Further escalation of the conflict:
Israel kills two medics in attack on ambulance centre in southern Lebanon
An Israeli attack on a civil defence centre in southern Lebanon has killed two rescuers and destroyed an ambulance, according to the rescue force, which is affiliated with the armed group Hezbollah. The civil defence operations room at the Islamic Health Authority said that “direct Israeli bombardment on an emergency centre in the town of Hanin” killed two male unit members.
The deaths raise the number of civilians killed in Israeli shelling on southern Lebanon to 25, including children and journalists. At least 140 Hezbollah fighters have also been killed there, and nine troops on the Israeli side of the border.
Blinken: US working to stop ‘explosion’ in occupied West Bank
The top American diplomat says the US government is focused on preventing “an explosion” in the occupied West Bank where near-daily Israeli military raids have brought the territory to a boiling point.
There is an expectation the situation is going to blow up at some point in the near future in the occupied West Bank. When and how that will unfold – or what the trigger will be – cannot be predicted, but several developments on the ground over the past year indicate it is approaching a serious shift in the unsustainable political and security status quo.
Israel detains 28 more Palestinians in occupied West Bank
The Israeli army has detained 28 more Palestinians in military raids carried out across the occupied West Bank, according to prisoners’ affairs groups.
“The arrests were marked by abuse, severe beatings, and threats against detainees and their families, in addition to widespread acts of sabotage and destruction of citizens’ homes,” the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said in a joint statement.
According to the statement, the new arrests brought to 5,810 the number of Palestinians arrested by Israel in the occupied West Bank since October 7. Figures released by the two groups last month showed that at least 8,800 Palestinians, including 80 women, were held in Israeli prisons.
Iran seizes oil tanker involved in US-Iran dispute in Gulf of Oman
Iran seized a tanker with Iraqi crude destined for Turkey on Thursday in retaliation for the confiscation last year of the same vessel and its oil by the United States, Iranian state media reported, a move likely to stoke regional tensions.
The seizure of the Marshall Islands-flagged St Nikolas coincides with weeks of attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militias targeting Red Sea shipping routes.
Global trade drops 1.3 percent on Red Sea attacks
Global trade declined by 1.3 percent from November to December 2023 as attacks on merchant vessels in the Red Sea led to a plunge in the volumes of cargo.
Currently, about 200,000 containers are being transported via the Red Sea daily, down from some 500,000 per day in November, the German Kiel Institute for the World Economy said. Diversions in response to the attacks have led to journeys between Asian production centres and European consumers taking up to 20 days longer, said Julian Hinz, director of Kiel’s trade policy research centre.
“This is also reflected in the declining trade figures for Germany and the EU, as transported goods are now still at sea and have not already been unloaded in the harbours as planned,” Hinz said in a statement.
US intel suggests Hezbollah eyeing attacks on US targets
US intelligence officials say fears are rising over potential attacks by Hezbollah on American interests in the Middle East, a news report says.
Quoting four unnamed US officials, Politico reported rising tensions from Israel’s war on Gaza and confrontations with Hezbollah in Lebanon have US security agencies concerned. Two American officials said Hezbollah “could be considering attacks on both US troops or diplomatic personnel overseas”.
One analyst highlighted that Iran-backed groups are already hitting US targets with regularity. “The Lebanon front is ready to kick off and these Iranian militia are pounding the US in eastern Syria and Iraq,” Politico quoted Andrew Tabler, a former State Department official, as saying. “It’s interesting that this is all going on in the background and people are focusing on the Gaza theatre, but the war is actually much larger than that.”
US presidential candidate suggests removal of Palestinians from Gaza
Ron DeSantis, one of the Republican party’s top presidential candidates, says he won’t oppose Israel pushing Palestinians out of their homeland, adding the displaced could go to other Arab countries.
Speaking at his party’s presidential primary debate, DeSantis said: “If [Israel] makes the calculation that to avert a second Holocaust they need to do that … I think some of these Palestinian Arabs, Saudi Arabia should take some, Egypt should take some.”
DeSantis’s primary opponent, former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, also doubled down on support for Israel at the debate. Haley said the US, which sends Israel $3.8bn in military aid annually, should give the country “whatever it wants”.
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