Q: are we not MENA? A: we are the rolling middle east, north africa and other geopolitical hot spots thread 2016!

US and UK military sales to Saudia Arabia will never stop, I guess

No.

This is interesting in Saudi news:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/12087397/Saudi-Arabia-looks-at-listing-worlds-largest-oil-producer.html

Suspect I might finally run out of excuses to go next month.

'UK military personnel are not directly involved in Saudi-led Coalition operations, we are offering Saudi Arabia advice and training on best practice targeting techniques,' says Ministry of Defence

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/we-caved-obama-foreign-policy-legacy-213495

US/Egypt policy

Obama was appalled. “We can’t return to business as usual,” he declared after the slaughter. “We have to be very careful about being seen as aiding and abetting actions that we think run contrary to our values and ideals.”

Several weeks later, Obama halted the planned delivery of U.S. military hardware to Cairo, including attack helicopters, Harpoon missiles and several F-16 fighter jets, as well as $260 million in cash transfers. He also cast doubt on the future of America’s $1.3 billion in annual military aid to Egypt—a subsidy on which Cairo depends heavily, and much more than the United States sends to any country in the world aside from Israel.

But a fierce internal debate soon broke out over whether and how to sanction Egypt further, a fight that many officials told me was one of the most agonizing of the Obama administration’s seven years, as the president’s most powerful advisers spent months engaged in what one called “trench warfare” against each other. It was an excruciating test of how to balance American values with its cold-blooded security interests in an age of terrorism. Some of Obama’s top White House aides, including his deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, and the celebrated human rights champion Samantha Power, now U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, urged the president to link further military aid to clear progress by Sisi on human rights and democracy. But Secretary of State John Kerry, then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Hagel’s successor, Ash Carter, argued for restoring the aid. Trying to punish Sisi would have little effect on his behavior, they said, while alienating a bulwark against Islamic radicalism in an imploding Middle East. “Egypt was one of the most significant policy divides between the White House and the State Department and the Department of Defense,” says Matthew Spence, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Middle East policy.

For months, Obama tried to split the difference. In meetings and phone calls with the Egyptian ruler, by now paranoid and resentful about America’s intentions, Obama and Kerry urged Sisi to respect human rights, while also seeking his help in countering the the metastisizing Islamic State in nearby Syria and Iraq. Sisi did little of either.

In the end, Obama folded. This past March, he called Sisi once again, this time to explain that he would release the cash transfers and delayed hardware—including the F-16s—and end the administration’s threats to block the larger $1.3 billion annual aid package.

“We caved,” says a former senior administration official who participated in the debates.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/we-caved-obama-foreign-policy-legacy-213495#ixzz3wh2Hgap4

same ol, same ol

Iran Accuses Saudi Arabia of Attacking Embassy in Yemen

xp thx for sharing that article curmudgeon - it's nice to read about the reasons behind US support for various human rights abusing countries without the claim that it's a bribe to keep them acting nicely towards israel

same Politico writer on Obama and Saudia Arabia

For his part, Obama continues to pursue policies meant to reassure the Saudi royals that the U.S. is on their side. Obama has assisted the Saudi military campaign against Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen, despite qualms within the administration about civilian casualties and questions about whether the Saudis have a clear endgame. He has also supported efforts to depose Assad, an Iranian ally whom the Saudis despise, although the Saudi regime complains that Obama has not opposed Assad vigorously enough.

And while Obama occasionally urges the Saudis to liberalize their repressive political and legal system, he is careful about criticizing the kingdom's dismal human rights record. Neither the White House nor the State Department has specifically condemned the execution of Nimr and his 46 fellow alleged terrorists. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said little more than that the U.S. has "raised significant concerns about the human rights environment in Saudi Arabia."

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/obama-saudi-arabia-iran-royal-family-217385#ixzz3wlcnYKzx

CNN)—At least five people were killed and 10 others were injured when a "projectile" hit a hospital supported by Medecins Sans Frontieres in northern Yemen on Sunday, the group said.

Three of the injured were members of MSF, and two are in critical condition, the group said.

