Yemeni rebels seize UAE ship

According to an AP news, Yemen’s Houthi rebels seized an Emirati-flagged ship in the Red Sea on Monday. In another latest sign of Mideast turmoil hackers targeted a major Israeli newspaper’s website to mark the killing of a top Iranian general in 2020

The seizure of the Rwabee marks the latest assault in the Red Sea, a crucial route for international trade and energy shipments. The Iranian-backed Houthis acknowledged the incident off the coast of Hodeida, a long-contested prize of the grinding war in Yemen.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the hacking of The Jerusalem Post. The hackers replaced the Post’s homepage with an image depicting a missile coming down from a fist bearing a ring long associated with Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian general killed by a US drone strike in Iraq two years ago.

First word of the Rwabee’s seizure came from the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which only said an attack targeted an unnamed vessel around midnight. The coordinates it offered corresponded to the Emirati-flagged landing craft Rwabee, which hadn’t given its location via satellite-tracking data for hours, according to the website MarineTraffic.com.

A statement from the Saudi-led coalition, carried by state media in the kingdom, acknowledged the attack hours later, saying the Houthis had committed an act of “armed piracy” involving the vessel. The coalition asserted the ship carried medical equipment from a dismantled Saudi field hospital in the distant island of Socotra, without offering evidence.

“The Houthi militia must immediately release the ship, otherwise the coalition forces shall take all necessary measures and procedures to deal with this violation, including the use of force,” Brig. Gen. Turki al-Malki said in a statement.

A Houthi military spokesman, Yahia Sarei, announced that rebel forces had seized what he described as an Emirati “military cargo ship” carrying equipment into Yemen’s territorial waters “without any license” to engage in “hostile acts” against Yemen’s stability. He said the rebels would offer more details on the seizure later.

An employee at the vessel’s owners, Abu Dhabi-based Liwa Marine Services, told The Associated Press that the Rwabee appeared to have been the target but said they had no other information and declined to comment further. The employee did not give her name and hung up.

A similar incident happened in 2016 involving the Emirati vessel SWIFT-1, which had been sailing back and forth in the Red Sea between an Emirati troop base in Eritrea and Yemen. The vessel came under attack by Houthi forces in 2016. The Emirati government asserted the SWIFT-1 had carried humanitarian aid; UN experts later said of the claim that they were ‘unconvinced of its veracity’.

In the attack targeting The Jerusalem Post’s website, the image posted by the hackers depicts an exploding target from a recent Iranian military drill designed to look like the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center near the city of Dimona. The facility is already home to decades-old underground laboratories that reprocess the reactor’s spent rods to obtain weapons-grade plutonium for Israel’s nuclear bomb program.

Under its policy of nuclear ambiguity, Israel neither confirms nor denies having atomic weapons.

In a tweet, the Post acknowledged being the target of hackers.

“We are aware of the apparent hacking of our website, alongside a direct threat to Israel,” the English-language newspaper wrote. “We are working to resolve the issue & thank readers for your patience and understanding.”

The newspaper later restored its website. It noted Iran-supporting hackers previously targeted its homepage in 2020 “with an illustration of Tel Aviv burning as then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu swam” with a life preserver.

There was no immediate response from the Israeli government. The hack comes after Israel’s former military intelligence chief in late December publicly acknowledged his country was involved in Soleimani’s killing. The US drone killed Soleimani as he was leaving Baghdad’s international airport.

In Iraq on Monday, troops shot down two ‘suicide drones at the Baghdad airport, American and Iraqi officials said. No group immediately claimed the attack, though one of the drones’ wings had words ‘Soleimani’s revenge’ painted on it in Arabic. Militias backed by Iran have been suspected in similar assaults. No injuries or damage were reported in the incident.

Iran also did not immediately acknowledge the hack. However, the country has in recent days stepped up its commemorations of the slain Revolutionary Guard general. Memorial services were scheduled to be held Monday for Soleimani.

