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Key Takeaways:

1. The United States, Egypt, and Qatar are pushing a new, multi-part plan to end the Israel-Hamas war. The US-Egyptian-Qatari plan will enable Hamas to reconstitute and present a continued threat to Israel. This proposed plan, as reported, does not include any provisions to disarm Hamas.
2. Israeli forces raided an underground tunnel in a civilian area of Khan Younis that previously held Israeli hostages.
3. Palestinian militias conducted five indirect fire attacks targeting southern Israel on January 21.
4. Palestinian fighters clashed with Israeli forces in four locations across the West Bank on January 20 after CTP-ISW’s data cutoff.
5. Lebanese Hezbollah (LH) conducted four attacks from southern Lebanon into northern Israel targeting Israeli towns and military facilities on January 21.
6. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed responsibility for two one-way drone attacks targeting US positions in Syria on January 21.

IDF estimates published earlier this month claim that Hamas has lost 9,000 terrorists so far in this war. As of January 9, Hamas had also lost two brigade commanders, 19 battalion commanders, and 50 company commanders.

There is a saying that the “devil is in the details,” and when it comes to war, counting the number of people “eliminated” may be less helpful than it seems; there are several reasons for this.

Key points

This brief explores the advantages and drawbacks of various U.S. policy responses to attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea by Ansar Allah—the Shia Islamist group commonly known as the Houthi Movement. The Houthis emerged from the Yemen Civil War as the de facto government in northern Yemen and now control roughly 70 percent of the country’s population. The group was considered a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the U.S. government until it was delisted in 2021 over humanitarian concerns about the impact of the designation.1

Five military advisers serving for the IRGC mission in Syria were martyred along with several Syrian forces in an Israeli attack on a three-story residential building in the Mezza neighbourhood of Damascus.

Iran condemned in the strongest terms the killing of five military advisers of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) in an Israeli attack on Syria, saying it reserves the right to respond to the “organized terrorism” of the Israeli government.

News – Middle East: The Zionist media confirmed that the port of Umm Al-Rashrash, “Eilat,” is completely closed due to the blockade imposed by Yemen on Zionist ships in the Red Sea.

The Zionist website “Passport News” quoted the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Port of Eilat as saying: “The port is effectively closed, with no traffic movement, due to attacks by Yemen on ships in the Red Sea. It is very saddening to see the port standing still, with no exports or imports.”

In December 2023, the Houthis Ansar Allah movement, Iran’s proxy in Yemen, escalated its attacks on vessels in the Red Sea and Bab-el-Mandeb. The Houthis have been attacking commercial vessels that they claim are connected to Israel or are bound for that country, with the stated aim of aiding the Gazans in the war with Israel, which broke out following Hamas’ deadly attack on October 7, 2023.[1] The attacks have caused many shipping companies to opt for alternative routes, which lengthens the voyage and increases the cost of shipping.

Hezbollah issued the following statement:

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
“Say, ‘Do you wait for us except one of the two good things?’ And we are waiting for you lest Allah afflict you with a punishment from Him.” Or by Our hand, so wait. Indeed, we are with you, waiting.) God the Most High, the Great,
has spoken the truth.