Houthi disruption of Red Sea shipping hurts, not helps, Gaza Palestinians, US diplomat Tim Lenderking tells Arab News
Special envoy for Yemen underscores importance of keeping Iran-backed militia focused on the peace process
Defends earlier Biden move to remove Houthis’ terrorist designation as motivated by humanitarian imperatives
Updated 08 February 2024
Arab News
DUBAI: The Houthis’ professed attempts to show solidarity with Gaza are not helping but hurting Palestinians in the embattled enclave, Timothy Lenderking, the US special envoy for Yemen, has said.
Since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in October last year, the Iran-backed militia has been launching missiles and drones from Yemen not just at Israel but also at commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
The militia says that its actions are an expression of solidarity with Gaza — a claim Lenderking strongly disagrees with, citing the resultant “increasing freight and insurance costs” and higher prices in general.
“It’s just unfortunate that the Houthis have chosen to convey their solidarity with the Palestinians, which many people feel, many Americans feel, many regional countries feel, by attacking regional shipping,” Lenderking said.
“It’s as though I have an issue with my neighbor, and I go and burn down the neighborhood grocery store. It makes no sense.”
He added: “This action by the Houthis is doing nothing to help the Palestinians, nothing to alleviate the suffering of Gazans at all. In fact, on the contrary, it’s complicating the movement of vital supplies into Gaza. So, this is also an adverse effect of what the Houthis are doing. It is simply the wrong reaction.”
Lenderking, a career member of America’s Senior Foreign Service, made the remarks on “Frankly Speaking,” Arab News’ current affairs show. The full interview will be published on Sunday.
The US State Department only recently announced the listing of “Ansarallah, commonly referred to as the Houthis, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group.”
Yet, between 2015 and 2022, Houthi missiles repeatedly struck civilian infrastructure and population centers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, some of which killed civilians.
The State Department had listed the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization in January 2021 in the last days of former President Donald Trump’s administration but revoked the designation less than one month later when President Joe Biden took office.
Addressing what many view as a double standard on the part of US foreign policy, Lenderking said the recent relisting of the Houthis as a terrorist group was a response to their attacks on civilian and commercial ships “in a reckless, indiscriminate manner,” adding that more than 50 nations have been affected by the latest violence.
“This is becoming a global problem, raising prices, increasing freight costs and insurance costs, not for the wealthy, but for those moving wheat,” Lenderking said.
“This is hurting all sorts of consumers and ordinary people all over the world. And that’s why there’s been such a short, such a sharp reaction and why the reaction is growing against this Houthi behavior.”
Defending the US decision to revoke the Houthis’ terrorist designation in February 2021, Lenderking said that despite some “detestable aspects of (Houthi) ideology” and a litany of documented human rights violations carried out by the group, the US “felt that removing the designation would lessen the stress on humanitarian networks in Yemen,” something that was a priority for the Biden administration.
Though the US has repeatedly affirmed its support for a peaceful, non-military solution to the decade-long Yemeni conflict — backing up its promises with more than $5 billion in humanitarian aid since the start of the conflict — the strikes against the Houthis have cast doubt on Washington’s commitment to peace.
Lenderking said that the Central Command’s retaliatory strikes were limited to military targets only. “The targets that have been selected are all missile sites and storage facilities, UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) capabilities that are specifically aimed at international shipping,” he said. “They are having significant impact in degrading that capability.”
He underscored the importance of keeping the Houthis focused on the peace process in Yemen as opposed to the war in Gaza.
“I think we all recognize that we are not going to solve any of the problems in the region if we have to keep dealing with these attacks on shipping. So, let the Houthis de-escalate this effort, we de-escalate, and we can move the focus back to helping the Gazans in a genuine and effective way,” he said.
“And also working toward a genuine and durable peace in Yemen.”
The full episode of Frankly Speaking will be released on Sunday.
Iraq seeks US investment in gas as new projects target energy independence
Abdel-Ghani also said Iraq will launch a new gas investment project by the end of the year at the Al-Faihaa oil field in southern Iraq
Updated 01 September 2024
Reuters
BAGHDAD: Iraq plans to offer 10 gas exploration blocks to US companies during an upcoming visit by Oil Minister Hayan Abdel-Ghani to the United States, he announced on Saturday.
