In the news:
(1) In Yemen, Iran has armed the Houthis rebels with intelligence and arms, including drones, for attacking Red Sea shipping, according to The Wall Street Journal. Iranian aid to the Houthis is coordinated by the Quads Force commander in Yemen, Abdolreza Shahlaei. The US seeks him for planning a 2007 attack in Iraq that killed five American soldiers.
(2) A drone from Iran hit a chemical tanker flying the Liberia flag Saturday morning in the Indian Ocean, about 230 miles from the coast of India, reported the Pentagon. Iranian drone attacks on shipping occur about twice per year.
(3) Iran said Sunday it had new cruise missiles that could fly up to 1,000 kilometers (more than 600 miles) as well as advanced drones with electronic intelligence.
(4) Turkey said its air force Saturday destroyed 29 sites of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which Turkey, the US, and the European Union regard as terrorist, in northern Iraq and Syria, in retaliation for the deaths of 12 Turkish troops near the northern Iraq border since Friday. Turkey did not identify the sites bombed. But Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has often accused the Syrian Democratic Forces in northeastern Syria of being linked to the PKK. Turkey said last week it had assassinated the head of Democratic Forces. The United States set up the Democratic Forces in 2014 ostensibly to fight the terrorist Islamic State of Syria and the Levant (ISIS). American troops still advise the Democratic Forces. Erdogan said he would not permit a terrorist “structure” in northern Iraq and Syria.
(5) A leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards in the Aleppo area, Al-Haj Karar, ordered the Baqir Brigade militia to send 140 members to Deir ez-Zour Province in northeast Syria to fight the Syrian Democratic Forces, according to a Syrian opposition news site, the North Press Agency. Some of the militants were trained at Khan al-Assal, west of Aleppo, to operate kamikaze drones against US posts east of the Euphrates. The Baqir militants are to coordinate with the Sons of Jazira and Euphrates Movement militias. These are already fighting the Syrian Democratic Forces.
(6) Since October 17, there have been 102 drone and rocket attacks on US posts in Syria and Iraq, including at least two last week, according to the Pentagon.
(7) An Iranian mouthpiece, the MEHR News Agency, accused the US last week of ransacking oil and natural gas from northeast Syria. The Syrian regime has made this charge for nearly 10 years. Why is Iran making it now?
These events suggest growing pressure on US troops in
Syria and Iraq to withdraw. This has long been one of Iran’s goals. – Leon Taylor,
Baltimore tayloralmaty@gmail.com
Notes
For helpful comments, I thank but do not implicate
Annabel Benson.
References
Haberin Devami. Erdoğan
vows to prevent terrorist 'structure' in northern Iraq, Syria - Türkiye
News (hurriyetdailynews.com) . December 23, 2023.
Benoit Faucon, Dov Lieber, and Gordon Luhold. Iranian
Spy Ship Helps Houthis Direct Attacks on Red Sea Vessels - WSJ . December
23, 2023.
Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/pentagon-says-iranian-drone-attack-hit-chemical-tanker-near-india-2023-12-24/ December 23, 2023.
Reuters. Turkey
conducts air strikes in northern Iraq, Syria after 12 soldiers killed | Reuters
.
Arsalan Shahla.
Iran
Army Unveils New Hardware as Gaza, Shipping Conflicts Grow (msn.com) December 24, 2023.
Stella Youssef.
Iran-backed militia sends militants to
fight SDF in Syria's Deir ez-Zor (npasyria.com) The North Press
Agency. December 24, 2023.
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