On September 29, rumors began circulating on social media that a helicopter carrying leaders from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Yemen-based Houthis crashed in southwestern Iran. The crash reportedly killed several high-ranking IRGC members and Houthi leaders, including the head of coordination for the Houthis, Mohammed Abdul-Salam, and Houthi commander Abdul Malik
On September 15, the Iranian-supported Houthi rebels launched a ballistic missile at Israel—the group’s longest-range attack on Israeli territory to date. The projectile, which fell in an open area near Ben Gurion International Airport, caused no casualties and only material damage. In the hours after the attack, Houthi leadership made some outlandish claims about the strike,
As Canada’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from 2019 to 2022, I had a diplomatic front-row seat and occasional behind-the-scenes views into the quiet yet consistent progress that eventually led to the Abraham Accords. While I wasn’t surprised when the declaration was announced in 2020, I hadn’t anticipated how rapidly and warmly relations
“Our enemies are your enemies. Our fight is your fight. And our victory will be your victory.” That was the message Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered on Wednesday to a joint session of the US Congress that dozens of lawmakers refused to attend. In his speech, Netanyahu called for further US support for Israel
While visiting Moscow on May 23, Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa told Russian President Vladimir Putin that his country sees “no reason to delay with normalization of relations” with Iran. The king also said that Manama has ceased having problems with Tehran. “We are trying to establish normal diplomatic, trade, and cultural relations
Coming up this Thursday, in Season 2, Episode 2 of the Guns for Hire podcast, host Alia Brahimi is joined by Dr. Andrés Macías, a Bogota-based expert on Colombian mercenaries. They begin by looking at the explosive case of 26 Colombians arrested for their part in the 2021 assassination of the Haitian president, as well
Six months after the Joe Biden administration launched Operation Prosperity Guardian to ensure freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, the biggest issue facing the White House is not the Houthi threat but the US failure to rally partners and allies behind its leadership. Fortunately, since the Houthis waged their attacks on ships crossing the
At the heart of the Biden administration’s growing frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is what the White House considers his failure to articulate and execute a strategy that will make Israel more secure, while engaging in tactics that are making it less so. Two individuals familiar with the administration’s thinking recently spoke to
In Season 2, Episode 1 of the Guns for Hire podcast, host Alia Brahimi is joined by the award-winning BBC investigative journalist Nawal Al-Maghafi to talk about her film exposing American mercenaries in Yemen. One of the few journalists to report from Yemen first-hand, Nawal discusses the Delaware-registered private military company (PMC) contracted by the UAE
