Yemen's enigmatic Houthi leader is fierce battlefield commander - CNA

DUBAI: Abdul Malik al-Houthi, enigmatic leader of Yemen's Houthi fighters whose attacks on Red Sea shipping have drawn fire from the US and British militaries, created the defiant force challenging world powers from a ragtag militia in sandals.

Multiple shipping lines have suspended operations or taken the longer route around Africa because of the campaign by the Houthis, who rule most of Yemen after beating tough odds in a war against forces backed by powerhouse Saudi Arabia.

The Iran-backed militants have vowed to keep up the pressure on the global shipping trade, which could take a toll on the world economy, until Israel halts its bombardment of Gaza to wipe out Hamas, which is also backed by Iran.

The Houthis said they would hit back after US and British warplanes, ships and submarines struck across Yemen overnight in retaliation for the attacks on Red Sea shipping, a widening of regional conflict over the Gaza conflict that some analysts say could undermine the Houthis' hard-fought domestic gains.

"They have been able to survive the last eight years, have expanded their power, but now they are inviting air strikes from the world's most powerful military," said Tobias Borck, the Royal United Services Institute's Middle East Security Senior Research Fellow.

Al-Houthi established a reputation as a fierce battlefield commander before emerging as head of the Houthi movement, mountain fighters who have been battling a Saudi-led military coalition since 2015 in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands, devastated Yemen's economy and left millions hungry.

Under the direction of al-Houthi, who is in his 40s, the group has acquired tens of thousands of fighters and a huge arsenal of armed drones and ballistic missiles. It has used these to repeatedly strike strategic Saudi infrastructure despite years of bombings on its territory.

In January 2022, the Houthis raised the stakes with a missile attack on Gulf tourism and commercial hub the United Arab Emirates, like Saudi Arabia a key US ally.

"He (al-Houthi) managed to transform a rural militia mostly engaged in insurgency tactics into one of the most resilient non-state armed groups of the region," said Ludovico Carlino, principal analyst, Country Risk, Middle East and North Africa at HIS Markit.

In a speech in 2022, al-Houthi said its goal was to be able to strike any target in Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates, both major OPEC oil producers who view Iran and its proxies as major security threats to the Middle East and beyond.

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2024-01-12 15:16:00Z
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Taiwan Votes 2024: Outcome of presidential race to have broader impact on US-China ties - CNA

Mr Hou Yu-ih of the Kuomintang (KMT), China’s preferred contender, has emerged as the main challenger to the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate William Lai, who wishes to continue the incumbent president’s foreign policy. 

The other candidate they will face is former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je of the small Taiwan People's Party (TPP), only founded in 2019.

Despite KMT and TPP failing to agree on the terms of a coalition for a joint presidential bid, both sides concurred that Taiwan needs a change of government after eight years of DPP rule. 

Mr Hou introduced a '3D' cross-strait policy - deterrence, dialogue, de-escalation. Similarly, Mr Ko advocates deterrence and an increase in military budget to 3 per cent of the island's gross domestic product (GDP).

Cross-strait relations have been on a decline since Ms Tsai’s pro-independence DPP came to power in 2016.

"The biggest thing that US policymakers worry about is that Taiwan will flip suddenly and we will find ourselves looking at Taiwan which has either been enticed into a much closer relationship with the PRC (People’s Republic of China), or it will be coerced into a much closer relationship with Beijing,” said Professor Shelley Rigger from Davidson College in North Carolina, who specialises in Taiwanese politics and on the relationships among the US, China and Taiwan.

But in a region so volatile, charged and sensitive, any result may leave US-China ties once again fraught, cautioned Prof Rigger.

"My expectation would be that if the KMT wins, the PRC will perceive that to have happened in spite of the United States. If the DPP wins, the PRC will perceive that to have happened with the connivance of the United States. So either way, the US is somehow in the doghouse whatever the outcome may be,” she said.

