Not much to report on Hamas/Israel….
We look around the Middle East….
The ‘Soft Power’ of Western economic sanction’s choaking off oil revenue HAS hurt Iran and Syria….
Israel and Saudia normization effort IS a loss forIran….
Iranian-backed Houthi militants launched a missile from Yemen that landed in Tel Aviv early Saturday morning after air defenses failed to intercept it, the latest in an increasing barrage of Houthi attacks.
At least 16 people were lightly wounded by shattered glass in nearby buildings, according to Magen David Adom, Israel’s emergency service. It was at least the sixth such attack over the past month.
The attack set off air-raid sirens across central Israel ordering hundreds of thousands of residents to enter reinforced bomb shelters. The missile landed in a playground in Tel Aviv in the middle of the night.
Yahya Saree, a military spokesman for the Houthis, said the group’s fighters had launched the missile “to aid the victory of the oppressed Palestinian people and its fighters.” He also claimed it had struck a “military target.”…
On Thursday, Israeli fighter jets flew over 1,000 miles to bombard sites in Houthi-controlled Yemen, including the capital, Sana. The Israeli military said it had struck power plants as well as fuel and oil tanks.
Israel and the Houthis, who control much of northwestern Yemen, have traded fire since October 2023, when the Yemeni militia began firing rockets and drones at Israel in what it has described as a campaign in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza….
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Iran’s problems grow internally….
Government offices in Iran are closed or operating at reduced hours. Schools and colleges have moved to online only. Highways and shopping malls have descended into darkness, and industrial plants have been denied power, bringing manufacturing to a near halt.
Although Iran has one of the biggest supplies of natural gas and crude oil in the world, it is in a full-blown energy crisis that can be attributed to years of sanctions, mismanagement, aging infrastructure, wasteful consumption — and targeted attacks by Israel.
“We are facing very dire imbalances in gas, electricity, energy, water, money and environment,” said President Masoud Pezeshkian in a live televised address to the nation this month. “All of them are at a level that could turn into a crisis.”
While Iran has been struggling with issues with its infrastructure for years, the president warned that the problem had reached a critical point.
For most of last week, the country was virtually shut down to save energy. As ordinary Iranians fumed and industrial leaders warned that the accompanying losses amounted to tens of billions of dollars, Mr. Pezeshkian could offer no solution other than to say he was sorry….
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Rebuilding Syria…
Although the collapse of President Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria was shockingly quick, rebuilding the devastated economy he left behind will be painfully slow.
After nearly 14 years of brutal civil war and political repression, most of Syria’s oil and gas wells, roads, electricity grids, farmland and infrastructure are in ruins. Ninety percent of the population is living in poverty. The value of the Syrian pound has plummeted, and the central bank’s reserves of foreign currency — needed to buy essentials like food, fuel and spare parts — are nearly depleted.
Before the war, oil accounted for two-thirds of Syria’s exports and agriculture made up roughly a quarter of economic activity. More recently, Syria’s most profitable export was captagon, an illegal, addictive amphetamine controlled by a cartel of politically connected elites.
“The whole economic system in Syria is not functioning,” said Samir Aita, a Syrian economist and the president of the Circle of Arab Economists….
Israel and Saudi Arabia working on a normalization deal….
Saudi Arabia will not normalize ties with Israel “unless it ends the war in Gaza,” Saudi officials have informed associates of US President-elect Donald Trump, a person with knowledge about the matter told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday evening.
In recent weeks, Saudi officials, headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, met people close to Trump, including Steve Witkoff, Trump’s incoming special envoy to the Middle East.
Normalization between the countries could materialize only after the war in Gaza ends, the Saudi officials told Witkoff, according to the informed source.
The statement does not have to include recognition of a Palestinian state; it can also be about an Israeli “pathway toward a Palestinian state,” the source said
A normalization agreement has been reached between Israel and Saudi Arabia, Haaretz reported earlier on Tuesday….
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Dec 21, 2024 – ISW Press
US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf described Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS) leader Ahmed al Shara as “pragmatic” but did not specify what concrete steps Shara or the HTS-led interim government will take to combat terrorism or ensure minority rights. Leaf stated that Shara gave ”moderate” statements on issues, including women’s rights and protection for minorities, when they met in Damascus on December 20. Leaf confirmed that the United States will no longer pursue the 10-million-dollar Rewards for Justice bounty on Shara due to his commitment to ensuring terrorist groups inside Syria pose no threat to the United States or its regional partners.
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