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☆ Iran Strikes Jihadist Group in Pakistan as Middle East Conflicts Spread
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-17 | by ( Saeed Shah | Benoit Faucon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Gen. Hossein Salami, commander in chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in Tehran last month. Photo: abedin taherkenareh/ShutterstockISLAMABAD—Iran hit a jihadist group in Pakistan with a missile and drone strike Tuesday, according to Iranian state media, as a series of conflicts continue to spread across the Middle East in the wake of Israel’s war in Gaza. The target of the unusual attack inside Pakistan was a militant group, Jaish al-Adl, in Pakistan’s remote western province of Balochistan, which has a long border with Iran. Islamabad condemned the attack, which it said had killed two children and injured three more.

Persons: Hossein, abedin, al Organizations: Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Adl Locations: Tehran, Shutterstock ISLAMABAD, Iran, Pakistan, Gaza, Balochistan, Islamabad

☆ Shell Suspends Red Sea Shipments Amid Fears of More Houthi Attacks
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-16 | by ( Benoit Faucon | Jenny Strasburg | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Wael Sawan, Shell’s chief executive, says in an interview with WSJ’s Jenny Strasburg at Davos that the company’s decision today to suspend shipping in the Red Sea is affecting costs. British oil major Shell suspended all shipments through the Red Sea after U.S. and U.K. strikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels triggered fears of further escalation, according to people familiar with the decision. The West’s targeting of the Iranian-ally militia came after the Houthis launched dozens of missiles and drones at commercial vessels around the Red Sea and the nearby Bab el-Mandeb. The militia has said the attacks are in response to an Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.

Persons: Wael Sawan, WSJ’s Jenny Strasburg, Yemen’s, Bab Organizations: Shell Locations: Davos, Bab el, Gaza

☆ Houthis Turn Their Sights on U.S. Ships, Vow to Keep Attacking Red Sea Targets
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-15 | by ( Benoit Faucon | Costas Paris | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WSJ explains how the weapons systems on guided-missile destroyers like the USS Carney are warding off missile and drone attacks on Israeli and American troops. Photo Illustration: MacKenzie CoffmanFresh attacks targeted American ships in the Middle East, days after the U.S. led a round of strikes meant to diminish the capability of Houthi rebels to hit ships transiting the Red Sea. A Houthi missile struck the Gibraltar Eagle, a U.S. bulk carrier, off the coast of Yemen without causing injury or significant damage on Monday, said the U.S. Central Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East. Eagle Bulk Shipping , the ship’s U.S. owner, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Persons: Carney, MacKenzie Coffman, didn’t Organizations: U.S, U.S . Central Command, Eagle Bulk Shipping Locations: Gibraltar, U.S, Yemen, East

☆ U.S. Intercepts Cruise Missile Attack on Its Warship in Red Sea
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-15 | by ( Benoit Faucon | Costas Paris | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Houthi fighters and tribesmen staged a demonstration near San’a on Sunday over the U.S.-led strikes last week. Photo: Associated PressThe U.S. military said its forces shot down a cruise missile fired from Houthi rebel areas toward an American Navy destroyer in the Red Sea, days after the U.S. led air and naval strikes against the Iran-backed militants in Yemen. The Houthis, who haven’t commented on the Sunday afternoon launch, have vowed to continue their campaign against U.S. and international targets in the region in response to Israel’s actions in Gaza, despite last week’s U.S.-led strikes against dozens of Houthi targets that were designed to prevent further attacks.

Persons: haven’t Organizations: Press, American Navy, U.S Locations: San’a, U.S, Red, Iran, Yemen, Gaza

☆ Israel, Hamas Engage in Some of Fiercest Fighting of War
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-04 | by ( Benoit Faucon | Dov Lieber | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

TEL AVIV—Israeli troops and Hamas fighters were engaged Monday in some of the toughest fighting of the two-month-old war, as Israel looks to decisively finish its operations in and around Gaza City and prepare to move its offensive south. The Israeli military has essentially cornered Hamas fighters in two of their last strongholds in the northern Gaza Strip—the Shajaiya neighborhood of Gaza City and the city of Jabalia, immediately to the north.

Locations: TEL AVIV, Israel, Gaza City, Gaza, Jabalia

BEITUNIA, West Bank—After more than a year of detention, Azhar Assaf has finally returned to her home in the occupied West Bank. Although she doesn’t consider herself to be political, she says she owes her freedom to Hamas. Assaf and other freed prisoners, many of whom have been held without trial, are attributing their release to Hamas, with some openly praising the group. That is helping to boost Hamas’s public image among Palestinians amid a war with Israel that has left more than 15,000 dead in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to authorities in the enclave. The numbers don’t distinguish between militants and civilians.

