Across the Middle East
Notable Developments
Lebanon
Banner
on rubble of homes destroyed by an Israeli air strike in Lebanon reads
"you may destroy our homes but you will not destroy our will," April 8,
2024.
Hezbollah said on April 13 that it fired "dozens of rockets" at Israeli artillery positions in northern Israel and the occupied Golan Heights in response to the Israeli military's strikes in southern Lebanon, in one of its largest assaults since it began its operations in support of the Palestinian people on October 8, 2023. Al Jazeera's Ali Hashem noted that "Hitting the Golan hasn't been something normal in this confrontation." He also pointed out that Israeli attacks on Lebanon are increasingly hurting civilians as well as military targets, with more than 60 Lebanese civilians killed, compared with only several on the Israeli side.
On March 26, Hezbollah announced an attack on an Israeli command centre in the occupied Golan Heights, after Israel confirmed its latest attack on eastern Lebanon launched earlier in the day, Hezbollah informed in a statement. "In response to the Zionist enemy's attack that targeted the Beqaa Valley, the Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance targeted at 04:20 pm in the afternoon of March 26, the Yarden Barracks in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, 'the main command headquarters in times of war,' with more than 50 Katyusha rockets," the statement said. The attack was Hezbollah's tenth operation of the day, it added.
Jordan
April 7, 2024
Nightly protests that began March 24 continue across Jordan
against
the government's complicity with Israeli. Jordan signed a peace
deal with Israel 30 years ago, in
1994, followed by a normalization of relations but it is
submitting to U.S. and Israeli pressure to assist the commission
of heinous crimes against the Palestinian people and the people of
Jordan are rising up en masse against this. Palestinians make up
at least 2 million of Jordan's 11
million people. A frequent chant at the protests is Who said
we are separate? Jordan's blood is for Palestine!
Similar protests are taking place in the other gulf states that have similar arrangements with Israel.
Jordanians standing with Palestine point out that the Jordanian government is helping the United Arab Emirates and Israel conduct trade, bypassing the Red Sea blockade by the Houthis in Yemen, and allowing goods to travel overland through Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Other actions by Jordan in support of Israel include stationing soldiers and police along the 192-mile-long border with Israel and placing security personnel along the main roads near the Israeli Embassy. Protesters are calling for the embassy to be closed.
The Jordanian government has arrested hundreds of activists during pro-Palestine protests over the last month.
Jordan also hosts U.S. military bases. Jordan also assisted Israel to shoot down Iranian missiles and drones on April 13, despite Iran's warnings not to do so. Jordan's response was very different to Turkey's which closed its airspace to any country opposing Iran's retaliatory strike.
Iraq
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has said it has carried out operations against Israeli targets in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. They struck the Israeli Ovda Air Base with drones on March 26 and the 'Speer' military site with drones on March 27, both in the occupied territories. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has carried out several key operations in recent months, including multiple attacks on Ben Gurion Airport, a power plant in Tel Aviv as well as major Israeli ports in solidarity with the people of Gaza. They have also attacked U.S. military bases in Iraq and neighbouring Syria in response to U.S. support for the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
Yemen
The Commander of France's Aquitaine-class FREMM frigate Alsace, in an interview published by Le Figaro on April 11, informed that the ship was forced to end its 71-day deployment to the Red Sea after running out of missiles and munitions from repelling attacks by the Yemeni armed forces.
"We didn't necessarily expect this level of threat. There was an uninhibited violence that was quite surprising and very significant. [The Yemenis] do not hesitate to use drones that fly at water level, to explode them on commercial ships, and to fire ballistic missiles," Commander Jérôme Henry told Le Figaro. All of its combat equipment was depleted, he stated. "From the Aster missile to the 7.62 machine gun of the helicopter, including the 12.7mm, 20mm, or 76mm cannon, we dealt with three ballistic missiles and half a dozen drones," Henry added. The Franco-Italian Aster missile -- each costing $2 million -- "was pushed to its limits" by the Yemeni armed forces, as the Alsace had to use it "on targets that we did not necessarily imagine at the start."
Henry added that Yemen has markedly increased its use of ballistic missiles after relying mainly on drones at the start of the pro-Palestine operations in the Red Sea. Referring to France's participation in NATO's criminal bombing of Libya in 2011, Henry, who was there, said, "It wasn't the same thing. It has been even longer since we have engaged with this level of weaponry and violence. The threat to the boat was much greater in the Red Sea."
In a March 26 statement, the Yemeni army said it carried out military operations against six ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, including two U.S. destroyers, within 72 hours. The army's spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the Yemeni naval forces had conducted the operations "with a large number of ballistic missiles and drones." According to the statement, the Yemeni army struck Maersk Saratoga, APL Detroit, Huang Pu and Pretty Lady after identifying them as owned by either the U.S. or Britain. Saree said the army also launched a drone attack against two U.S. destroyers in the Red Sea as well as Israel's Eilat Port. The spokesman said the military operations were "successful."
Syria
On April 3, Russia's Defence Ministry announced that it had deployed additional forces in the Syrian-controlled areas of the Golan Heights. Since 2018 these forces, from Russia's military police, have been tasked with de-escalating tensions in the Syrian provinces of Quneitra and Daraa, as well as monitoring the longstanding ceasefire in force as part of the Syrian Civil War. News reports state that Russia has installed several observation posts along the demarcation line between Syria and the Occupied Golan Heights since the start of this year.
Russia's decision to increase its presence in the Golan Heights comes after condemning Israel's strike on Iran's consular building on April 1. Russia called on Israel to cease such "completely unacceptable" actions and requested a meeting of the UN Security Council regarding the strike, to no avail.
Prior to this, Syria strongly condemned the act of aggression by U.S. occupation forces on March 26 which targeted several areas in the country's eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr, causing casualties. A Syrian military source said U.S. strikes hit several villages, towns and military sites. They killed seven soldiers and one civilian while injuring 19 soldiers and 13 civilians. The strikes also caused huge material damage to public and private properties. It stressed that the U.S. must end its illegitimate presence on Syrian soil and end its open support and funding of terrorist organizations like Daesh. "Syria calls on world countries which struggle for their sovereignty, freedom and independence to condemn that aggression and reject it and demand the U.S. end its illegal presence and its terrorist military operations in the region," the statement said.
Iran
Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported on April 13 that Navy special forces from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps used a helicopter to board and seize the MSC Aries, a container ship linked to Israel. The ship is being transferred from the Strait of Hormuz, where it was seized, to Iranian territorial waters.
IRNA said the Portuguese-flagged ship is operated by the Zodiac shipping company, which is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer's Zodiac Group. Zodiac said in a statement that the ship is managed and operated by the U.K.-based shipping company, MSC, which confirmed on April 13 that the ship had been boarded. The company also said there were 25 crew members onboard and that it is working with "relevant authorities" to ensure their safety.
This article was published in
Volume 54 Number 26 - April 15, 2024
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/Articles/MS542621.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca