US Favors More Escalation In Ukraine, Gaza
South Front, May 24 2024
The US continues to prolong the conflict in Ukraine and support the Israeli war on the Palestinian Gaza Strip, with recent reports suggesting that Washington is about to play a more dangerous role in both areas. In Ukraine, the US wants to provoke Russia further by allowing the Kiev regime to use American-made weapons, like the ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles, in strikes on Russian territory. On May 22, the NYT reported that Blinken was in favor of the dangerous plan. The State Dept began a “vigorous debate” inside the Biden administration on this plan after Blinken’s two-day visit to Ukraine’s capital, which took place only days after Russia launched the new offensive in the Kharkiv region. The plan would include permitting strikes against Russian military facilities but perhaps not oil refineries and other infrastructure that Ukraine has been attacking using rockets and drones. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin hinted on May 20 that the US could allow Kiev forces to use American-made air defense systems against aerial targets over Russia. The UK has already said that it does not oppose Ukraine using British-supplied arms, which include Storm Shadow missiles, to strike Russian soil. In response, the Russian Foreign Ministry warned that in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory with British weapons, any British military facilities and equipment on the territory of Ukraine and abroad could be targeted.
Meanwhile in Gaza, the Biden administration is reportedly preparing to facilitate a lasting Israeli occupation of the Strip postwar. According to a report published by Politico on May 23, the US expects to play a prominent role in Gaza once Israel’s war against Hamas has concluded but is still working to define exactly what this would look like. One option being considered is to appoint a US official to serve as a “civilian adviser” to a Palestinian peacekeeping force. According to the report, the US is also working to persuade Egypt, Morocco and the UAE to join the force, should it be formed. The US adviser would not be located in Gaza itself, unnamed officials told Politico, as the Biden administration is not keen to be seen as responsible for the day-to-day running of the Palestinian enclave. The report mentions nothing about the withdrawal of Israeli forces currently occupying a corridor in the center of Gaza and advancing in Rafah along the Strip’s border with Egypt. All in all, the US appears to be preparing to double down on support for its allies in Ukraine and Israel, despite the fact that they have both failed to make any significant achievements. The plans to escalate the conflict in Ukraine and help Israel solidify its occupation in Gaza will lead to dangerous tensions in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
Houthis Announce Attacks On Israel-Linked Ships In Red, Mediterranean & Arab Seas
South Front, May 24 2024
The Houthis (AnsarAllah) announced on May 24 that they had attacked three merchant vessels with links to Israel in support of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip as well as in response to recent American and British strikes on Yemen. Brig-Gen Yahya Sari, a military spokesman of the Houthis, said that the group’s forces attacked the Israel-linked MSC Alexandra in the Arabian Sea, the Yannis, which is owned by the Greek Eastern Mediterranean Maritime company, in the Red Sea and the Essex which is also linked to Israel in the Mediterranean Sea using missiles and drones. Yannis was attacked because three other ships owned by Eastern Mediterranean Maritime made calls to Israeli ports on May 4 and 5, according to the spokesman, who also said that Essex also “violated the decision ban that prevents entry into occupied Palestinian ports.” Brig-Gen Sarea said:
The Yemeni Armed Forces renew their warning to all companies that deal with the Israeli entity that their ships, regardless of their destination, will be targeted within the declared area of operations.
Earlier this month, the leader of Yemen’s Houthis, Abd’ul-Malik al-Houthi, warned that all ships heading to Israeli ports would be attacked by his group, not just those in the Red Sea region which it has sought to strike before. Since last November, the Houthis have attacked dozens of vessels affiliated with Israel or owned by the US and the UK in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean in response to the Israeli war on Gaza. In addition, the group launched dozens of drones and missiles at Eilat and shot down five US combat drones over Yemen and nearby waters. The US and the UK have carried out hundreds of strikes against Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen since January in an attempt to deter the group. However, the strikes failed to degrade the capabilities of the group as evident by recent attacks.