Persons: Azhar Assaf, doesn’t, Assaf Organizations: West Bank —, West Bank Locations: Israel, Gaza

☆ OPEC+ Agrees to Significant Oil-Production Cut
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-30 | by ( Summer Said | Benoit Faucon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The headquarters of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in Vienna. Photo: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg NewsOPEC+ agreed to a significant production cut of another million barrels a day, delegates said, in a move that will likely send prices higher amid the continuing conflict in the Middle East. As part of the deal reached Thursday, Saudi Arabia also agreed to extend its cut of 1 million barrels a day that it announced in June.

Persons: Andrey Rudakov Organizations: Organization of, Petroleum, Bloomberg, OPEC Locations: Vienna, Saudi Arabia

☆ OPEC+ Mulls New Oil Production Cuts Amid Middle East Conflict
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Benoit Faucon | Summer Said | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Any extra cuts, if approved, would likely draw a rebuke from the U.S. Photo: henry chirinos/ShutterstockOPEC and its Russia-led allies are considering new oil production cuts of as much as 1 million barrels a day, delegates said Wednesday, despite tensions in oil markets amid the conflict in the Middle East. The move, which would likely send oil prices higher, could be announced Thursday at a virtual meeting of the cartel. The meeting, originally scheduled for last week, was postponed over disagreements about production.

Persons: henry chirinos Organizations: U.S, OPEC Locations: Russia

☆ Israel, Hamas Exchange Fire Ahead of Release of Hostages, Pause in Fighting
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-22 | by ( Benoit Faucon | Dov Lieber | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Israel carried out targeted raids in the Gaza Strip and Hamas fired rockets at Israel ahead of implementing an agreed pause in fighting and the release of hostages held by the militant group in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Early Wednesday, Israel and Hamas agreed to free 50 civilian hostages held by militants in Gaza in return for the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails and a four-day pause in fighting.

Persons: Israel Locations: Gaza, Israel

RAMALLAH, West Bank—As Western and Arab leaders look beyond Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip, most agree they want some form of Palestinian government running the enclave, but they can’t agree on who it should include. One emerging point of consensus is that the Palestinian Authority—as it now operates and oversees the West Bank—isn’t up to the job. But there is no easy alternative.

Organizations: West Bank, Palestinian Authority, West Bank — Locations: RAMALLAH, West, Gaza

Mahmoud Abbas, leader of the Palestinian Authority, attending an emergency meeting in Riyadh. Photo: SAUDI PRESS AGENCY/AFP via Getty ImagesIsrael is diverging from the U.S. and Arab world on a postwar solution for Gaza, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ruled out a role for the Palestinian Authority, which Washington and some Arab leaders prefer to take over from Hamas. Netanyahu, under pressure from his right-wing political base, said Saturday Israel wants a solution other than the Palestinian Authority, led by President Mahmoud Abbas . The Israeli leader didn’t put forward an alternative, saying only that Israel wants to avoid governing Gaza and needs to maintain security control over the strip after it defeats Hamas, which Netanyahu has sworn to do.

Persons: Mahmoud Abbas, Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Israel, didn’t Organizations: Palestinian Authority, Photo, SAUDI PRESS, Getty Images Israel Locations: Riyadh, U.S, Gaza, Washington

☆ Hamas Has Deadlier Weapons Than the Last Time Israel Invaded Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-04 | by ( Benoit Faucon | Sune Engel Rasmussen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

The last time Israel invaded the Gaza Strip nearly a decade ago, its troops pummeled an overmatched Hamas fighting force. They destroyed tunnel systems and sealed off smuggling routes, costing the Islamist group two-thirds of its missiles by the time they withdrew. Now, as Israel steps up a new invasion, it faces a more-potent enemy that has rebuilt its arsenal with help from Iran. Since the operation started on Oct. 27, Hamas has attacked the Israeli army with explosive-laden drones, anti-tank missiles and high-impact rockets—the sorts of weapons that have transformed the battlefield in Ukraine.

Persons: Israel Organizations: Hamas Locations: Gaza, Israel, Iran, Ukraine

Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Iran-backed Lebanese militia group Hezbollah, issued his first remarks since the Israel-Hamas war began, calling on Arab and Muslim states to cut relations with Israel. Photo: Marwan Naamani/Zuma PressHezbollah’s leader warned that a regional war with Israel was a realistic possibility, as fears grew that the conflict in Gaza could spill into a second battlefront with the Lebanese militant group. Hassan Nasrallah , Hezbollah’s secretary-general, spoke on Friday for the first time since a series of attacks by Hamas killed 1,400 people in southern Israel and sparked a devastating bombing campaign and ground invasion. He said Hezbollah would step up military pressure on Israel, with which it has been engaging in tit-for-tat exchanges of fire, but said the time isn’t right for all-out war.

