Houthis threaten more attacks against Western warships

Yemen’s Houthi militia has stated it plans more attacks on United States and British warships.

The Iran-aligned group’s statement, released on Wednesday, said all US and British warships participating in “aggression” against Yemen are targets. The statement stoked concern over the simmering tensions in the region as well as increased disruption to world trade.

The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen, have launched drones and missiles at shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since November 19. The group said the attacks are a response to Israel’s military operations in Gaza.

(Al Jazeera)

The US and Britain have struck back at Houthi targets in Yemen as they patrol the Red Sea in a naval coalition that has swapped numerous attacks with the Yemeni group.

In the latest exchange, the Houthis fired missiles at the US warship USS Gravely. On Tuesday night, US Central Command said its forces had shot down an antiship cruise missile.

Economic hit

The Houthi attacks have added a global economic element to the turmoil emanating from the war in Gaza.

Several shipping companies have suspended transits through the Red Sea, which is accessed from the Gulf of Aden, instead taking much longer and costlier journeys around Africa to avoid being attacked.

The situation has sent shipping and insurance costs soaring, raising fears of a renewed cost-of-living crisis.

In it for the long haul

The Houthis said they will persist with their military operations until a ceasefire is agreed in the Gaza Strip and food and medicine are allowed into the enclave to ease a humanitarian crisis. They insist they are prepared to dig in for the long haul.

On Tuesday, Mohamed al-Atifi, commander of the Houthi forces, said: “We are prepared for a long-term confrontation with the forces of tyranny. The Americans, the British and those who coordinated with them must realise the power of the sovereign Yemeni decision and that there is no debate or dispute over it.”

In response to the attacks, the US government redesignated the militia as “specially designated global terrorists”, and amid the threat of extended shipping disruptions, the European Union’s foreign minister Josep Borrell said on Wednesday that the bloc aims to launch its own Red Sea naval mission by the middle of February.

The 26-member union refused to join the US coalition established in December due to concerns of some states about operating under Washington’s control.

Thai court rules MFP bid to reform lese majeste law violates constitution

A court in Thailand has ruled that the biggest party in parliament violated the constitution when it sought to change a strict law against insulting the country’s monarchy.

The reformist Move Forward Party (MFP) finished first in last year’s election on a progressive platform that included a proposal to amend the lese majeste law that outraged Thailand’s conservative elite.

The Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday the plan showed “an intent to separate the monarchy from the Thai nation, which is significantly dangerous to the security of the state”.

It also called it an attempt to “overthrow the democratic regime of government with the king as a head of state”.

The court’s ruling could set a precedent for any future review of the royal defamation law, which carries penalties of up to 15 years in jail.

At least 260 people have been prosecuted under it in recent years.

Earlier this month, jailed activist and lawyer Arnon Nampa was given an extended prison sentence for royal insults over a 2021 social media post.

In 2023, a man was jailed for two years for selling satirical calendars featuring rubber ducks that a court said defamed the king.

After winning the most seats and the largest share of the vote in May’s general elections, the MFP had its attempt to form a government toppled by lawmakers allied with and appointed by the royalist military. Then-leader Pita Limjaroenrat was blocked from becoming prime minister and the MFP was shut out of the governing coalition.

Some politicians have suggested there could now be legal efforts to seek the party’s dissolution and political bans for its leaders over its monarchy law stance.

Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, the former leader of Future Forward Party – an MFP forerunner dissolved by court order – said earlier on Wednesday that the law should be up for discussion.

“The law is not a fax paper sent from God. It’s written by human hands, therefore people can amend it,” Thanathorn said. “If the lawmakers cannot amend the laws, I think something is wrong in the country.”

Israel’s war on Gaza: List of key events, day 117

Here’s how things stand on Wednesday, January 31, 2024:

Latest updates

  • The Israeli army confirmed on Tuesday that it has been flooding tunnels in Gaza with seawater for several weeks.
  • A Hamas official told Reuters news agency on Tuesday that the group is studying a new proposal for a three-stage truce with Israel.
  • At least half of the buildings across the Gaza Strip have been destroyed since October 7, according to analysis verified by the BBC on Tuesday.
  • Israel has repeated new evacuation orders for neighbourhoods in western Gaza City, where 88,000 Palestinians had been living in shelters, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said in a report on Monday.