As the head of the Quds, or Jerusalem, Force of the Revolutionary Guard, Soleimani led all of its expeditionary forces and frequently shuttled between Iraq, Lebanon and Syria. Quds Force members have deployed into Syria’s long war to support President Bashar Assad, as well as into Iraq in the wake of the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, a longtime foe of Tehran.

Soleimani rose to prominence by advising forces fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and in Syria on behalf of the embattled Assad.

US officials say the Guard under Soleimani taught Iraqi militants how to manufacture and use especially deadly roadside bombs against US troops after the invasion of Iraq. Iran has denied that. Many Iranians to this day see Soleimani as a hero who fought Iran’s enemies abroad.

Tensions have been high in the region amid a shadow war between Iran and Israel, as well as the collapse of Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers after then-President Donald Trump in 2018 unilaterally withdrew America from the accord. Negotiations aimed at resuscitating the deal continue in Vienna.

 

Chinese claim over Indian territories

According to The Eurasian Times, Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs announced that it has granted “standardized” names for 15 locations in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, which will be featured on official Chinese maps.

India calls this Beijing’s motives of expanding its territory beyond the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de facto border. It also says that the ongoing border standoff is unlikely to be over anytime soon.

India says, this is not the first time China has coined names for places in India’s Arunachal Pradesh state. A similar attempt was made in April 2017, in the backdrop of the Doklam crisis that erupted at the tri-junction between China, India and Bhutan.

“We have seen similar reports,” said Arindam Bagchi, the spokesperson for India’s External Affairs Ministry, referring to China’s move to rename places in Arunachal Pradesh. “Arunachal Pradesh has always been and will always be a vital part of India,” Bagchi asserted, calling the Chinese names as ‘invented’.

Among the 15 locations renamed by China are eight residential areas, four mountains, two rivers and a mountain pass. On Chinese maps, Arunachal Pradesh is labeled ‘Zangnan’ or ‘South Tibet’, and in 2017, Beijing gave six official names for locations in the state, which was considered as a retaliatory measure when the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, visited the state.

China has traditionally asserted its claim over the whole of Arunachal, a state that it considers the extension of its Tibetan region. This is essentially the reason behind China raising a hue and cry every time India asserts its sovereignty over Arunachal or when dignitaries from New Delhi visit this northeastern state.

India had strongly reacted, when reports about China’s new land border law appeared in October 2021. New Delhi said, “China’s unilateral move to bring out a legislation that can have ramifications on our existing bilateral arrangements on border control… is of concern to us.”

The law was presented in March 2021; almost a year after the LAC crisis began and was considered as an attempt to legitimize the Chinese military’s actions in eastern Ladakh. It calls on various Chinese civilian and military institutions to ‘safeguard’ Chinese territory.

Indian media reports had earlier revealed how China has been trying to build human settlements, enclaves and villages inside Arunachal Pradesh. It has also constructed settlements inside the Bhutanese territory, considered strategic to India’s own security.

Beijing passed a similar rule to protect its maritime borders earlier this year. Both pieces of legislation provide law enforcement officials the authority to shoot ‘intruders’ anywhere in the country, including the Himalayas and the South China Sea, Jayanta Kalita, Editor, The EurAsian Times wrote in an article.

The Chinese claim over Arunachal dates back to the Shimla Convention of 1914 which led to an agreement regarding the border between British India and Tibet.

Even though the McMahon line agreed as the boundary by both sides was not recognized by China, it led to significant loss of territory for Tibet including Tawang, according to another article written by Jayanta Kalita for EurAsian Times.

China has long claimed the strategically significant town, which is only 30 kilometers from the Line of Actual Control (LAC), as its own. Beijing claims the entire state of Arunachal and refers to it as ‘southern Tibet’.

Dai Bingguo, a former Chinese border negotiator with India, said in 2017 that the border conflict between the two nations can be resolved if New Delhi recognizes Beijing’s claim to Tawang. India, of course, wasted no time in refuting such assertions. However, this indicated the strategic importance that China places on Tawang. It also explains the reason behind the Chinese construction of settlements in Arunachal.