Several buildings collapsed and people may still be trapped in the rubble, according to MSF, also known as Doctors Without Borders.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/10/world/yemen-hospital-hit/index.html

is it weird that so many MSF institutions keep getting hit? are they operating in more dangerous locations (in yemen, syria, afghanistan, etc) than they normally do? or is this just terrible luck?

c. they are being repeatedly targeted

but each event has been a different group bombing them - the US (with Afghanistan intelligence) in Afghanistan, airstrikes in Syria presumably either Russia or SAF, Yemen either rebels or Saudis.

MSF was hit in Syria?

a few different times

DUBAI/NEW YORK—Airstrikes in Syria have killed at least 35 Syrian patients and medical staff in 12 hospitals in northern Syria since an escalation in bombings began in late September, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today.

According to staff at the hospitals, the attacks, which have also wounded 72 people, targeted medical facilities in Idlib, Aleppo, and Hama governorates, including six supported by MSF. Overall, six hospitals have been forced to close, including three supported by MSF, and four ambulances were destroyed. One hospital has since reopened, yet access to emergency, maternity, pediatric, and primary health care services remains severely disrupted.

http://www.msf.org/article/syria-barrage-barrel-bombs-destroys-msf-health-facility

(sorry, quote isn't from the link - quote is from one article and the link is a particular example)

this one is from Nov:
http://www.businessinsider.com/doctors-without-borders-say-one-of-their-hospitals-in-syria-bombed-in-air-strike-2015-11

Looks like there could have been a bombing in Sultanahmet.

At least nine reported dead.

Erdogan: “Pick a side. You are either on the side of the Turkish government, or you’re on the side of the terrorists.”

i'm reading that nine out of the ten victims were germans

can't shake the tasteless thought that this happened right by where arius spontaneously shat his guts out ~1700 years ago

i don't totally disagree w/ obama here (about fears being a bit overblown) but something about this juxtaposition i find kinda tasteless + i'd think that obama would be sensitive to coming off like he doesn't care enough about terrorism:

http://i.imgur.com/pasxD0o.png

AP NewsAlert: Pentagon: 2 Navy boats in Iranian custody but Iran tells US that crew will be returned 'promptly'

'promptly' = after sanctions are lifted do you think, or too dangerous to hold onto US "hostages" at this moment what w/ syria, saudi + nuclear deals situations ongoing

All ten killed in Istanbul were German. Nine people have been arrested, including three Russians. The bomber apparently entered Turkey via Syria with refugees.

Released (xp)

Release was done at daylight, they said

bomb near pakistan polio center this morning killed at least 16 ppl - pakistani taliban took responsibility

Republicans will solve all of this by putting US troops in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.

Not making light of deaths. Its frustrating that Pakistan has enabled the Taliban all of these years.

@tinyrevolution
Really the main question is what Iran is doing in the Persian Gulf in the first place

Its frustrating that Pakistan has enabled the Taliban all of these years.

The West's interest in the Hindu Kush has waxed and waned for millenia. The long game for ISI includes maintaining influence over some 44 million Peshtuns indefinitely.

Turkey police HQ 'hit by bomb blast' - gov says it's PKK

File under 'other geopolitical hotspots' but there are coordinated attacks currently happening in Jakarta.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2016/jan/14/multiple-explosions-gunshots-reported-in-jakarta-rolling-report

it's a perverse thing to think but maybe it's a good thing that the West doesn't care about what happens in places like Jakarta, Ankara and Beirut bc can u imagine if the population moved right whenever an attack happened anywhere and not just in Paris or San Bernardino?

Out of curiosity I checked out the wiki pages for terrorist attacks in 2015. I arbitrarily cut this list off at 50+ deaths which means that the Beirut bombings, Bamako attack, numerous attacks in Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria, attacks in Israel are not included. A few things jumped out to me from this exercise. Despite following these kinds of international stories closely, there were numerous attacks here (even in the 50+ range) that I had never heard about, or didn’t remember. Also, that alongside ISIL, Boko Haram were the most prolific terrorists last year (I had before read that they were the most deadly terrorist group in operation but it was sobering to see exactly what that meant). The only month last year without an attack of 50+ deaths was May.