Human impact and fighting

  • The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said a US warship shot down a Houthi antiship cruise missile in the Red Sea on Tuesday.
  • US-based think tanks Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) said on Wednesday that Palestinian armed groups are likely in the early stages of rebuilding their military and governance capabilities in the north of the Gaza Strip only. Their assessment added that Hamas is not necessarily preparing for an offensive campaign in the way that Western media have suggested.
  • The Israeli military announced on Wednesday that three soldiers were killed in combat in Gaza, while five more have been seriously injured.
  • The fate of an ambulance crew and a six-year-old girl they were attempting to rescue from a car shelled by the Israeli military in Gaza City remains “unknown”, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said on Tuesday.

‘Collapse’ of aid system in Gaza

  • UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to key donors to resume funding the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in a closed-door meeting of 35 countries on Tuesday, reported The Times of Israel.
  • Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes the immediate closure of UNRWA as it fears this could cause a “humanitarian catastrophe”, a senior government official said on Tuesday, according to The Times of Israel.
  • Martin Griffiths, the UN’s undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, warned in a statement released on Tuesday that the suspension of funding of UNRWA “would result in the collapse” of the aid system in the Gaza Strip.
  • The US has “reached out to the government of Israel to seek more information” about allegations Israel made against 12 staff members of UNRWA being involved in Hamas’s October 7 attacks, Washington’s ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, told reporters on Tuesday.
  • In a post on X on Wednesday, UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese said the governments suspending funds to UNRWA represents “double standards” when they continue to support Israel, whose actions “plausibly constitute” genocide.

Diplomacy

  • The UN Security Council is expected to meet to discuss the International Court of Justice’s interim ruling on Israel’s war in Gaza on Wednesday at 11am New York time (16:00 GMT).
  • The UN’s human rights office released a statement on Tuesday calling the “planned extrajudicial execution” of three Palestinian men inside Ibn Sina Hospital in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin “unlawful”.
  • The Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah group in Iraq said in a statement released on Tuesday that it has suspended all military operations against US forces in the region to prevent the “embarrassment of the Iraqi government”.

Russian rock band critical of Ukraine war faces deportation from Thailand

Members of a dissident Russian-Belarusian rock band critical of Moscow’s war in Ukraine have been jailed in Thailand, with growing calls to not deport them to Russia.

Progressive rock group Bi-2’s members remained locked up on Wednesday after being detained for performing without work permits in Thailand. The group has spoken out against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The group was detained last week after it played a gig in Phuket, a southern Thai island popular with foreign tourists including many Russians.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Bi-2 will face “persecution” if returned to Russia, and referred to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson accusing the band of “sponsoring terrorism”.

A post on the seven-member band’s official Telegram channel on Wednesday said singer Yegor Bortnik, known by his stage name Lyova, had left Thailand.

“Lyova Bi-2 flew to Israel, the rest of the group members are still in a migration prison in a cramped cell for 80 people,” the post read.

The detained musicians “include Russian citizens as well as dual nationals of Russia and other countries, including Israel and Australia,” HRW said in a statement on Tuesday. Those holding only Russian citizenship are thought to be most at risk.

Thai officials confirmed the band’s arrest last week and said they now face possible deportation.

“This usually results in deportation to their country of origin but there is some discretion [about the destination],” said Kriangkrai Ariyaying, the superintendent of Phuket’s Immigration Bureau.

The country’s National Security Council “is looking into the matter, seeing what are details including the band members’ names and nationalities,” Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara told reporters on Wednesday.

Security members stand guard outside the Immigration Detention Centre in Bangkok, Thailand, where members of Bi-2 are being held [Sakchai Lalit/AP]

VPI Event, which organises concerts in Thailand, said all the necessary permits were obtained, but the band had been given tourist visas in error.

“Typically, in such cases, migration services contact the organiser of the event to apply appropriate sanctions. But in this case, the attention of the migration services was focused exclusively on the artists,” VPI said, adding that the Russian consulate had attempted to cancel Bi-2’s concerts in December.

HRW said Thailand has an international legal obligation to not forcibly return anyone who faces the threat of torture if returned.

“Under no circumstances should they be deported to Russia, where they could face arrest or worse for their outspoken criticisms” of Putin and the war, said Elaine Pearson, HRW’s Asia director.

HRW also said that “amid repression in Russia reaching new heights, Russian authorities have used transnational repression – abuses committed against nationals beyond a government’s jurisdiction – to target activists and government critics abroad with violence and other unlawful actions”.