The move is part of Baghdad’s efforts to attract US investment into its energy sector, following previous licensing rounds where Chinese firms secured the majority of available fields.
The 10 gas blocks, left unclaimed following six licensing, rounds, will be presented in a new bidding process, Iraqi state media said, and comes as Iraq seeks to bolster its domestic gas production.
Abdel-Ghani also said Iraq will launch a new gas investment project by the end of the year at the Al-Faihaa oil field in southern Iraq. The project, with a capacity of 125 million standard cubic feet (mscf), is a key component of Iraq’s strategy to enhance its energy infrastructure.
The latest initiative follows recent agreements to develop 13 oil and gas blocks, aimed at increasing Iraq’s crude and gas output to supply power plants, which currently rely heavily on Iranian gas imports.
Israeli army announces death of soldier during West Bank operation
The United Nations said on Wednesday that at least 637 Palestinians had been killed in the territory by Israeli troops or settlers since the Gaza war began
Updated 01 September 2024
AFP
JENIN, Palestinian Territories: Israel’s army on Saturday announced the first death of a soldier during its ongoing raid in the occupied West Bank that began four days ago.
An army statement said 20-year-old Elkana Navon “fell during operational activity” on Saturday and that another soldier was “severely injured” in the same incident, without providing details.
Since Wednesday at least 22 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army, most of them militants, in simultaneous raids in several cities in the northern West Bank.
Palestinians are stopped by Israeli security forces, during an Israeli raid in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, August 31, 2024. (REUTERS)
Since Friday, soldiers have concentrated their operations on the city of Jenin and its refugee camp, long a bastion of Palestinian armed groups fighting against Israel.
Violence has surged in the West Bank since Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel triggered the war in the Gaza Strip.
The United Nations said on Wednesday that at least 637 Palestinians had been killed in the territory by Israeli troops or settlers since the Gaza war began.
Twenty Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during army operations over the same period, according to Israeli official figures.
During a visit to Jenin on Saturday, Israeli army chief of staff Herzi Halevi said Israeli forces “have no intention of letting terrorism (in the West Bank) raise its head” to threaten Israel.
“Therefore the initiative is to go from city to city, refugee camp to refugee camp, with excellent intelligence, with very good operational capabilities, with a very strong air intelligence envelope... We will protect the citizens of Israel just like that.”
Of the 22 Palestinians reported dead since Wednesday, Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad have said at least 14 were members of their armed wings.
Earlier on Saturday, Hamas issued a statement saying one of its fighters carried out an “ambush” using “a highly explosive device” in the Jenin refugee camp “which led to the deaths and injuries of members of the advancing (Israeli) force.”
Iran’s president says his country needs more than $100 billion in foreign investment
Pezeshkian said Iran needs up to $250 billion to reach its goal but more than half is available from domestic resources
Updated 01 September 2024
AP
TEHRAN, Iran: Iran’s president said Saturday his country needs some $100 billion in foreign investment to achieve an annual target of 8 percent economic growth up from the current rate of 4 percent.
The remarks by Masoud Pezeshkian, who was elected in July, came in his first live televised interview by state TV.
Pezeshkian said Iran needs up to $250 billion to reach its goal but more than half is available from domestic resources. Experts say growth in GDP of 8 percent would reduce double-digit inflation and unemployment rates.
Hundreds of entities and people in Iran — from the central bank and government officials to drone producers and money exchangers — are already under international sanctions, many of them accused of materially supporting Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and foreign militant groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.
Pezeshkian in his interview complained about the sanctions and said his administration plans to reduce inflation, which is running at more than 40 percent annually, “if we solve our problems with neighbors and the world.” He did not elaborate.
Pezeshkian confirmed that his first visit abroad will be to neighboring Iraq and he would then fly to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly meeting on Sept. 22-23. He said while he was in New York he would meet with Iranian expatriates to invite them to invest in Iran. Out of more than 8 million Iranian expatriates, some 1.5 million Iranian live in the United States.
Pezeshkian, who is viewed as a reformist, was sworn in last month and parliament approved his cabinet earlier in August, promising a softer tone both inside and outside the country. His predecessor, Ebrahim Raisi, a hard-line protege of Iran’s supreme leader who led the country as it enriched uranium near weapons-grade levels, died in a helicopter crash in May, along with seven other people.