Israeli Army Recovers Bodies Of Three Hostages From Gaza As Hamas Confirms Capture Of Colonel
South Front, May 24 2024
The IOF announced on May 24 that it recovered the bodies of three more hostages from the northern Gaza Strip in an overnight operation. Orión Hernández Radoux, 30, Hanan Yablonka, 42, and Michel Nisenbaum, 59, were all killed in the Oct 7 Hamas-led surprise attack from Gaza, according to new “reliable intelligence” discovered amid the war, the IOF said in a statement. Until recently, there had been no information as to their status and they were believed to be alive. The bodies of the three were taken from the Mefalsim area, according to the IDF, at the same location where Hamas fighters took four more hostages whose bodies were recovered last week from a tunnel in the Jabalia refugee camp. The IDF said that the bodies of the three hostages were recovered in a joint operation carried out by the military and Shin Bet, following the analysis of “precise intelligence” that had been obtained in recent days. After the bodies were identified at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute overnight, family members were notified by military representatives, the IDF added.
It is reported that more than 120 hostages taken by Hamas during the Oct 7 attack remain in Gaza. Not all of them are thought to be alive, after 105 civilians were released from captivity during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released prior to that. Three hostages have been allegedly freed by Israeli troops alive, and the bodies of 19 hostages have also been recovered, including at least three who were mistakenly killed by the IOF. Hamas warned more than once that Israeli military operations in Gaza were threatening remaining hostages there. Still, the IOF expanded its operations earlier this month launching an offensive in the area of Rafah in southern Gaza, which hosts more than 1.4m displaced Palestinians, and another in Jabalia.
On May 23, Hamas confirmed that it is holding Colonel Asaf Hamami, 41, captured on Oct 7, who the IOF had previously reported was killed in the attacks that day. The group’s military wing, the Izz’ed-Din al-Qassam Brigades, revealed that Hamami had been wounded during his capture. Hamami, the commander of the Gaza Division’s Southern Brigade, was believed to have been killed fighting in the defense of Kibbutz Nirim. A video released by Hamas does not specify whether the officer is still alive.
His death was declared by the chief rabbi in December, based on findings obtained by the IDF in Gaza, allowing his family to have a funeral according to Jewish law. Israel’s failure to resolve the issue of hostages though military or diplomatic means highlights the lack of a real plan for the war in Gaza, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 35k Palestinians and left around 80k others wounded.
Iraqi Resistance Attacks Israeli Targets In Eilat, Haifa & Golan
South Front, May 24 2024
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has launched another wave of attacks against targets in Israel using suicide drones and cruise missiles. In four separate statements released on May 23, the IRI said it struck two “vital targets” in Eilat, the Golan and Haifa. In another statement released on May 24, the group announced a second attack on Haifa. Videos released by the group showed the launch of two Arqab cruise missiles and a Shahed-101 suicide drone at Hafia port as well as the launch of another Shahed-101 at Eilat and the launch of a Shahed-131 suicide drone at the Golan. The attack was carried out in response to Israel’s “massacres” against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, the IRI noted in its statements.
The IOF said in a statement on May 23 that two “suspicious aerial targets,” thought to be drones,” that were heading toward Eilat from the eastern direction were downed by fighter jets. No sirens sounded, as the suspected drones were downed outside of Israeli airspace, according to the military. And on May 24, the IOF announced that fighter jets intercepted another drone that was approaching northern Israel “from the east.” The drone did not enter Israeli skies, the military said in a statement, noting that shrapnel from an interceptor missile sparked a fire after making an impact near Safed. It added that no one was injured and that the matter was being investigated.
The IRI, an umbrella group of Iranian-backed armed factions, began launching attacks against Israel as well as against US forces in Iraq and neighboring Syria on Oct 17 in response to the Israeli war on Gaza, which broke out just ten days earlier, and Washington’s unwavering support for it. The group suspended attacks against US forces last February after the death of three American troops in a drone strike on a base in Jordan, reportedly upon a request from Iran’s IRGC. However, it has since escalated attacks against Israel.
Niqnaq 