The Wire Weekly Rollup - February 4-10, 2024

this is the wire weekly rollup for the week of February 4th through the 10th 20124 beginning with international events in the Red Sea Horn of Africa region this week conflict escalated in the form of more substantial attacks increased US air strikes in Yemen and allegedly newly fielded weapon systems throughout the week sycom confirmed US forces regularly engaged unmanned surface vehicles or usvs that were allegedly being staged for an attack no additional details were provided regarding this allegedly newly fielded weapon system on Tuesday houie forces continued their attacks on commercial shipping targeting two cargo vessels the merchant vessel starasia was targeted by several cruise missiles which impacted near the ship causing minor damage the merchant vessel Morning Tide was also targeted with three cruise missiles unsuccessfully in the Middle East the situation in Gaza having deteriorated significantly over the past few weeks has become increasingly more serious following the increase of tensions between Israel and Egypt these tensions come as Israeli rhetoric increasingly indicates imminent operation in the Philadelphia Corridor on the Egyptian border Thursday afternoon Israeli sources announced the commencement of operations in Rafa ordering the evacuation of the city in advance of the invasion similarly in the north large military exercises near the Lebanese border have also exacerbated the situation and possibly could be an indication of a widening conflict in response Egypt has deployed multiple battalions from the fourth Armored Division of the Third Field Army to the Border region in Europe farma protests continue as before including now well over two dozen Nations protests and demonstrations remain highly variable in different locations in Spain and France demonstrations are quite kinetic with police largely not effective in reducing the impact of protesters actions in Switzerland a 32-year-old Iranian Asylum applicant armed with an axe held 15 people hostage on a train in Veron Wednesday night after several hours of negotiation the asent was shot by police breaching the train no hostages were injured during the ordeal on the home front in California early Wednesday morning a US Marine Corps ch-53 Echo super stallan helicopter went missing in transit from CRE Air Force Base in Nevada to Marine Corps Air Station myamar search and rescue efforts were challenging due to weather conditions and the rugged terrain in the vicinity of the aircraft's last reported position Thursday rescue teams located the crash site in Pine Valley and recovered the remains of all five crew members no further details have been provided on the cause or exact location of the crash analyst comments for this wire in 20124 a red line issued by an Arab State doesn't mean too much but the Egyptian response to the situation in Raa will largely be dependent on Israel's actions Egyptian forces have already deployed a few dozen tanks to the Border region but there are few indications that Egypt seeks to initiate conflict despite previous claims however as the US has dispatched the CIA director to conduct yet another visit to Egypt the arrival of the harbinger of nothing good is likely to increase tensions as intended a complicating factor is the characterization of the tensions between Israel and the Arab world for instance on the face relations with all Arab states suffer due to the Israeli occupation of Gaza however behind the scenes and away from the rhetoric many Arab states have taken efforts to Aid Israel for instance a joint project between Jordan Saudi Arabia and the UAE includes the creation of an Overland trade route to allow shipping companies to avoid the Red Sea trade route and allow for the delivery of cargo to Israel over the past few days and very quietly cargo vessels have been observed leaving port s in Egypt and delivering cargo to Israel this cargo could be aid for Palestine or it could be supplies for Israel either way it's unlikely that the situation can be described simply due to the vastly differing competing interests present at the multiple levels of this conflict this alone highlights the highly complex nature of tensions in the region this concludes the wire weekly rollup for the week of February 4th through the 10th 2024