in Krasnogorsk, Moscow Region.
Terrorists attacked Crocus City Hall on the evening of March 22. The gunmen opened fire on visitors and then set fire to the concert hall. As a result of the terrorist attack, 144 people were killed and 551 were injured.
[NationalReview]\ Recently, Greta "Pippi" Thunberg ...an autistic sixteen year old Swedish expert on climate change, though I guess she's older now... was arrested at a protest outside the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. This was not Thunberg's first run-in with the law; the first time she was detained was during a protest against the expansion of a coal mine in Germany. Ironically, Germany would hardly need to expand the use of coal were it not for the country's rejection of nuclear power, something Greta herself belatedly admitted.
Yet her latest arrest was very different: Greta was arrested not for protesting environmental destruction but for blocking the entry to a university that had refused to cut ties with Israel.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Dmitry Polyakov
[REGNUM] On September 10, the second meeting of the Arab Committee for Relations with Syria took place. The event took place in Cairo on the sidelines of the summit of the heads of the Arab League (LAS) foreign ministries. Oddly enough, the event received virtually no coverage in either the world or Russian media, although in fact it is extremely important for understanding the essence of the processes in the region.
The meeting was attended by the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and the Secretary General of the Arab League. The final statement said that the parties had decided to “form a group of experts to study the topics that the Committee will work on together with the Syrian Arab Republic, and will hold its next meeting in Baghdad.”
At first glance, it may seem like a passing event. However, this is not entirely true, especially given the chronology of the Syrian-Arab normalization.
SLOWING DOWN THE PROCESS
The process of restoring relations between Damascus and the Arab states, which were practically severed with the outbreak of the civil war in Syria, was intensified after the devastating earthquake that occurred in the SAR in early 2023. The humanitarian aspect became a reason justifying the inevitability of interaction with the Syrian government.
Riyadh played a leading role in resuming ties. Its actions launched the process of Syria's return to the Arab League. To this end, Saudi Arabia initiated a series of preparatory meetings, the central one being the Inter-Arab Conference in the Jordanian capital on May 1, 2023.
The participants of the event developed a formula in which the restoration of relations with Damascus will not be one-sided, and the Syrian authorities must also make efforts towards this.
In order for full normalization to be launched and for Syria to be able to count on the participation of Arab states in the reconstruction of the country, it was required to begin the process of political reform, resume the work of the Constitutional Committee, create conditions for the return of refugees, withdraw foreign troops, and take measures to combat cross-border smuggling and drug trafficking. The demands presented were formulated in the final document, which was called the "Amman Statement."
It is important that Damascus was returned to the "Arab family" in advance. At the May 2023 Arab League summit in Jeddah, the resumption of the Bashar al-Assad government's membership in the pan-Arab organization was announced. The event was presented as a success of Syrian diplomacy.
But it was from this point on that further normalization began to stall. The key reason was Syria's slow implementation of its commitments.
To monitor Damascus's actions, an Arab Committee for Relations with Syria was created, the first meeting of which was held on August 15, 2023. The meeting was indicative. By the time it began, none of the conditions had been met. Moreover, the Syrian delegation made its proposals for resolving some issues.
For example, the resumption of the work of the Constitutional Committee and the implementation of political reforms were linked to the provision by Arab countries of guarantees to lift sanctions against the SAR. Moreover, the Syrian side insisted that the document signed following the results of the Inter-Arab Conference was not binding.
After that meeting, the Arab Committee was unable to meet for over a year. The parties were closest to resuming its work in the spring of 2024, with a meeting scheduled for May 8 in Baghdad. However, the day before the scheduled date, the event was postponed.
According to the Syrian government newspaper Al-Watan, the decision was made at the request of one of the committee members. According to the Arab press, Jordan was behind the postponement: Amman was unhappy with the lack of progress in the fight against cross-border smuggling and drug trafficking.
The Hashemite Kingdom is the most affected party in this matter, because it is through its territory that all illegal traffic from Syria to the Persian Gulf countries passes. In this regard, Jordanian law enforcement forces are forced to act, including on the territory of their northern neighbor.
