Western Countries Close Embassies in Yemen

The United States and Britain have temporarily closed their embassies in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa and have withdrawn their staff. According to Yemeni staff, the German Embassy also closed Wednesday, though diplomats had not left the country, and many Gulf states have evacuated their staff. France said its embassy would be closed on Friday. U.S. State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki said, “Recent unilateral actions disrupted the political transition process in Yemen” creating the risk for renewed violence. A Yemeni Foreign Ministry official noted, “it could mean the foreign missions want to exercise or put more pressure on the Houthis.” In a televised address Tuesday, Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said concerns over security were “unfounded.” Talks continued Tuesday between a number of parties and the Houthis, though most oppose the Houthis’ move to dissolve the parliament and set up an interim government. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered Wednesday in Sanaa, and thousands in the city of Taiz to protest the Houthi movement.

Syria-Iraq

The United States has confirmed the death of 26-year-old aid worker Kayla Mueller, who was captured by Islamic State militants in August 2013. Militants sent her parents at least three pictures of her dead body, and the family released a letter she wrote last year. A U.S. official said, “We have no definitive evidence of how, or when, she died.” Islamic State militants claim she was killed in a building targeted by Jordanian airstrikes last week, though this has been denied by Jordan and the United States. In the Iraqi capital of Baghdad Wednesday, a mortar attack on the predominantly Shiite Shula neighborhood killed at least seven civilians, and wounded 19 others. Meanwhile, Syrian army troops and Hezbollah fighters regained several towns and villages south of the Syrian capital of Damascus Wednesday in a counteroffensive against opposition forces, including al-Nusra Front fighters.

Headlines

• Russia and Egypt have agreed to jointly build Egypt’s first nuclear power plant as well as increase trade relations and investments.
• President Hassan Rouhani addressed thousands of Iranians gathered Wednesday, marking the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, vowing to protect Iran’s rights in nuclear negotiations.
• The U.N. refugee agency estimates more than 300 migrants likely died attempting to reach Italy from Libya traveling in multiple boats.

Arguments and Analysis

‘Destroying ISIL is about more than vengeance’ (Hassan Hassan, The National)

“The greatest mistake that Jordan can make is to define its battle against ISIL purely in the language of vengeance. The pain and anger that define the atmosphere in Jordan today might abate in coming weeks, but the country’s commitment to the destruction of ISIL should become part of a long-term strategy. The rise of ISIL was a result of reactionary and inconsistent policies in the first place – something Jordan must avoid if it is to win this war.

Jordan must heed the king’s own advice during his interview with CBS News in December, when he said that ISIL would not go away without a ‘holistic’ strategy that views the group as part of greater challenges facing the region. ISIL, he said, is one face of many extremist groups in the Middle East.”

‘The Hezbollah Connection’ (Ronen Bergman, The New York Times)

“‘Whose nose are you?’ Answering this macabre question has since become the work of one of the most expensive, significant and controversial criminal investigations ever conducted. The United Nations established the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in The Hague for pursuing the investigation, and prosecutors filed indictments in 2011 against four members of Hezbollah, Lebanon’s most powerful militant organization, and in 2013 against a fifth member. In one sense, the tribunal is necessary simply because of Hezbollah’s unique role in Lebanon and the world: Although the group is classified by the U.S. State Department as a foreign terrorist organization, it is also a popular political party in Lebanon, and therefore it is difficult, perhaps impossible, for Lebanon or any other single nation to provide an appropriate venue for its prosecution. But more is at stake. This is the first major international trial involving the Arab world, and one of the greatest challenges for the prosecutors and the defense lawyers alike is simply to show that justice is possible.”

‘The future of the Muslim Brotherhood in the Gulf’ (Kristin Smith Diwan, The Washington Post)

“The crackdown on the MB was initiated in the UAE, where the government arrested nearly 100 Emirati members of the MB-inspired al-Islah organization with the charge of ‘forming a secret organization plotting to overthrow the regime.’ This hardline position gained traction across the Gulf as the regional dynamic shifted with the overthrow of the MB-led Mohamed Morsi government in Egypt. MB activists in both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait were public in their criticism of their governments’ political and financial support for Egypt’s new military-led government. They also were openly supportive of the rebels in their deepening civil war in Syria. Both positions likely contributed to the decision of the Saudi government to adopt a new anti-terrorism law in early 2014 which took the extraordinary step of specifically naming the MB among a list of banned terrorist groups. The UAE followed with its own anti-terror law in November 2014, officially designating the MB and significantly its civil society organizations in the West as terrorist organizations. The UAE and Saudi Arabia also pressured Western governments to follow suit, leading to an official inquiry into the MB organization in Britain.”

— Mary Casey-Baker

MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP/Getty Images