Tawang has a long history with Tibet. The Gaden Namgyal Lhatse (Tawang Monastery) is a three-century-old monastery on the Bhutan-China border. According to legend, the 5th Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso, wanted a monastery erected in Tawang, and it was built.

The Chinese have used the argument that “The 5th Dalai Lama belonged to Tawang and that means Tawang was historically a part of Tibet, which in turn means that it belongs to China,” said Kondapalli.

While these new Chinese assertions do not cause a major change on the ground, they hint at a permanent militarization of the LAC. As of now, all eyes would be on China to see if takes any unilateral action citing its new border law, and creates further troubles for India.

 

IDF strikes Gaza in retaliation

According to a report by The Jerusalem Post Palestinians fired surface-to-air missiles towards Israel Air Force helicopters during airstrikes against targets in the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the two rockets that had been fired earlier towards central Israel earlier in the morning.

According to reports in the Hamas-run enclave, operatives fired SA-7 missiles as well as a number of test rockets towards the sea. Groups in the Strip have fired SAMs towards Israeli platforms during past operations over the Gaza Strip, none have caused any damage, including during the strikes on Saturday evening.

The IDF confirmed to The Jerusalem Post that missiles were fired at the helicopters.

The Soviet-designed SA-7 is a shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile (SAMs) that was designed to target aircraft flying at low altitudes. First used in combat by Egyptian troops during the War of Attrition with Israel in 1969, the system likely entered the Gaza Strip via smuggling routes from the Sinai Peninsula following the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya in 2011.

The Israeli strikes targeted a Hamas site located west of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip and IDF artillery targeted sites in the northern Gaza Strip as well. The IDF Spokesperson's Unit said it had struck a number of targets in Hamas's rocket production complex. 

Two rockets launched from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip fell in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of central Israel, one off the coast of Tel Aviv and the other off the coast of Palmachim south of Rishon Letzion early on Saturday morning.

“Earlier this morning, two rocket launches were identified from the Gaza Strip toward the Mediterranean. The rockets fell off the coast of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. According to protocol, no sirens were sounded and no interception took place,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement.

The rockets were heard in the cities of Tel Aviv, Holon, Bat Yam, and Rishon Lezion.

While Hamas claimed that the rocket fire on Saturday morning was triggered by bad weather, the military believes that the rocket fire was carried out by Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

Nevertheless, "the terrorist organization Hamas is responsible for what is happening in the Gaza Strip and bears the consequences of terrorist acts from the Gaza Strip," the IDF Spokesperson's Unit said.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, at the beginning of the cabinet meeting, said that such excuses would not be accepted by Israel.

“I want to clarify something here - all of Hamas’ of thunder and lightning, which repeat themselves winter after winter, are no longer relevant,” he said."Whoever directs missiles at the State of Israel - bears responsibility."

The rocket fire came just days after a civilian working on the Gaza border fence was shot and lightly wounded near the border with the northern Gaza Strip.

Shortly after the shooting, the IDF responded with artillery fire towards a number of Hamas posts in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian reports claimed that at least three Gazan farmers were wounded in the retaliatory strikes.

The rocket launches come as the Israeli military said that this had been the longest period of operational quiet in relation to the four most recent operations in the coastal enclave.

The spike in tensions around the Gaza Strip comes amid a wave of terror attacks in the West Bank and Jerusalem, as well as growing tensions in Israeli prisons. 

Additionally, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad has demanded the release of Hisham Abu Hawash, a Palestinian in administrative detention who has been on hunger strike for over 130 days. Hawash’s detention has reportedly been frozen in recent days, although he is continuing his hunger strike and is hospitalized.

 

Iran terms holding of Israeli cabinet meeting in Golan Heights provocative

Iranian Foreign Ministry has denounced the provocative move of the Israeli regime to hold a cabinet meeting in the occupied Golan Heights that belongs to Syria.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh described this act as “provocative”, stressing that the occupied Golan Heights is an integral part of the Arab Republic of Syria in line with numerous United Nations Resolutions, especially UN Security Council Resolution 497.