Iran’s economy has struggled since 2018 after then-President Donald Trump pulled the US out of the deal to constrain Tehran’s nuclear program and imposed more sanctions. Pezeshkian said during his presidential campaign that he would try to revive the nuclear deal.
Decades after independence, France-Algeria ties still tense
Several historians believe that recognizing French colonization as a “crime against humanity” would be more appropriate
During the historians’ debate, Algeria asked France to return the skulls of resistance fighters and historical and symbolic artifacts from 19th-century Algeria, including items that belonged to Algerian anti-colonial figure Emir Abdelkader
Updated 01 September 2024
AFP
ALGIERS: The fraught relations between France and its former colony Algeria had eased a little in recent years, but a new rift over Paris backing Morocco’s autonomy plan for disputed Western Sahara has sent rapprochement efforts into a tailspin.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who is seeking a second term in presidential elections on September 7, was set to travel to France for a state visit, but this has been rescheduled twice and it is now doubtful in will happen at all.
Last month, Algiers withdrew its ambassador to Paris after French President Emmanuel Macron said Morocco’s autonomy plan was the only solution for the territory.
Algeria, which backs the territory’s pro-independence Polisario Front, denounced this as a “step that no other French government had taken before.”
France colonized Algeria in 1830 and the North African country only gained independence in 1962, after a war that authorities say killed more than 1.5 million Algerians.
French historians say half a million civilians and combatants died during the war for independence, 400,000 of them Algerian.
While France has made several attempts over the years to heal the wounds, it refuses to “apologize or repent” for the 132 years of often brutal rule that ended in the devastating eight-year war.
Experts now accuse both countries of exploiting the war for present-day political ends.
“The national narrative about the Algerian war is still dominant and during a campaign like the presidential election, Algerians are sensitive to these issues in their internal policy choices,” Hasni Abidi of the Geneva-based CERMAM Study Center told AFP.
Abidi said Tebboune now needed to “readjust his electoral speeches to protect himself from criticism on foreign policy” after the “complete fiasco” of failed attempts to restore relations with Macron.
Last week, Algeria marked its Moudjahid National Day commemorating war combattants with a speech by Tebboune, in which he said France wrongly “believed it could stifle the people’s revolution with iron and fire.”
In 2022, the two countries set up a joint commission of historians in an attempt to mend historical differences and appease tensions.
But, according to Abidi, the commission didn’t work fast enough and “did not succeed in freeing itself from political supervision.”
The expert said France’s latest move backing Morocco’s plan in Western Sahara “will deal another blow to the issue of memory” at the risk of “reopening old wounds and stigma from the colonial past.”
What followed France’s conquest of then Ottoman ruled Algiers was the destruction of its socio-economic structures, mass displacement, and the bloody repression of numerous revolts before the war erupted in 1954.
This chapter in the two countries’ history has been “exploited according to their issues and interests of the moment,” historian Hosni Kitouni told AFP.
During the historians’ debate, Algeria asked France to return the skulls of resistance fighters and historical and symbolic artifacts from 19th-century Algeria, including items that belonged to Algerian anti-colonial figure Emir Abdelkader.
“These items are in museums in France, where, from a legal standpoint, their presence is illegal,” Amira Zatir, an adviser at the Emir Abdelkader Foundation, told AFP.
She said many of these items were stolen when French forces looted the emir’s library during the Battle of Smala in 1843.
Algeria has also demanded the return of original archives from the Ottoman and colonial eras that were transferred to France before and after Algeria’s independence.
Algeria seeks reparations for actions committed by the former occupying power, such as the 17 nuclear tests conducted in its Sahara desert between 1960 and 1966.
Mustapha Boudina, a 92-year-old former war combattant who now heads the National Association of Former Death Row Inmates, said Algeria should require even more reparations.
“We need to put pressure on our enemies of the time so that they repent and apologize” for their “numerous crimes,” he said.
Several historians believe that recognizing French colonization as a “crime against humanity” would be more appropriate.
That was exactly how Macron described it during a visit to Algiers amid his presidential campaign in 2017, sparking an outcry from the French right.
Where do US presidential candidates stand on major Middle East issues?
