Gabriel B
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Middle East - August 08, 2024

Middle East - August 08, 2024

Aug 09, 2024

The United States conducted another round of strikes against the Houthis, destroying a few drones. These attacks were very, very average for American involvement in the region. However, the Houthis successfully attacked a merchant vessel. Two small Houthi boats pulled up alongside, and they launched an RPG at the ship. A drone and missile were also launched, but they both seem to have missed.

The United States and interlocutors have pitched a meeting for a week today including Hamas and Israel to hammer out the final details of a peace deal. I remain sceptical that it will be successful, if that is its intended purpose. I believe in this specific case, the plan is merely to kick the can down the road, buying valuable time in which regional tensions may slowly simmer down. Already today, Hezbollah made it known that their form of a retaliation against Israel may not be a massive bombardment, which would risk civilian lives. Instead, a targeted attack against an Israeli figure (mirroring the Israeli assassination strike in Beirut) may be considered. Depending on if Hezbollah goes this route and how they would carry out such an attempt, it could bring these tit-for-tat retaliations closer to the world of espionage, and further away from full scale war.

Israel carried out an airstrike in Syria, striking Shayrat airbase in central Syria. This came not long after an Il-76 from Iran landed at a Russian used airbase in coastal Syria. Such strikes by Israel are not particularly uncommon, but the blatant military transport flight was rather pointed, and Israel's attack was almost certainly a response to that.

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