Self-exile

Bi-2 is popular in Russia. Several of its concerts were cancelled in 2022 after the band refused to play at a venue with banners supporting the war in Ukraine, following which the group left Russia.

One of the band’s founders has openly denounced the Putin government, saying it makes him feel “only disgust” and accusing the leader of having “destroyed” Russia.

Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya urged Thailand to “find a solution” to the band’s visa issue.

“I’m worried about the situation involving the Belarus-born rock band Bi-2,” she wrote on X.

“It’s now absolutely clear that Russia is behind the operation to deport the band.”

Why did South Africa’s ruling ANC suspend ex-President Jacob Zuma?

In a widely expected move, South Africa’s governing African National Congress (ANC) party suspended former President Jacob Zuma on Monday, just months ahead of the presidential election.

In a statement on X, the ANC accused Zuma of insubordination and said his suspension was justified because of “exceptional circumstances”.

The move follows months of turbulence between Zuma and current President Cyril Ramaphosa that has blighted the image of the party that has governed South Africa since the end of white minority rule three decades ago.

Zuma, who still commands widespread popular support, poses a threat to the party, which has been struggling to command the popular support it once had.

Here’s what we know about Zuma’s suspension, and why he fell out with the ANC:

Why did the party suspend Zuma?

In a statement following a meeting of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC), ANC general secretary Fikile Mbalula said the party suspended Zuma primarily because he had backed another political party without formally exiting the ANC.

In December, Zuma had denounced the ANC leadership and said he would vote for the newly formed party uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) or Spear of the Nation, named after the defunct military wing of the ANC that resisted apartheid rule but was disbanded following South African independence. Zuma later said he would hold on to his ANC membership.

That appeared to rankle the ANC, which has seen less support in these elections because of high unemployment and poverty rates in one of the world’s most economically unequal countries.

Zuma is “actively impugning the integrity of the ANC and campaigning to dislodge the ANC from power, while claiming that he has not terminated his membership”, the ANC statement said. “Zuma and others whose conduct is in conflict with our values and principles, will find themselves outside the ANC.”

The ANC leadership also plans to shut down the MK party by submitting complaints to an electoral court and by having the name trademarked.

How did Zuma’s troubles start?

Zuma is a controversial figure in South African politics. His suspension is only the latest in a series of clashes between him and President Ramaphosa, who is also the ANC leader. Here is a timeline:

February 14, 2018: Zuma is forced by the ANC to step down after ruling as president since 2009 following allegations of widespread corruption in his administration: allowing a wealthy family to influence government contracts and bribery in a multibillion-dollar deal with French arms manufacturer Thales. Ramaphosa took over as president, promising to clean up, effectively starting a feud.

June 29, 2021: Zuma is sentenced to 15 months in prison after he refuses to present himself in court during an ongoing corruption inquiry. Zuma calls the trial politically motivated.

July 8, 2021: Violent riots rock South Africa as Zuma begins his prison term. His supporters attack dozens of buildings, including stores and public infrastructure. More than 300 people die in the unrest, eventually leading to Zuma’s release in September on medical parole.

December 15, 2022: Zuma sues Ramaphosa, accusing the president of releasing classified documents about him to the media. The move is widely seen as part of a campaign by Zuma to remove the prosecutor, Billy Downer, who handled the ex-president’s corruption charges related to the arms deal.

December 16, 2023: Zuma denounces the ANC and offers his support for the MK in Soweto, leading to speculations he helped found the party. His announcement comes on the anniversary of the armed wing of MK, founded by former President Nelson Mandela in 1961.

January 29, 2024: ANC suspends Zuma.

How will the suspension affect support for ANC?

The split in the ANC could negatively affect the party’s standing ahead of the 2024 elections.

Zuma enjoys popular support in his home province of KwaZulu-Natal. He also has considerable backing in the Gauteng province. These were the two provinces primarily affected in the 2021 riots, and where the ANC might struggle to win elections this year.

At the MK party launch in Soweto last December, Zuma stated his intention to give the ANC a hard time in the region.

“The new people’s war starts from today,” he then said. “The only crucial difference is that instead of the bullet, this time we will use the ballot.”

Besides the Zuma drama, the ANC, which has won every election since 1994, is also seeing popular support decline among many South Africans. It was already going to be difficult for the party to win a landslide this year in the face of dismal electricity supply, increased levels of violence, poverty and corruption in government.