From bolstering US-Gulf relations to preventing a regional war, candidates offer both conflicting and convergent visions
Republican and Democrat nominees are aligned on ties with Saudi Arabia, but could diverge on response to Gaza conflict
Updated 01 September 2024
ANAN TELLO
LONDON: With the ongoing conflict in Gaza, the looming threat of a full-scale war in the Middle East, a stalemate in Ukraine, and intensifying competition between the US and China, America’s 47th president will face multiple foreign policy challenges.
Indeed, international affairs could prove even more demanding than domestic economic concerns for the incoming administration, with implications for national security, the price of commodities, and America’s standing in the world.
And while uncertainty hangs over the trajectory of the next US president’s Middle East policy, there are indications it will broadly align with the status quo, with regional alliances playing a key role in helping Washington address current and emerging challenges.
Saudi-US partnership, built on more than 70 years of friendship, has been strengthened by exchange opportunities promoting mutual understanding. (AN archives)
Analysts believe America’s cooperation with Gulf states, notably with regional leader Saudi Arabia, will continue to yield strategic benefits in areas including energy security and regional stability.
Norman Roule, a former senior US intelligence official, told Arab News: “There is no shortage of areas in which the US and its partners in the region, especially Saudi Arabia, can cooperate.”
Vital growth areas for the US and Arab states, particularly Saudi Arabia, include trade, defense, energy, artificial intelligence, space, communications, environmental technology and strategic investments.
Cooperation on space exploration is one of the rising features of Saudi-US partnership. (AN archives)
Despite a rocky start early in his presidency, President Joe Biden has upheld America’s long-standing security, educational and institutional ties with Saudi Arabia. This partnership, built on more than 70 years of friendship, has been strengthened by exchange opportunities promoting mutual understanding.
“The next US president and administration can build on the work of its predecessors by reinforcing existing collaboration with regional allies,” Joe Macaron, a fellow at the Washington-based Wilson Center, told Arab News.
This appears to be high on the agenda for both of the main party candidates — Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump — both of whom view Riyadh as an important partner for Washington.
Throughout his term as president, from 2017 to 2021, Trump placed Saudi Arabia at the heart of his Middle East agenda, viewing the Kingdom as a key business partner and an ally against Iran’s malign influence in the region.
Likewise, Harris, who replaced Biden as the Democratic nominee in July, has acknowledged Riyadh as an important partner.
US Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris has acknowledged Saudi Arabia as an important partner of the US. (Reuters photo)
In 2019, she told the Council on Foreign Relations that the US and Saudi Arabia “still have mutual areas of interest, such as counterterrorism, where the Saudis have been strong partners,” and stressed the need for continued coordination.
However, Macaron emphasized that “as challenges and new geopolitical trends” continue to emerge in the Middle East, “US interests are at stake in the next four years.
“The US can potentially enhance trade and cooperation, but most importantly the expectation is for the US to have a clear and predictable approach to the Middle East,” he said.
Failure to do so could have dangerous consequences. For Roule, “the region’s broken states,” including the Palestinian territories, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, “cannot be ignored,” as “doing so makes them vulnerable to Iran, Iranian proxies and terrorism.”
“Sudan, Yemen and Libya stand out as areas where much more work needs to be done,” he said. “The end of the Gaza war will bring highly expensive reconstruction projects that will require careful and long-term management.”
When the Gaza war ends, the US and other countries have much work to do to reconstruct a nation laid to waste by Israel in revenge against the Hamas invasion on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. (Reuters)
Israel’s assault on Gaza, which came in retaliation for the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, has threatened to spill over into neighboring countries, including Lebanon and Syria, raising concerns about the potential for a regional war pitting Israel and Iran and its proxies.
As the US is Israel’s biggest financial and military backer, the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza and the possibility of a full-scale Israel-Hezbollah war in Lebanon have become key issues in the US election race.
While reaffirming his staunch support for Israel, Trump has urged the Israeli government to quickly conclude its military operation in Gaza, saying the prolonged war is damaging Israel’s global image.
In an interview he gave in April, Trump said Israel needed to “finish what they started” and “get it over with fast” because it was “absolutely losing the PR war.”
“You’ve got to get it over with, and you have to get back to normalcy. And I’m not sure that I’m loving the way they’re doing it, because you’ve got to have victory. You have to have a victory, and it’s taking a long time,” he said on the “The Hugh Hewitt Show.”
