Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at U.S. troops in Los Angeles, Israel’s seaborne attack on Yemen’s Houthis, and a school shooting in Austria.
‘Inflammatory and Unnecessary Provocation’
U.S. President Donald Trump deployed an additional 2,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles on Tuesday to help quell protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. The White House claims that its controversial decision to send federal forces has weakened the demonstrations. But state officials maintain that doing so without first consulting California Gov. Gavin Newsom was illegal and unnecessary, as the protests were already calming before Washington got involved.
Small, largely peaceful demonstrations began last Friday, only to grow over the weekend across parts of Los Angeles and the surrounding area, in some cases becoming violent. Local police responded to reports of burned cars and graffitied public property with force, using tear gas, flash grenades, and rubber bullets on protesters. One nonlethal round hit an Australian journalist covering the crisis; Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese issued a formal complaint to the Trump administration on Tuesday over what he called the “horrific” incident.
Much of Los Angeles, home to 4 million people within city limits, has not been affected. Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said he was confident in his department’s ability to handle the demonstrations, adding that the Marines’ arrival would create a “significant logistical and operational challenge.” And Newsom filed an emergency motion in federal court on Tuesday to block Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s deployment of the National Guard and Marines.
“These unlawful deployments have already proven to be a deeply inflammatory and unnecessary provocation, anathema to our laws limiting the use federal forces for law enforcement, rather than a means of restoring calm,” California state officials wrote in the court motion. “Federal antagonization, through the presence of soldiers in the streets, has already caused real and irreparable damage to the City of Los Angeles.”
While testifying before the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, Hegseth defended Trump’s deployments, saying they were vital to “ensure that those rioters, looters, and thugs on the other side assaulting our police officers know that we’re not going anywhere.” The Marines’ sole purpose while in Los Angeles is to protect federal personnel and property, not arrest protesters, Marine Corps Gen. Eric Smith said.
According to a Defense Department official, the deployment of National Guard and Marine troops will likely last 60 days and cost around $134 million.
The use of military force on domestic soil is extremely rare in the United States. On Tuesday, Trump said he would not rule out invoking the Insurrection Act against the protesters, just one day after implying that Newsom could be arrested for his actions. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson went a step further when asked if Newsom should face legal repercussions for trying to block the deployment orders. “I’m not going to give you legal analysis on whether Gavin Newsom should be arrested,” Johnson said. “But he ought to be tarred and feathered—I’ll say that.”
Today’s Most Read
- Ukraine’s Narrow Path to Victory Without Trump by Paul Hockenos
- The Origins of the Campus Wars by Julian E. Zelizer
- Ukraine’s Drone Attack Doesn’t Matter by Stephen M. Walt
What We’re Following
Naval assault. The Israeli military launched its first seaborne attack against Yemen’s Houthis on Tuesday. Israeli navy vessels targeted the port city of Hodeidah, damaging facilities believed to be used for aid shipments into the country as well as weapons smuggling. “We warned the Houthi terror organization that if they continue to fire at Israel, they will face a powerful response and enter a naval and air blockade,” Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz wrote on X.
The Houthis did not offer an immediate damage assessment or casualty report, and it maintained that Israel’s actions will not hinder the group’s support for Palestinians in Gaza. Israel and the United States have both carried out military operations against Houthi targets in recent months, with one U.S. attack in April killing at least 74 people.
Meanwhile, foreign anger toward Israel’s actions closer to home continues to grow. On Tuesday, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom announced that they will impose sanctions on far-right Israeli ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich for what the countries described as the two men’s “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities” in the West Bank and Gaza.
National mourning. A school shooter killed 10 people and wounded at least 12 others in the Austrian city of Graz on Tuesday before taking his own life. The 21-year-old perpetrator was not previously known to local authorities, and police say it is still unclear what his motive was. The individual was a former student at BORG Dreierschützengasse, the high school where the attack occurred.
Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker declared three days of national mourning on Tuesday alongside a countrywide minute of mourning, scheduled for 10 a.m. local time on Wednesday. This is “a dark day in the history of our country,” Stocker said. Mass shootings are rare in Austria. According to the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium, only two have occurred in Austria between 2000 and 2022.
Heavy drone barrage. Russia launched a massive aerial strike against Ukraine on Tuesday, hitting a maternity ward in the city of Odesa and killing at least four people across the country. More than 300 drones and seven missiles were fired; Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed that two of these were North Korean-made ballistic missiles. The assault also damaged Saint Sophia Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Kyiv.
“It is vital that the response to this and other similar Russian attacks is not silence from the world, but concrete action,” Zelensky wrote on X. Tuesday’s offensive follows several heavy Russian bombardments, including an overnight offensive on Sunday into Monday that—with nearly 500 drones and 20 missiles launched—was the largest barrage against Ukraine since Moscow’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Meanwhile, NATO chief Mark Rutte warned on Monday that Russia could be ready to attack the alliance within the next five years. During a speech in London, Rutte called for a substantial increase in military spending to bolster air and missile defenses by 400 percent. “The fact is: We need a quantum leap in our collective defense,” Rutte said. “The fact is: Danger will not disappear even when the war in Ukraine ends.”
Odds and Ends
After years waiting for BTS’s next dynamite single to be released, fans of the South Korean K-pop group are finally a step closer to hearing new music. Members RM and V were discharged from the country’s military on Tuesday after serving their mandatory service, becoming the third and fourth singers in the seven-member boy band to finish their conscription. “Please wait just a little longer, and we will return with a really cool performance,” V told the group’s followers.
The post Trump Doubles Down on Federal Troop Deployments to Los Angeles appeared first on Foreign Policy.
