The Islamic State Attacks Yemen

After Saudi-led coalition forces hit Yemen with attacks earlier this week, the Islamic State launched an offensive in Yemen. Four car bombs were detonated in Sanaa on Thursday, killing at least two people and wounding more than 60 others. Additionally, the Islamic State targeted mosques and reportedly struck a building that had been known as ...

Yemen
Yemen

After Saudi-led coalition forces hit Yemen with attacks earlier this week, the Islamic State launched an offensive in Yemen. Four car bombs were detonated in Sanaa on Thursday, killing at least two people and wounding more than 60 others.

After Saudi-led coalition forces hit Yemen with attacks earlier this week, the Islamic State launched an offensive in Yemen. Four car bombs were detonated in Sanaa on Thursday, killing at least two people and wounding more than 60 others.

Additionally, the Islamic State targeted mosques and reportedly struck a building that had been known as the Houthi rebel headquarters in the capital of Sanaa. In a statement posted online by the Islamic State, the four detonated car bombs were meant to target two places of worship, a house, and an office building belonging to the “Houthi apostates”.

Christian Pilgrimage Site in Israel Damaged by Arson

A Roman Catholic Church on the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel was badly damaged by a fire on Thursday. The Church, known by many as the place which Jesus performed the miracle of the loaves and fishes, is suspected to have been attacked by a group of Jewish extremists. A verse from a Hebrew prayer denouncing idols was found spray painted on the walls of the building. Two people were taken to the hospital after the fire, but no further injuries or deaths were reported.

Headlines

-The Islamic State claimed to have shot down an Iraqi fighter plane north of the city of Ramadi on Thursday.

 

-Over 60 million people were displaced from their homes because of conflict last year, according to a new UNHCR report released Thursday.

 

-The main suspect of an attack on a Jewish café in Paris in 1982 has been arrested in Jordan.

 

Qatar Airways denies accusations by the International Labor Organization that the company mistreats its female employees.

 

Al Qaeda militants in Yemen executed two alleged U.S. spies after leader was killed in targeted drone strikes.

Arguments and Analysis

Riyadh Looks to Moscow (Simon Henderson, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy)

“The Saudi Royal Court’s official statement announcing MbS’s trip described it as an opportunity “to discuss relations and aspects of cooperation between the two friendly countries.” The agenda likely includes oil, a sector in which the prince has become a key decision maker. Saudi determination to retain market share even at the cost of lower revenues has hit Russia hard.“

 

A Tiny but Positive Step in the Middle East (Thomas Lippman, the Middle East Institute)

“In the unending panorama of violence that is today’s Middle East, one hopeful note emerged earlier this month with a low-key announcement from Saudi Arabia that drew scant attention from the American news media. King Salman appointed a military officer, Gen. Thamer al-Sabhan, to be the kingdom’s first resident ambassador in Baghdad since Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.”

 

-Kyra Murphy

Image Credit (MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP/Getty Images)

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