Persons: Hassan Nasrallah, Marwan Naamani Organizations: Lebanese, Hezbollah, Hamas, Zuma Press Locations: Iran, Israel, Gaza, Lebanese

☆ Weapons Flood West Bank, Fueling Fears of New War Front With Israel
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Sune Engel Rasmussen | Benoit Faucon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

AMMAN—Long before Hamas militants burst out of their Gaza stronghold to massacre scores of civilians with handguns and assault rifles, Iran and its allies had accelerated efforts to smuggle weapons into a different part of the Palestinian territories, the West Bank. Using drones, secret airline flights and a land bridge that traverses hundreds of miles and at least four national borders, the smuggling operation is raising the specter of a new conflagration in the war between Israel and Palestinians. It also poses a growing threat to Jordan, a staunch U.S. ally which borders Israel and the West Bank and has been struggling to contain a growing flow of drugs and arms.

Persons: AMMAN — Long, specter, Jordan Organizations: West Bank Locations: AMMAN, Gaza, Iran, Israel, U.S

Beneath Gaza, a labyrinth of tunnels used by Hamas will complicate any potential Israeli ground offensive in the Palestinian enclave. WSJ’s Rory Jones—who visited the tunnels in 2014—explains the unique challenge they pose for Israel. Photo: Yousef Mohammed/Zuma PressTEL AVIV—In the weeks leading up to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, hundreds of the Palestinian Islamist militant group’s fighters received specialized combat training in Iran, according to people familiar with intelligence related to the assault. Roughly 500 militants from Hamas and an allied group, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, participated in the exercises in September, which were led by officers of the Quds Force, the foreign-operations arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the people said.

Persons: Rory Jones —, —, Yousef Mohammed Organizations: Zuma Press TEL, Quds Force, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Locations: Gaza, Israel, Zuma Press TEL AVIV, Iran, Jihad

☆ Weapons Flood Israel’s West Bank, Fueling Fears of New War Front
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-25 | by ( Sune Engel Rasmussen | Benoit Faucon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Persons: AMMAN — Long, specter, Jordan Organizations: West Bank Locations: AMMAN, Gaza, Iran, Israel, U.S

After Hamas launched its murderous assault on Israel this month, the U.S. and its allies condemned Iran for funding what they deem a terrorist organization. Left unspoken were the many ways the international community—and even Israel itself—inadvertently helped Hamas fill its coffers. The Islamist group has raised tens of millions of dollars by skimming off humanitarian assistance and taxing economic activity stirred by a trade opening into its Gaza Strip stronghold, according to independent researchers and current and former Western security officials.

Persons: — Organizations: Hamas Locations: Israel, U.S, Iran, Gaza

President Biden declared the world at an “inflection point in history” in an Oval Office address Thursday, linking Israel’s battle against Hamas to Ukraine’s fight against Russia and stressing the need for the U.S. to continue funding both wars. “American leadership is what holds the world together. American values are what make us a partner that other nations want to work with,” Biden said. “To put all that at risk and walk away from Ukraine and turn our backs on Israel. It’s just not worth it.”

Persons: Biden, Ukraine’s, ” Biden, “, It’s, ” Organizations: Russia Locations: America, Ukraine, Israel

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/israel-airstrikes-kill-key-hamas-leader-as-gaza-humanitarian-crisis-grows-5ccdc18a

Persons: Dow Jones Locations: israel, gaza

Persons: Dow Jones Locations: israel, gaza

Persons: Dow Jones Locations: israel, gaza

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/world/africa/ignoring-u-s-calls-for-peace-egypt-delivered-drones-to-sudans-military-6f7fdcda

Persons: Dow Jones Locations: africa, egypt

Persons: Dow Jones Organizations: hamas Locations: iran, israel

As the world’s largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia has a unique capacity to influence crude prices. Photo: Fayez Nureldine/Agence France-Presse/Getty ImagesDUBAI—Saudi Arabia has told the White House it would be willing to boost oil production early next year if crude prices are high—a move aimed at winning goodwill in Congress for a deal in which the kingdom would recognize Israel and in return get a defense pact with Washington, Saudi and U.S. officials said.

Persons: Fayez Organizations: Agence France, Getty, DUBAI, Israel Locations: Saudi Arabia, Washington, Saudi, U.S

☆ Behind Libya’s Dam Catastrophe Lies a Long Trail of Conflict and Corruption
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-24 | by ( Benoit Faucon | Jared Malsin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/world/behind-libyas-dam-catastrophe-lies-a-long-trail-of-conflict-and-corruption-fa58c57

Persons: Dow Jones

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