Khatibzadeh added the UN General Assembly has underlined this “undeniable reality” every year that the Golan Heights is part of the Syrian territory.

Settlement expansions and an increase in the number of migrant in the occupied Golan Heights cannot change this reality, he said, adding Israeli settlers should understand that they cannot remain in occupied territories forever, the Foreign Ministry reported at its website.

He also reaffirmed the Islamic Republic’s solidarity with as well as its unwavering and iron-clad support for the Arab Republic of Syria in this regard.

On December 26, the cabinet of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett voted in favor of a plan that aims to build 7,300 settler homes in Golan over a five-year period. The decision was taken during the cabinet meeting in Golan.

Israel aims to attract roughly 23,000 new Jew settlers to the area occupied during the Six Day War in 1967.

Israel annexed the territory on December 14, 1981, in a move not recognized by the international community.

 

Iran begins swapping Turkmenistan gas to Azerbaijan

According to a report, the agreement between Iran, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan on a natural gas swap deal for up to two billion cubic meters of Turkmen gas has taken effect on January 01, 2022.

As reported, of the total received gas from Turkmenistan about 20 to 30 percent will be the share of Iran as swap fee and the rest will be delivered to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan will reportedly receive four million cubic meters of new energy supplies per day. However, the figure is currently less than four million and will gradually reach that amount.

The deal, which was backed by the Presidents of the three Caspian countries during the 15th Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) in the Turkmen capital city of Ashgabat on November 28, 2021, was signed by the oil ministers of the two countries on November 30, 2021.

Under the swap deal, Iran will receive gas from Turkmenistan and deliver an equivalent amount minus the swap fee to Azerbaijan at the Astara border. The gas that Iran will receive from Turkmenistan under the swap agreement will cater to the needs of Northern provinces of the country.

Iran has major natural gas fields in the south but has imported gas from Turkmenistan since 1997 for distribution in its Northern provinces, especially during the winter.

Experts believe that the implementation of this deal could encourage other countries in the region to ink similar deals and to use the Islamic Republic’s capacities in this regard.

Having the largest high-pressure gas pipeline network after Russia, Iran can play a key role in transferring gas from east to west of Iran and to the neighboring countries such as Azerbaijan.

This deal is also a big step for Iran as it would ensure stable gas supply to the country’s Northeastern regions which are far away from the sources of natural gas in the country.

United States no more dependent on Saudi oil

The US energy firms added oil and natural gas rigs for a record 17 months in a row as higher prices lured some drillers back to the well-pad after last year's coronavirus-driven decline in demand.

The oil and gas rig count, an early indicator of future output, was unchanged at 586 in the week ended December 31, 2021 energy services firm Baker Hughes Co said in its closely followed report on Friday.

During December 2021, the total rig count rose by 17 and for the quarter the count was up 65, its fifth increase in a row. For the year the count was up 235. This was against a decrease of 454 rigs in 2020 and a decline of 278 rigs in 2019.

Even though the rig count has been rising for a record 17 months in a row, analysts noted production was still expected to ease as energy firms continue to focus more on returning money to investors than boosting output.

US oil rigs were steady at 480 during the week under review, while gas rigs were also unchanged at 106.

US crude futures traded around US$75 per barrel on Friday, putting the contract on track for its best month since February 2021.

With oil prices up about 55% this year, the best yearly performance since 2009 - some energy firms boost spending in 2021 and continue to do the same in 2022. They had cut drilling and completion expenditures in 2019 and 2020.

That spending increase was small and much of the money was spent on completing wells that were drilled in the past. This is termed DUC (drilled but uncompleted) wells.

Most firms continue to focus on boosting cash flow, reducing debt and increasing shareholder returns rather than adding output.