June 25-29 - Barkh Butan, Kobanî, Syria - 223-233 dead, 300+ injured (ISIL)

Oct 31 - Sinai, Egypt - 224 dead (Wilayah Sayna - Islamic State)

April 1 - Garissa, Kenya - 147+ dead, 79 injured (Al-Shabaab)

Sept 20 - Maiduguri, Nigeria - 145 dead, 97-150+ injured (Boko Haram)

July 1-2 - Kukawa, Nigeria - 145 dead, 17 injured (Boko Haram)

Mar 20 - Sana'a, Yemen - 142 dead, 351 injured (ISIL Yemen branch)

Nov 13 - Paris, France - 130 dead, 368 injured (Islamic State)

July 17 - Khan Bani Saad, Iraq - 130 dead, 130 injured (Islamic State)

Oct 10 - Ankara, Turkey - 102 dead, 508 injured (Islamic State)

Feb 4-5 - Fotokol, Cameroon - 91+ dead (Boko Haram)

August 13 - Baghdad, Iraq - 76+ dead, 212 injured (Islamic State)

June 26 - Leego, Somalia - 70 dead, 27 injured (Al Shabaab)

July 5 - Jos and Potiskum, Nigeria - 69 dead, 67+ injured (Boko Haram)

Jan 25 - Mamasapano, Philippines - 67+ dead (Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters + Moro Islamic Liberation Front)

July 17 - Damaturu, Nigeria - 64 dead (Unknown/Boko Haram Insurgency)

June 17 - Monguno, Nigeria - 63 dead (Boko Haram)

Dec 11 - Tell Tamer, Syria - 60 dead, 80 injured (Islamic State)

Jan 30 - Shikarpur, Pakistan - 60 dead (Jundullah)

Mar 7 - Maiduguri, Nigeria - 58 dead, 139 injured (Boko Haram)

Oct 5 - Baghdad, Iraq - 57 dead, unknown number of injuries (Islamic State)

August 7 - Kabul, Afghanistan - 50+ dead, 500+ injured (Taliban - suspected)

August 10 - Diyala Province, Iraq - 50+ dead, 80+ injured (Islamic State)

Dec 8 - Kandahar, Afghanistan - 50 dead, 35 injured

Still seems completely nuts that someone can blow up a plane at a major airport in a manner that implies they had inside help and four months on nobody has been charged / dismissed.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/01/14/starvation_tactics_prove_horrifyingly_effective_in_syria.html

A second aid convoy reached the recently besieged city of Madaya today. Madaya, controlled by rebels but surrounded by pro-government forces, including Hezbollah, had been under siege for five months until the Syrian government agreed to allow food aid into the city on Monday. Images of emaciated children and stories of residents forced to survive on cooked tree leaves and scouring minefields for grass to eat quickly emerged from the city that one aid worker called “effectively an open-air prison.” At least 28 people, including six babies, died of hunger-related causes at a Doctors Without Borders-supported clinic in the city. This has sparked international condemnation.

[...]

Unfortunately, as Aron Lund of the Carnegie Endowment has written, starvation, “like most war crimes it is also very effective.” Or as a resident of the Yarmouk refugee camp, which was besieged by the government for three years, told the Guardian, “Through the sieges, they are pressuring the civilians so they in turn pressure the rebels and blame them for the siege.” Siege tactics allowed the government to bring several rebel-held suburbs of Damascus to their knees two years ago.

Terrible

big news: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/world/middleeast/iran-releases-washington-post-reporter-jason-rezaian.html

And now this: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/world-leaders-gathered-in-anticipation-of-iran-sanctions-being-lifted/2016/01/16/72b8295e-babf-11e5-99f3-184bc379b12d_story.html?tid=sm_tw

5 Iranian prisoners freed to US. the United States, which released seven Iranians who had been held on sanctions violations

Not seeing much about the 7 the US released

The US rescinded international arrest warrants on 14 others.

Obama also noted the new sanctions on those involved with Iran’s recent ballistic missile tests conducted in violation of United Nations restrictions, but he did not elaborate or dwell on that dispute.

