Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at a deadly Houthi attack on Red Sea commercial shipping, stalled Israel-Hamas cease-fire talks, and Haiti extending its state of emergency.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at a deadly Houthi attack on Red Sea commercial shipping, stalled Israel-Hamas cease-fire talks, and Haiti extending its state of emergency.
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Fatal Red Sea Attack
A Houthi missile strike killed three crew members aboard the Barbados-flagged civilian cargo ship True Confidence in the Gulf of Aden on Wednesday, according to U.S. officials. Two of the dead were Filipino nationals, while the third was a Vietnamese national. At least four other people were injured, three severely so. The ship suffered heavy damages, and the Indian Navy evacuated all individuals on board to a hospital in Djibouti.
Wednesday’s fatalities were the first to occur from an attack by the Iranian-backed Yemeni group since its campaign against commercial ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden began in November 2023. “This was the sad but inevitable consequence of the Houthis recklessly firing missiles at international shipping,” the British Embassy in Yemen said. “They must stop.”
The Houthis pledged to target any ships allegedly linked to Israel to protest its war in Gaza as well as retaliate against perceived “American-British aggression” against the Houthis. In the past four months, the group has launched more than 45 missile and drone strikes against vessels connected to over a dozen different countries, including one cargo ship in February that was delivering corn to Iran.
A Houthi spokesperson claimed on Wednesday that True Confidence was an “American ship.” However, the ship’s managers said it had “no current connection with any U.S. entity.” A U.S. private equity group reportedly sold True Confidence as recently as Feb. 27, according to the Financial Times. At the time of the attack, the ship sailed under a Barbados flag, was owned by Liberia-registered True Confidence SA, and was operated by a Greek maritime company. True Confidence departed from China on Feb. 13 carrying steel products and trucks and was en route to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and Aqaba, Jordan, when it was attacked.
Until Wednesday, the most serious Houthi attack on commercial shipping was the Feb. 18 assault on the Belize-flagged dry bulk carrier Rubymar, which was carrying 21,000 metric tons of fertilizer to Bulgaria when it was hit. All of its crew members abandoned Rubymar safely before it sank on March 2. Two U.S. Navy SEALs died in January during an operation to interdict a shipment of Iranian arms to the Houthis; one of the men slipped overboard in rough waters and the other jumped in to try to rescue him.
“These reckless attacks by the Iran-backed Houthis have not only disrupted global trade and commerce but also taken the lives of international seafarers simply doing their jobs,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday. The Red Sea is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. More than 10 percent of world trade uses the route, including 20 percent of all container shipping and vast quantities of seaborne oil and liquified natural gas.
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What We’re Following
Halted progress. Cease-fire talks between Israel and Hamas stalled in Cairo on Wednesday, dwindling hopes that an agreement would be reached by the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which is expected to begin on Sunday. A Hamas spokesperson said dialogue would likely resume next week.
Hamas representatives backed away from the initial six-week truce proposal—which called for Hamas to release around 40 Israeli captives being held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners—to demand a phased hostage release process ending in a permanent cease-fire. A Hamas spokesperson also said Israel refuses to commit to withdraw its troops from Gaza and allow displaced Palestinians in the territory who fled from fighting to return to their homes, two key Hamas demands. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected those terms, saying that Israel intends to continue its war with the goal of eradicating Hamas.
Humanitarian aid deliveries into the Gaza Strip were also part of talks in Cairo. According to the United Nations, at least a quarter of Gaza’s population faces imminent starvation. In response, the Turkish Red Crescent sent its biggest aid shipment yet into Gaza via Egypt on Thursday.
In addition, U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to announce a plan for the U.S. military to establish a temporary port in Gaza during his annual State of the Union address on Thursday. The port would reportedly help dock ships that are delivering critical aid to Palestinians. “We’re not planning for this to be an operation that would require U.S. boots on the ground,” a senior U.S. administration official told reporters. Washington has already airdropped two rounds of ready-to-eat meals into Gaza in recent days, though humanitarian officials say these deliveries are not enough to address the crisis.
Renewed state of emergency. Haiti announced on Thursday that it is extending its state of emergency until April 3 to combat worsening gang violence amid intensifying threats to interim Prime Minister Ariel Henry’s reign. State officials also extended a nightly curfew in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, and its surrounding areas until March 11; banned public protests no matter the time; and ordered Haitian security forces to use “all legal means” necessary to enforce the ruling.
The initial 72-hour curfew, announced last Sunday, failed to curb gang attacks on prisons, police stations, and Toussaint Louverture International Airport, among other sites. U.S. and Caribbean officials have called on Henry to resign to pave the way for a new transitional government; the Haitian leader is not an elected official, having come to power in July 2021 after the assassination of then-President Jovenel Moïse. Henry is currently in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.
Kashmir politics. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Kashmir on Thursday for the first time since 2019, when his administration stripped the region of its semi-autonomous status. He lauded Kashmir’s development, arguing that revoking Article 370 (and therefore Kashmir’s semi-autonomy) ushered in an era of peace in the region. “This is the new Jammu and Kashmir we had been awaiting for decades,” Modi said.
Article 370’s removal was seen as part of Modi’s broader Hindu nationalist agenda. Kashmir is a majority-Muslim region, unlike Jammu and much of the rest of India, which is majority Hindu. With general elections scheduled for later this year, Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party are looking to shore up support and further cement Hindu nationalism across the country.
“Historic day.” Sweden officially joined NATO on Thursday after months of Turkish and Hungarian delays. Stockholm’s accession marks a “historic day,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said. Its membership ends a decadeslong policy of Swedish neutrality and strengthens Western unity in the face of growing Russian aggression. “Today’s accession demonstrates that NATO’s door remains open and that every nation has the right to choose its own path,” Stoltenberg added.
Odds and Ends
Thai customs officials at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport were in for a furry surprise on Monday when they found 87 animals stuffed into checked luggage en route to Mumbai. Among the unexpected guests, officers discovered 29 monitor lizards, 21 snakes, 15 birds, a monkey, and a red panda. Six Indian nationals were arrested and, if found guilty, could face up to 10 years in prison or a massive fine.
The post Deadly Houthi Attack Escalates Threat to Red Sea Shipping appeared first on Foreign Policy.