US oil production is estimated to have declined to 11.2 million bpd in 2021 from 11.3 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2020. However, output is likely to rise to 11.9 million bpd in 2022 according to government projections. The all-time annual high of 12.3 million bpd was achieved in 2019.

 

Cuba signs Belt and Road agreement with China

Reportedly Cuba and China have signed a cooperation plan to push forward construction projects under Beijing’s overseas infrastructure program, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

The Chinese Embassy in Cuba announced the agreement on its website on December 26, 2021 saying that the deal was inked two days earlier by He Lifeng, Head of China’s top economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, and Cuban Vice Prime Minister Ricardo Cabrisas.

The agreement implemented a memorandum of understanding the two nations signed in 2018, when Cuba agreed to become a BRI participating nation.

Under the agreement, the two nations aimed to work together on projects in several key sectors, including communications, education, health and biotechnology, science and technology, and tourism, according to the Agencia Cubana de Noticias news agency.

The Chinese Embassy also stated that a timetable and a roadmap had been proposed to implement the projects, without giving details.

China launched the BRI in 2013 in an effort to build Beijing-centered land and maritime trade networks by financing infrastructure projects throughout Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America. In recent years, critics have denounced Beijing for using “debt-trap diplomacy” to lure countries into its initiative.

Many countries have surrendered pieces of their sovereignty after failing to pay off Chinese debts. For example, China Merchants Port Holdings is now running Sri Lanka’s Hambantota Port on a 99-year lease, after the South Asian country converted its owed loans of US$1.4 billion into equity in 2017. Seizing the port has allowed Beijing to gain a key foothold in the Indian Ocean.

The Chinese regime has also sought to partner with countries rich in natural resources—such as African BRI participants Ghana and Zambia—in order to gain access to these raw materials to drive the Chinese economy.

It appears that China has its eyes set on Cuba’s natural resources, as a Chinese researcher told China’s state-run media outlet Global Times on December 26 that the BRI agreement was good because China and Cuba “have strong economic complementarities.”

The researcher was quoted as saying that “Cuba is rich in mineral and oil resources, and is a major source of nickel ore for China.” Cuba has one of the world’s largest nickel deposits in the world.

China has been Cuba’s important energy partner. Chinese companies have supplied wind turbines to Cuba’s wind farms and overseen the construction of Cuba’s first biomass-fired power plant at Ciro Redondo.

The US-based organization American Security Project, in an article published in March, warned about Cuba’s energy dependency on China and Venezuela as having “serious implications for hemispheric security.”

In addition, the Chinese paramilitary has also provided “counter-terrorism” training to the Cuban military and police forces responsible for suppressing anti-government protesters.

In fact, China has an ambition that goes beyond just Cuba. During a Senate hearing in March, Craig Faller, a retired admiral and a former commander of the US Southern Command, warned that Beijing seeks to “establish global logistics and basing infrastructure in our hemisphere in order to project and sustain military power at greater distances.”

Faller told lawmakers at the hearing that China was on a “full-court press” in order to achieve its ambition.

“I look at this hemisphere as the front line of competition,” Faller said. “Our influence [in this hemisphere] is eroding. … It is important that we remain engaged in this hemisphere.”

During a press briefing following the hearing, Faller described the Chinese regime’s influence as “insidious,” “corrosive,” and “corrupt.”

“Some examples include their pursuit of multiple port deals, loans for political leverage, vaccine diplomacy that undermines sovereignty, state surveillance IT, and the exploitation of resources such as illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing,” Faller said.

A month after Faller’s warning Stephanie Murphy introduced a bill requiring several US federal agencies, including the State Department, to put together a report for Congress. The report would assess China’s influence in Latin America and the Caribbean.

One of the issues the report would examine is China’s relationship with Cuba and Venezuela. Another is China’s efforts to exploit natural resources in the region.

“It is critical for US policymakers to understand what China is doing in the region and to have an effective strategy in place to counter China’s aggressive conduct and to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for its actions,” Murphy said, according to a statement from her office.