In a statement, the Treasury Department said it was targeting for sanctions “11 entities and individuals involved in procurement on behalf of Iran’s ballistic missile program” and “five Iranian individuals who have worked to procure ballistic missile components for Iran.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/18/world/middleeast/three-freed-americans-depart-iran-one-remains-us-officials-say.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=a-lede-package-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

We live in interesting times. Some early indications that the Iran deal is having positive results but obv still v early to tell how things ultimately shake out. I hope Iran ends up using the released funds for improving domestic conditions, infrastructure for their people, etc, and not just writing a blank check to assad/hezbollah or building an undisclosed reactor. i don't know if we'll ever know where it ends up going.

i don't know if we'll ever know where it ends up going.

much like the secret chunk of the federal budget, amounting to tens of billions

Estimates of the sum of unfrozen assets range from $30 billion to $180 billion.

A lot of that is apparently debt, that will never be released to Iran.

Turkey police HQ 'hit by bomb blast' - gov says it's PKK

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CXlZssWU0AAl1Ss.jpg

The PKK admitted it and apologised for killing the three children.

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2016/01/16/PKK-apologises-for-killing-children-in-Turkey-car-bombing.html

herzog's unilateral withdrawal from Wb plan: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.698391

That quote from him about completing a West Bank wall and separating from as many Palestinians as possible...

Meanwhile elsewhere

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/russian-airstrikes-are-working-in-syria--enough-to-put-peace-talks-in-doubt/2016/01/19/64127084-beb2-11e5-98c8-7fab78677d51_story.html?hpid=hp_rhp-top-table-main_syriarussia-655pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory

maybe a question for discussion but I think folks like Bannon, Flynn and Trump are 100% convinced that the #1 enemy of the US is RADICAL ISLAM and the love affair with Russia is central to a new alliance against muslims of some sort. Who is their primary adversary? Iran? What about the Saudis? What about Israel?

Russia has good relations with both Iran and Israel and has been moving towards a better relationship with Saudi. KSA is a major investor in Chechnya.

If Flynn, etc believe Russia is part of an alliance against Islam, and it's certainly true that a lot of the US far-right seems to, it would run counter to a lot of the Russian far-right who view Putin as encouraging the 'Islamification' of Russia by supporting Kadyrov and tolerating migration from Central Asia (though the degree of toleration is questionable). Putin's leading western-backed critic, Alex Navalny, wants to end visa-free travel with Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, etc.

What we are seeing at the moment is Russia trying to position itself as the leading dealmaker / powerbroker in the Middle East and Central Asia, through Syrian peace talks, Palestinian negotiations, sweetheart arms deals with Lebanon, the formation of the Eurasian Union, collaboration with Turkey.. That would be odd sort of war.

Some new bad-ass alliance against ISIS is probably part of the appeal, though.

SV otm (as per usual, you're the new Nabisco around here as far as I'm concerned). Would only like to add that they have been very welcoming to the (Syrian) Kurds, too, allowing them to set up their first "European" HQ in Moscow. Much to the dismay of Erdogan.

You have to be impressed by how Russia has seized the opportunity to become the leading nation calling the shots in the Middle East. The EU and America failing that area as miserably as they did has helped them of course, but still. Walking the tight rope of being seen as an ally, or at least supportive to Israel, Iran, Kurds and Turkey: that's no small feat. (Turkey shooting down that Russian fighter jet proved a god send: they had Erdogan by the balls and played it out brilliantly).

I am worried by the Oblomovian, apathetic stance of 'the west' in this. And even more about the west itself not seeming to worried about this.

xp

I appreciate SV's comments tho I feel like reading him is how to get a line on Russian/Putin apologia (much like I imagine reading me is a lot like getting Likud in the best light), not necessarily the most accurate geopolitical reading, ymmv. (Game recognize game.)