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2024-01-12 09:43:24Z
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Taiwan parties to make final push for support in critical election - CNA

Ko has won a passionate support base, especially among young voters, for focusing on bread-and-butter issues like the high cost of housing. He also wants to re-engage China, but insists that cannot come at the expense of protecting Taiwan's democracy and way of life.

Tainan farmer Liu Ruen-shui, 70, plans to vote for the KMT.

"This is the most important (election) so far," Liu said. "Because if there's no change, things will just get worse and worse to the point of no return."

No matter who wins, China looms in the background.

Taiwan's government believes China is likely to attempt to put pressure on its incoming president after the island votes, including staging military manoeuvres near the island this spring, two senior government officials said.

Polls open at 8am and close at 4pm, with ballot counting by hand starting almost at once. There is no electronic, absentee, proxy or early voting.

The result should be clear by late evening on Saturday when the losers concede and the winner gives a victory speech.

Tsai is constitutionally barred from standing again after two terms in office.

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2024-01-12 07:46:00Z
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Taiwan Votes 2024: Beijing watches presidential race, dangling carrots for integration plans - CNA

Despite the criticisms, Mr Chen said he still found his experience studying in China invaluable.

He said that Taiwanese youths need more exposure in order to truly understand China, before passing judgement themselves.

The cross-strait integration plan unveiled by the Chinese State Council is part of China's longstanding strategy to foster closer ties with Taiwan.

“We will suppress pro-Taiwan independence forces while using a soft approach towards the Taiwanese people,” Professor Li Fei from Xiamen University’s Taiwan Research Center told CNA.

“It is a carrot-and-stick approach. The carrot is to promote cross-strait integration and preferential policies for the Taiwanese."

He added that despite many Taiwanese opposing reunification after seeing how Hong Kong is governed under the "One Country, Two Systems" principle, there is room for negotiation.

“The conditions for Taiwan’s 'One Country, Two Systems' may be discussed. 'One Country' is non-negotiable, but 'Two Systems' is negotiable. We are constantly adjusting and adapting it,” said Prof Li.

“We have to adapt it according to how we reunify with Taiwan. If it is a peaceful reunification, of course we can discuss the conditions. If it is a non-peaceful reunification, the system may be different."

BETWEEN WAR AND PEACE

Beijing has framed the upcoming Taiwanese presidential contest as a choice between war and peace.

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2024-01-12 01:10:00Z
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Israel to defend itself against Gaza genocide case at UN top court - CNA

Israel will on Friday (Jan 12) hit back at what it describes as "atrocious" allegations it is committing "genocide" in Gaza, in a closely watched landmark case before the UN's top court.

South Africa has launched an emergency case at the International Court of Justice arguing that Israel stands in breach of the UN Genocide Convention, signed in 1948 in the wake of the Holocaust.

Pretoria wants judges to force Israel to "immediately" stop the Gaza campaign launched after the devastating Oct 7 Hamas attacks, which left 1,140 dead, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Israel has responded with a relentless military campaign that has killed at least 23,469 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.

Israel and its ally the United States have dismissed the case as groundless and vowed a robust defence at the Peace Palace in The Hague, which houses the ICJ.

"No, South Africa, it is not we who have come to perpetrate genocide, it is Hamas," said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the run-up to the hearings.

"We will continue our defensive war, the justice and morality of which is without peer," he added.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the South African case was "unfounded".

"In fact, it is those who are violently attacking Israel who continue to openly call for the annihilation of Israel and the mass murder of Jews," said Miller.

The ICJ will likely rule within a matter of weeks on South Africa's request. Its rulings are final and legally binding but it has little power to enforce them.

A month after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the ICJ ordered a halt to the military operation - to no avail.

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2024-01-12 05:17:10Z
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US, Britain launch military strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen - The Straits Times

WASHINGTON - The United States and Britain have launched strikes against targets linked to the Houthi movement in Yemen, four US officials told Reuters on Jan 11, the first strikes against the Iran-backed group since it started targeting international shipping in the Red Sea late in 2023.

