🇺🇸 🇾🇪 💵 A $2M missile vs. a $2,000 drone: Pentagon worried over cost of Houthi attacks

⬛️ “That quickly becomes a problem because the most benefit ... is in their favor,” one expert said.

🔶️ As American warships rack up kills against Houthi drones and missiles in the Red Sea, Pentagon officials are increasingly alarmed not just at the threat to U.S. naval forces and international shipping — but at the growing cost of keeping them safe.

🔶️ U.S. Navy destroyers have shot down 38 drones and multiple missiles in the Red Sea over the past two months, according to a Defense Department official, as the Iran-backed militants have stepped up attacks on commercial vessels moving energy and oil through the world’s most vital shipping lanes. On Saturday alone, the destroyer USS Carney intercepted 14 one-way attack drones.

🔶️ Houthi leaders have said the attacks are a show of support for the Palestinians, and that they won’t stop until Israel halts its operations in Gaza. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday announced a new international maritime coalition to safeguard shipping and counter the attacks.

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/19/missile-drone-pentagon-houthi-attacks-iran-00132480

https://archive.ph/lHK3Y

🇸🇩 At least 250,000 flee fighting in Sudan's El Gezira state

At least 250,000 to 300,000 people have fled Sudan's El Gezira state since December 15 as a result of clashes between the Rapid Support Forces and Sudan's army, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Monday.

The RSF, at war with the army for the past eight months, has been advancing on El Gezira's state capital, Wad Madani, and its fighters entered the city earlier on Monday, witnesses said.

#Sudan

@africaintel

⚡️🇸🇩 The Sudanese Defense Ministry states that the retreat of the First Infantry Division from the city of Wad Madani, the second largest city in Sudan, was not sanctioned by the Commander in Chief, and they are now initiating an investigation into why the First Infantry Division has withdrawn.

@themediterraneanman

🚢 🌍 🛢 "The Red Sea Crisis is coming at a really nice time given the breakdown of relations between Russia and Europe. Petroleum flows through the Suez Canal are more than twice what they were before the Russo-Ukrainian war began."

📎 Big Serge

📢 🇸🇩 🏴‍☠️ Statement on the Occasion of Liberating the First Infantry Division and Madani City from the Remnants of the Former Regime

- General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo
RSF Commander
19 December, 2023.

🔶️ On this great and momentous day, marking the anniversary of the Glorious December Revolution 2019, our valiant forces have achieved yet another historic victory, as they successfully liberated the command of the First Infantry Division and the city of Madani, the capital of Gezira state, from the remnants of the former regime.

🔶️ The Rapid Support Forces (RSF) decided to move towards the headquarters of the 1st Infantry Division based on precise intelligence information, which confirmed the mobilization of the Sudanese Armed Forces leadership, in coordination with the leaders of the former regime, of tens of thousands of fighters to attack the RSF in Khartoum. In response to that imminent threat of attack, as confirmed by our reliable intelligence, we have invoked our legitimate right to carry out pre-emptive attacks and succeeded in expanding the scope territories liberated from the control of the remnants and supporters of the former regime.

🔽 Continued

https://fxtwitter.com/GeneralDagllo/status/1737146625410138370

🌐🚢 $35 billion. BILLION. In a few days. When you look at trade statistics sometimes you forget that there are physical ships moving the physical goods. Inflation is coming back folks.

📎 Philip Pilkington

🚢 🇮🇱 🇾🇪 "Israel's Eliat Port, due to the attacks has suffered an 80% drop in revenue after the Houthi blockade. Looks like the Houthis are getting what they wanted..."

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20231219-israel-revenue-from-eilat-port-drops-by-80-due-to-houthi-red-sea-attacks/

📎 AyazK

📝 🌍 🚢 Dawn of a new era

@CIG_telegram

📢 🇺🇸 🇾🇪 The US and its allies are considering possible military strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen - Bloomberg

🔶️ Planning is underway for actions intended to cripple the Houthis’ ability to target commercial ships, according to four people familiar with the matter

🔶️ Saudis are among those worried about provoking a wider war 🇸🇦

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-12-19/us-weighs-whether-to-attack-houthis-beyond-defensive-task-force

📎 Faytuks

Venezuela activates oil business units in an area disputed with Guyana, intensifying the dispute over the Esequibo.

https://cutt.ly/CBAN50VTR

⚓️ 🇺🇸 🇾🇪 The Washington Examiner reports that the United States and the United Kingdom have moved sensitive air and naval assets near Yemen. These movements indicate preparation for possible strikes against Houthi forces in that country.

🔶️ The Washington Examiner is not disclosing the identity of the military forces now positioned closer to Yemen, but they include both strike and supporting platforms the deployment of which has not publicly been disclosed

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/new-force-movements-suggest-us-and-uk-strikes-against-houthis-increasingly-likely

📎 Faytuks

🇵🇱🏳️‍🌈 Poland to Fast-Track Gay Marriage?

Poland’s new Europhile government may be poised to fast-track the legalisation of same-sex marriage following a legal diktat from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

The Strasbourg-based ECHR issued their verdict on Tuesday, declaring that current Polish statutes, which recognize marriage as between a man and a woman, violate the “right to respect for private and family life” outlined under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights in a six-to-one decision.

The ECHR, which is often accused of being a technocratic body used to impose socially liberal values on European nation-states, made the decision in response to a challenge by five same-sex couples.

This is not the first time the ECHR has been accused of meddling in the affairs of sovereign nations around LGBT issues. In 2010, the Court was instrumental in strongarming the Italian government into recognising same sex partnerships with the similarly worded Oliari v. Italy case.

The ruling on same-sex partnerships heralded by this week’s ECHR decision could be the opening salvo in a range of liberal policies to be enacted under the new Tusk government. The newly installed PM has said LGBT recognition would be a major symbolic victory over the old PiS regime despite Tusk having minimised abortion and other social issues during the campaign trail.

🔗 https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/poland-to-fastrack-gay-marriage/

🇲🇾 ❌️ 🇮🇱 Malaysia has banned Israeli ships from docking in their ports and passing through their waters.

🔶️ "This sanction is a response to Israel’s actions that disregard the basic humanitarian principles and violate international law through the ongoing massacre and continuous cruelty against the Palestinian people.”

✒️ Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim

📎 MintPress News

— 🇮🇱 Ben-Gvir: 'Now is the time for decisions' (regarding war against Hezbollah) - Twitter

@Middle_East_Spectator