Anyway, I have a slightly different read on this question. First of all I think you need to distinguish between ppl like Bannon who have a particular view of Islam, and Trump and most Trump voters whose perspective is far less sophisticated. I think that the threat that Trump + Trump people think Islam poses is that of radical violence + terrorism primarily. A true 'clash of civilizations.' I think Bannon has a different perspective tho - not a clash of civilizations but a clash between a civilization (Islam) and a non-civilization (the West). He views the West as a kind of decadent post-religion culture that has lost touch with its foundational roots (Judeo-Christianity) and corrupted Capitalism into this kind of klepocratic Capitalism. NB that he paints Putin as precisely the wrong kind of capitalist so any kind of alliance he views is tempered by these considerations. For Bannon then I think Russia, and Israel, represent a kind of Judeo-Christian model that has retained pre-postmodern meaning + religion and can therefore push back on Islam. I base this primarily on his Vatican speech. Thus Russia (and Israel) can represent a kind of aspirational model - nationalist, self-interested (which he sees as a good thing), religious/social meaning. But not without drawbacks (crony capitalism, at least in the case of Putin). Whereas I think whatever weird relationship Trump has w/ Putin and Russia does not necessarily carry this nuance (or at least not this particular nuance).

The European immigration/demographic crisis plays a large role in Bannon's worldview; that it's a civilizational threat to the European West. I think Trump has tried to replicate it w/ Latinos playing the role of Muslims in the US but it doesn't really make any sense (European descendent Christians are not a replacement model for US culture just because they happen to speak Spanish). From Russia's perspective they don't need the West as an aspirational model bc obv we're just decadent morons squandering our heritage bc of misguided liberalism, low birthrates, and presumably Holocaust guilt. Putin is interested in promoting Russian power (cf Dugin here primarily I would think) and Russia has a totally different historical relationship model for interacting w/ Islam that can tolerate Muslim immigration (and even include Muslims as part of the Empire) without risking their own identity. It's really only the kind of thing you can do if you do have a strong identity (and presumably shares some similarities to Israel which can have a much, much higher % of Muslims in their country than France or England - and more openly hostile - and I don't think they see their Jewish identity as a threat -- if anything the threat is to their Democratic identity, which, incidentally (or not), is the problem w/ Russia as well. They're not at risk of ceasing to be Russian - they're at risk of ceasing to be Democratic (not really at risk obv, this ship has already sailed)). This is also presumably the decision that the European Right feel like they need to make now - jettisoning Democracy to some extent, or curtailing/reversing immigration, but some kind of corrective or risk becoming Muslim majority countries. Anyway I think Bannon types esp in Europe - if they felt like they weren't under threat, would have no problem w/ Islamic countries and might even appreciate them as similarly committed to national self-interest (as a kind of piece of this International Nationalist paradigm I've been thinking a lot about esp on the West Right-Wing Drift thread), just do it /over there/ not in /our/ countries. Whereas Trump and whatever other US right-wing morons don't really have even this level of sophistication and for them it's more like /THE MUSLIMS ARE COMING/ which yeah, wtf do you do w/ Russia in that case (whereas Bannon can use them as a model and a strategic partner) but of course Trump relationship like I said w/ Russia is so complicated and implicated already that who the fuck knows how you can even read ideology into it.

and I don't think they see their Jewish identity as a threat threatened*

OT Ynet claims that US intelligence warned Israel not to trust Trump w/ any intelligence
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4906642,00.html

fwiw, i hold no brief for Russian nationalism or Russian 'interest' and think that Putin runs a semi-autocratic, semi-kleptocratic government that turns a blind eye to appalling corruption and abuse of wealth-given privilege and has been guilty of what i would frame as war crimes on at least two occasions. The fact that i also think he's better for Russia than either his predecessors or anyone who could viably look to challenge him from outside his party in the short term is an indictment of them, rather than an endorsement of him. It has been disappointing to see people like Mark Ames and Yasha Levine, who were literally harassed out of Russia for insulting / investigating the powerful, or Russian-Americans like Leonid Bershidsky - who is vehemently anti-Putin, re-framed by their critics as "Kremlin-apologists" for taking a different view of the facts on the ground. The expansion of Russian influence in the Middle East or elsewhere is no more of a moral good than the entrenchment of US influence but it doesn't particularly help to understand the risks, challenges and opportunities if you're working from the analysis provided by the Daily Beast, or whatever.

For Bannon then I think Russia, and Israel, represent a kind of Judeo-Christian model that has retained pre-postmodern meaning + religion and can therefore push back on Islam. I base this primarily on his Vatican speech. Thus Russia (and Israel) can represent a kind of aspirational model - nationalist, self-interested (which he sees as a good thing), religious/social meaning. But not without drawbacks (crony capitalism, at least in the case of Putin).