A Houthi official confirmed “raids” across the country, including in the capital Sanaa along with the cities of Saada and Dhamar as well as in Hodeidah governate, calling them “American-Zionist-British aggression”.

The ongoing strikes are one of the most dramatic demonstrations to date of the widening of Israel-Hamas war in the Middle East since its eruption in October.

One US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the strikes were being carried out by aircraft, ships and submarine. Two officials said Australia, Canada, Bahrain and the Netherlands provided support for the operation.

The official said more than a dozen locations were targeted and the strikes were intended to be more than just symbolic.

The Houthis, who control most of Yemen, defied a UN call to halt their missile and drone attacks on Red Sea shipping routes and warnings from the United States of consequences if they failed to do so.

The Houthis say their attacks are a demonstration of support for Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that controls Gaza. Israel has launched a military assault that has killed more than 23,000 Palestinians in Gaza after Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct 7, 2023.

The Houthi have attacked 27 ships to date, disrupting international commerce on the key route between Europe and Asia that accounts for about 15 per cent of the world’s shipping traffic.

Witnesses told Reuters that the raids on Jan 11 targeted a military base adjacent to Sanaa airport, a military site near Taiz airport, a Houthi naval base in Hodeidah and military sites in Hajjah Governorate.

A formal statement from the United States was soon expected to detail the strikes.

The Pentagon declined comment.

Earlier on Jan 11, the Houthis’ leader said any US attack on the group would not go without a response.

The Houthis, who seized much of Yemen in a civil war, have vowed to attack ships linked to Israel or bound for Israeli ports. However, many of the targeted ships have had no links to Israel.

The US military said on Jan 11, Houthis fired an anti-ship ballistic missile into international shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden, the 27th attack by the group since Nov 19, 2023.

US and British naval forces shot down 21 drones and missiles fired by Yemen-based Houthis on Jan 9 towards the southern Red Sea, the largest attack in the area by the militants.

In December, more than 20 countries agreed to participate in a US-led coalition, known as Operation Prosperity Guardian, safeguarding commercial traffic in the Red Sea. REUTERS

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2024-01-12 00:05:57Z
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US demands release of oil tanker taken by Iran's navy off Oman - CNA

COMMUNICATIONS LOST

Ambrey, a British maritime risk company, said the group which boarded the St Nikolas covered the ship's cameras. A security officer "reported hearing unknown voices over the phone along with the master's voice", it added.

Communications have been lost with the vessel, which was carrying 19 crew - 18 Filipinos and one Greek - the tanker's Greece-based management company Empire Navigation told AFP.

The vessel had been loaded with 145,000 tonnes of crude oil in Basra, Iraq and was destined for Aliaga in Turkey via the Suez Canal, Empire added.

Ambrey said the recently renamed tanker was previously prosecuted and fined for carrying sanctioned Iranian oil, which was confiscated by US authorities.

IRNA, quoting the Iranian navy's public relations office, said the ship was "being transferred to the ports of the Islamic republic for delivery to the judicial authorities".

In September, the United States said it had seized the Suez Rajan and its cargo of 980,000 barrels of crude oil months earlier.

The US Department of Justice said at the time that the oil on the Greek-managed tanker was allegedly being sold by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to China.

Shortly after that seizure, Iran seized two tankers - the Marshall Islands-flagged Advantage Sweet as it sailed toward the United States in the Gulf of Oman, and then the Greek-owned Niovi, as it travelled from Dubai to Fujairah.

The Gulf of Oman, a key route for the oil industry that separates Oman and Iran, has witnessed a series of hijackings and attacks over the years, often involving Iran.

Shipping in the resource-rich region is also on heightened alert following weeks of drone and missile attacks in the Red Sea by Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels.

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2024-01-11 18:22:05Z
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