The Democratic Alliance, the main opposition group, allied with six smaller parties late in 2023, aiming to push out the ANC if it fails to win a 50 percent majority in the elections, in which South Africans first vote for parties, which then elect the president. That coalition poses a serious threat to the ANC’s dominance.

“As a new party, MK has no track record and no access to the kind of resources or organisational capacity of the ANC. And without access to the state it also can’t trade off patronage politics,” Chris Vandome from the Chatham House, UK, told Al Jazeera.

“But in these provinces [KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng] there is already an expectation that the ANC might lose political dominance,” he said.

“Furthermore, Zuma supporters have shown that they can be agitators and incite violence, and there is a risk of low-intensity electoral violence, especially in KwaZulu-Natal at this year’s polls.”

What next for Zuma?

The former president has not responded to his suspension and it is unclear if he might mount a legal case to challenge the decision.

Zuma challenges it or not, he could be expelled outright. Ramaphosa, speaking to journalists, said the expulsion is the first step in dealing with Zuma’s actions, and other party leaders have said a permanent ban is on the cards, although as the last resort.

Despite his vocal support for the MK, Zuma has officially not joined the party, and claims he is still in the ANC. Local media reports, however, say that the former president likely instigated the formation of the new party to rival ANC.

Zuma’s stronghold of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng are seen as election kingmakers of sorts. These provinces are the most populous in the country, making up 44 percent of the total population.

The MK will prove a significant distraction for the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, regardless of whether it scores an electoral victory. Already, the ANC is having to battle the Democratic Alliance and the Inkatha Freedom Party, which is mostly supported by Zulus in the KwaZulu-Natal province.

Vandome from the Chatham House said it is also unlikely that Zuma would be able to exercise the kind of influence he used to have should he rejoin the ANC.

“His [Zuma’s] waning influence within the ANC was a factor in his shifting alliance – the calculation that his personal interests are best served by being an external disrupter rather than exercising internal influence,” he said.

Kataib Hezbollah announces halt of attacks on US forces

Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah has announced the suspension of hostile operations against US troops as Washington ponders its response to a deadly drone attack that killed three of its soldiers.

The group’s attempt to de-escalate late on Tuesday, which it said was motivated by a desire not to “embarrass” the Iraqi government, was met with some scepticism in the United States. The Pentagon alleges that there have been three further attacks since the attack in Jordan on January 28.

However, the White House has indicated that it is pondering a “tiered response” to Sunday’s attack.

Speaking on Tuesday in Washington, DC, Biden tied the attacks to Iran.

“I do hold them responsible in the sense that they’re supplying the weapons to the people who did it,” he said.

However, he specified he did not want “a wider war” in the region.

However, Al Jazeera correspondent Patty Culhane, reporting from Washington, DC, said Republican hawks were calling for strikes inside Iran.

“For months, this administration has been saying the biggest concern they have is that this will lead to a wider war, and it seems fairly clear that striking inside of Iran would make it more likely rather than less,” she said.

Iran has responded with its own hawkish rhetoric. On Wednesday, a statement from Hossein Salami, chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, reiterated threats that Tehran will respond in kind should the US take any action against it.

“We hear threats coming from American officials, we tell them that they have already tested us and we now know one another, no threat will be left unanswered,” he said, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Powerful element

Kataib Hezbollah is the most powerful element in a group called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which has claimed more than 150 attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria since October 7.

The US has so far responded to that campaign by conducting air raids and imposing sanctions against Iran-backed groups in Iraq, particularly Kataib Hezbollah.

In its statement on Tuesday, Kataib Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi noted that many of its allies, in particular Iran, “often object to the pressure and escalation against the American occupation forces in Iraq and Syria”.

Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdelwahed said the statement aimed to “alleviate or reduce the burden, the pressure that the government in Iraq has been facing since … the beginning of these attacks”.

The Iraqi government, he said, has been engaged in talks with US military officials to find mechanisms guaranteeing the withdrawal of US and coalition troops from the country.

Hawks apply pressure

In the face of Biden’s caution over the US response to the attack in Jordan, hawkish members of the Republican Party have gone into overdrive as they appeal for more direct military action against Iran.

Senator Lindsey Graham called on the Biden administration to “strike targets of significance inside Iran, not only as reprisal for the killing of our forces but as deterrence against future aggression”.