Donald Trump has voiced concerns that conflict in the Middle East could drag the US into a third world war scenario. (AP photo)
Harris, too, has been clear about her support for Israel’s security and its right to exist. Despite opposing an arms embargo on Israel, the vice president has said she and Biden are working to end the conflict.
Since the launch of her presidential campaign in July, Harris has sought strike a balance between reaffirming US support for Israel and expressing sympathy for Palestinian civilians — mirroring Biden’s approach to the conflict.
In her speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last week, she said: “Let me be clear, I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself. At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating … The scale of suffering is heartbreaking.”INNUMBERS
• 40k+ US troops and contractors in the Middle East.
• 7.5k Personnel aboard two aircraft carrier groups deployed in the region.
For her part, Green Party candidate Jill Stein has been a vocal advocate for Palestinian rights, openly vowing in several media appearances and social media posts to “end the Gaza genocide.”
On Tuesday, the Green Party told the Jewish news website Forward that Stein believes the Gaza war “makes any other issue pale in comparison.”
Caption
Earlier this month, she also slammed Israel in a post on X for “attempting to drag the US into escalations on the brink of WWIII.
“We are seeing ourselves on the verge of potentially nuclear conflicts, which is terrifying,” she said, referring to the possibility of all-out war between Israel and Iran.
More than 40,000 US military personnel deployed across the Middle East, including in Iraq, Syria and Jordan, are at risk of being drawn into a broader conflict should regional tensions escalate.
A US Army soldier hands out candy to children while on joint patrol with local forces on May 25, 2021 near the Turkish border in northeastern Syria. (Getty Images)
Trump has also voiced concerns that conflict in the Middle East could drag the US into a third world war scenario. “Who is negotiating for us in the Middle East? Bombs are dropping all over the place!” he posted on X.
“Let’s not have World War lll, because that’s where we’re heading!”
Fears of an all-out war between Israel and Iran have intensified in recent weeks following Israel’s suspected killing of Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on July 31 and of Hezbollah number two Fuad Shukr in Beirut on July 30.
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, immediately threatened Israel with a “harsh punishment” for the suspected killings. Iran’s security chief Ali Akbar Ahmadian, meanwhile, told Mehr news agency that “all fronts of the resistance will take revenge for Haniyeh’s blood.”
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attends the funeral prayer of the Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran in late July. (Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
On Aug. 25, Hezbollah launched hundreds of missiles at Israeli targets, marking the onset of its retaliation for its slain commander. Shortly beforehand, Israel launched a wave of preemptive airstrikes aimed at thwarting Hezbollah’s barrage.
All of the US presidential candidates have expressed a desire to prevent a broader war in the Middle East, yet their specific strategies for this remain unclear. One thing they appear to share in common, however, is a commitment to normalization.
“At a time of great political polarization in US politics, there is an emerging consensus on the importance of deepening and broadening the process of normalizations between Israel and America’s Arab partners,” Firas Maksad, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington DC, told Arab News.
“The style and pace might differ depending on who is elected to the White House, but not the strategic trajectory.”
Opinion
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In 2020, Bahrain and the UAE signed the US-brokered Abraham Accords, designed to normalize relations between Israel and Arab states.
Macaron believes “it is paramount for the next US administration to define its objectives in the Middle East beyond managing chaos.”
At the moment, the US is “reactive to developments in the Middle East as it manages crises erupting one after the other, which includes managing both allies and foes.”
Continuing threats by Yemen's Houthi militia against commercial vessels passing through the Red Sea remains a major concern not just for the US but the whole world. (REUTERS)
He added: “The US is being tested to control the impulses of an increasingly aggressive approach of the Israeli government while continuing to deter Iran and its proxies without provoking a direct confrontation.
“Ultimately, the US must be proactive by advancing its separate interests and by setting limits when needed for both its foes and allies.”
Former intelligence official Roule believes that an effective US foreign policy for the Middle East must include three elements.
“First, the approach must be consistent and clear that our policy will reap benefits for both the US and our partners, as well as deterrence against Iran and its proxies,” he said.
“Next, the next administration must do more to build a bipartisan approach to the region with Congress.
“Last, our approach should involve frequent and senior engagement with partners in the region, who will sometimes better understand the opportunities and challenges before us.”