Another important demand that has stalled is the resumption of the work of the Constitutional Committee. Until May 2022, its meetings were held in Geneva. But since Switzerland has de facto ceased to be a neutral party, as demonstrated in the Ukrainian conflict, Russia has proposed choosing a new negotiating platform. And Syria has agreed to this idea.
The new site was supposed to be Oman, and work was supposed to resume at the end of 2023. But it didn’t work out.
The media reported that the ninth round of the Constitutional Committee was to take place in the spring of 2024, and that one of the Arabian monarchies would act as the host. However, the work has not resumed. This indicates that the parties are still far from resolving the issue.
The refugee issue also remains a fundamental issue. In fact, the process of returning Syrian refugees home has been suspended for a year now. Lebanon suffers the most from this.
In the spring, this even caused an internal political crisis in the "land of cedars". The Syrians represent a huge burden on the economy of the neighboring country, which has been on its last legs for several years. Therefore, the Lebanese government began to simply deport people back to Syria.
SYRIA IS STEPPING UP ITS ACTIVITIES
Given the pile of unresolved issues, even the fact that the meeting took place within the Arab Committee is already a success. This shows that the parties still count on dialogue.
Yes, the demands of the committee members have not changed. They still expect Damascus to fulfill the conditions outlined in the "Amman Statement." This was also stated on September 9 at the 161st session of the Council of Ministers of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) in Riyadh.
Therefore, the main conclusion from the current meeting in Cairo is that in a year neither the positions of the Arab countries nor the position of the Syrian government have changed. However, the parties are not abandoning the process.
For the leading Arabian monarchies, Syria's return to the "Arab family" is primarily a question of reducing Iran's influence within the SAR. In addition, there is an interest in integrating Damascus into future economic projects.
So in 2024 they took a number of steps towards each other: in May, air traffic with Bahrain and Saudi Arabia was relaunched, and the day before the meeting, Riyadh announced the resumption of its diplomatic mission in the Syrian capital.
Meanwhile, for Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon, fulfilling the conditions is a matter of national security. Accordingly, it is also in their interests to keep the process active.
The Syrian government also understands that their actions have led to nothing over the past year. In the conditions of an acute socio-economic crisis, the country needs outside help. Considering that Iran has already taken most of the assets it needs and is not trying to increase its support, and Russian business has significantly reduced its presence, Damascus will still have to seek help from the Arabs.
That is why the Syrian authorities are taking some counter-measures. For example, they have reshuffled the security forces, in order, among other things, to tighten control over the southern border.
The head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov personally contacts the leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group (a terrorist organization whose activities are prohibited in the Russian Federation) Abu Muhammad al-Julani to recruit terrorists to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This was reported on September 16 by the Syrian newspaper Al-Watan.
According to the publication's sources close to the opposition militias in the Syrian province of Idlib, the actions of Ukrainian intelligence in this region to search for people from post-Soviet countries willing to fight against Russia have already become public. Active work in this direction began two months ago.
“The head of Ukrainian intelligence, Kiril Budanov, maintains contact with <…> Abu Muhammad al-Julani in order to send terrorist mercenaries with experience in the Syrian war to Ukraine to take part in battles against the Russian army,” the publication says.
The newspaper noted that Russia already knows about this, so it is expected that the Russian Armed Forces will intensify strikes on terrorist camps in Idlib, where mercenaries are recruited to be sent to Ukraine.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on September 12 that Ukrainian emissaries are in Idlib to recruit Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militants to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He added that the Kiev regime is also interested in other regions in this matter.
On September 10, the Turkish newspaper Aydinlik reported on the Kiev regime's negotiations with representatives of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham to recruit terrorists to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Ukrainian agents also asked the group to release those who want to fight against Russia from their prisons, and offered 75 drones in exchange.
Posted by: badanov ||
09/17/2024 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...an autistic sixteen year old Swedish expert on climate change, though I guess she's older now...