There was a widely circulated quote from a KKK guy recently along these lines - that Russia has always been a historical bastion of Christian values against the influence of permissive liberalism on one side and Islam on the other, so it's not impossible that Bannon thinks it's true. It is, however, a pretty bizarre claim to make. Although Putin has courted the Orthodox church a bit more in recent years, Russia is not a particularly religious country compared to most of Western Europe, let alone Ukraine and Poland. Something like 5% of people go to church semi-regularly and most polls indicate that a kind of amorphous 'spiritual but not really religious' sensibility dominates. People often associate culturally with Russian Orthodoxy in the way that British people vaguely associate with the Church of England but the idea that religious morality is more of a factor in Russia than it is in France or the Netherlands is basically a fiction imo.

What Putin has done, though, is opportunistically play up to a broader idea of 'traditional values' which may have a partly religious connotation but is essentially distinct. As his popularity has waned in Moscow and St Petersburg he has pushed a 'red-state' strategy of appealing to cultural conservatism on a range of issues (gay rights, quite notably, but others).

The fundamental difference between Russian nationalism, as officially pushed by the state, and Israeli nationalism is that non-white, non-Christian Russians are meant to be inside the tent in a way that Israeli Arabs and Palestinians never really will. Mistaking Russian nationalism for white nationalism or Judeo-Christian chauvinism is a mistake - from Putin's key allies (Surkov is Chechnyan and has been discussed as a possible successor to Kadyrov, to Shoigu - who is Tuvan, to Kadyrov himself), to the multi-ethnic, officially anti-fascist youth cadre of Nashi to the huge effort taken by United Russia to solidify its appeal in Muslim-majority areas, the state policy is to bring everyone into the fold. Racism and ethno-nationalism are present in lots of aspects of Russian culture to some extent but the European/Christian anxiety is at least as much if not more of an issue for Putin's Western-leaning critics who see him as too wedded to the idea of Russia as a Eurasian, rather an European entity. Which is not to say Bannon might sincerely believe the opposite.

Lots of interesting stuff from all of you. Nothing to add, just listening.

People often associate culturally with Russian Orthodoxy in the way that British people vaguely associate with the Church of England

English people of course.

lol, yes.

A minor point but, er, not so minor in the history of the UK.

President Abbas asks Putin to stop Trump from moving US embassy to Jerusalem.
https://twitter.com/KhaledAbuToameh/status/819945148595499008

so many wtfs

It bothers me so much that we know very little about whatever it is Bannon actually thinks

Bannon is like the nasty tick whose head is burrowed in Trump's hide, spilling its diseased guts straight into his bloodstream.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/18/iraq-has-retaken-east-mosul-from-isis-says-army-general

2 days old news. Not yet on the internet is that ISIS is giving up because Trump said "radical Islamic terrorism" and said he would "eradicate them from the face of the earth"

bc 2017 deserves its own terribly named MENA thread before the end of Jan:
I Never MENA Hurt You; I Never MENA Make You Cry 2017 (Middle East, North Africa, and Other Geopolitical Hotspots)

http://www.defensenews.com/articles/new-houthi-weapon-emerges-a-drone-boat

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — The Houthi boat that attacked and hit a Saudi frigate Jan. 30 in the Red Sea, reported earlier as a suicide boat, was instead carried out by an unmanned, remote-controlled craft filled with explosives, the US Navy’s top officer in the Mideast said.

“Our assessment is that it was an unmanned, remote-controlled boat of some kind,” Vice Adm. Kevin Donegan, commander of the Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet and head of US Naval Forces Central Command, told Defense News in an interview here Saturday.

The attack on the frigate Al Madinah appears to be the first confirmed use of the weapon which, Donegan said, represents a wider threat than that posed by suicide boats and shows foreign interests are aiding the Houthis.

is there a 2017 mena thread? sorry if so

there is, FYI:

I Never MENA Hurt You; I Never MENA Make You Cry 2017 (Middle East, North Africa, and Other Geopolitical Hotspots)

(miss u, search function)

ok thx