Orientul Mijlociu

Data Cutoff: January 10, 2024, at 10 a.m.

Key Takeaway: IS affiliates across sub-Saharan Africa have claimed attacks as part of the new IS global campaign and could attempt to carry out high-visibility attacks against civilians and religious sites in their areas of operation to maximize the propaganda value of the campaign. IS central media is branding the campaign as supportive of the Palestinian cause in response to the Israel-Hamas war and is also encouraging lone-wolf attacks against civilians in the West.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was established in 1949 to serve Palestinian refugees displaced during Israel’s War of Independence. UNRWA continues to operate in the Gaza Strip, West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan nearly 75 years later. The United States has contributed over $1 billion to UNRWA since 2021 even though the agency provides cover for terrorist activity and perpetuates the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

When U.S. and U.K. warships and aircraft launched waves of missiles at Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen early Friday in Sanaa, it capped weeks of warnings to the group to cease their drone and missile attacks against commercial vessels in the Red Sea or face severe consequences.

In recent days the death of at least 22,000 people and enormous other distress including the displacement of a vast majority of the people of Gaza have been caused as a result of the highly disproportionate response of Israel to the terrible attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023.

While several aspects of this tragic situation have been widely discussed, perhaps one aspect which should have received more attention relates to the oil and gas reserves of the region as a motivating cause of this entire tragedy, just as oil and gas resources have been an important factor in several earlier tragedies of this region.

Latest Developments

Jordan conducted multiple airstrikes inside Syria on January 9, targeting Iran-linked narcotraffickers and their hideouts. The Royal Jordanian Air Force carried out three strikes against dealers in the towns of Shaab and Arman, near the Jordanian border. A fourth strike reportedly targeted a farm near the Syrian village of Malah. The air force carried out similar strikes against narcotrafficking operations in southern Syria on January 4.

Latest Developments

U.S. and British forces in the Red Sea on January 9 thwarted the largest attack yet by Houthi rebels against commercial shipping in the southern Red Sea. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on January 10 that if the attacks continue “there will be consequences.” What those consequences will be remains to be seen.

Abstract: The Houthi rebels have been at war with the Yemeni government almost constantly since 2004. In the first six years, the Houthis fought an increasingly effective guerrilla war in their mountainous home provinces, but after 2010, they metamorphosed into the most powerful military entity in the country, capturing the three largest cities in Yemen. The Houthis quickly fielded advanced weapons they had never before controlled, including many of Iranian origin. The story of how they moved from small-arms ambushes to medium-range ballistic missiles in half a decade provides a case study of how an ambitious militant group can capture and use a state’s arsenals and benefit from Iran’s support.

Efrat Eldan Schechter is a native of the Northern Galilee and never even considered moving anywhere else to bring up her family – that is until the events of 7 October.

When she heard and watched reports of what was happening in southern Israel that morning, as heavily armed Hamas gunmen streamed out of Gaza, she was immediately taken back to stories from the “Yom Kippur” or 1973 Middle East war, when Israel was attacked simultaneously on two fronts.

The Iran Update provides insights into Iranian and Iranian-sponsored activities abroad that undermine regional stability and threaten US forces and interests. It also covers events and trends that affect the stability and decision-making of the Iranian regime. The Critical Threats Project (CTP) at the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) provides these updates regularly based on regional events. For more on developments in Iran and the region, see our interactive map of Iran and the Middle East.

The West Bank becomes a critical focus for Israel in its ongoing war against Hamas, with escalating violence and strategic operations

Alongside its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Israel continues its crackdown on Palestinian terrorist organizations in the West Bank.