The Gaza War Is Set To Spill Onto The Streets Of Western Cities

The question is not if but when Gaza-related violence will spill onto the streets of European and American cities.

This week’s killing in Beirut of Hamas executive Saleh al-Arouri significantly enhanced the threat posed by Hamas, Lebanese Shiite militia Hezbollah, and jihadists.

Adding to the increased threat of Gaza-related violence spilling into other parts of or beyond the Middle East, Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah, warned for the second time in a week that Hezbollah would retaliate.

“We’ll choose the right place and the right time, but the field will respond,” Nasrallah said in his second response to the Al-Arouri killing in Hezbollah’s stronghold in southern Beirut in as many days.

India’s export may fall $30 bln due to conflict in Red Sea

Total Indian exports may contract by about $30 bln in the financial year of 2023-2024 ending on March 31 due to the rise in container shipments rates because of the threat of Yemen’s Houthi rebels attacks against ships, The Business Standard newspaper says, citing the New Delhi-based Research and Information System for Developing Countries.

"The crisis in the Red Sea would indeed impact India’s trade and may lead to further contraction," Sachin Chaturvedi, the director general of the think-tank, told the newspaper.

"The threats have pushed Indian exporters to hold back around 25% of the outbound shipments transiting through the Red Sea," The Business Standard noted, citing director general of the Federation of Indian Export Organizations Ajay Sahai. According to economists, the use of other sea routes increases the delivery time of containers with Indian exports to EU member-states by several weeks and prompts the rise in transportation costs of a single 40 ft container from $2,000 to $6,000.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy Unveils New Warship

According to local reports, the Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis boasts advanced radar-evading technologies, a 14-day naval endurance, and a 2,000 nautical-mile radius.

In a ceremony held on Saturday in Iran’s southern port of Bandar Abbas, The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Navy unveiled a new batch of military equipment and systems, including a new domestically manufactured warship.

The Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis is a corvette-type vessel with a catamaran design which, according to Iran, has advanced radar-evading technologies, a 14-day naval endurance, and a 2,000 nautical-mile radius. The vessel is named after the deputy head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units who was assassinated alongside Quds Force commander Quasem Suleimani in a 2020 US drone strike.

Hezbollah’s media outlet Al Mayadeen reports that the IRGC Navy chief, Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, said during the ceremony that the corvette is akin to a “mobile maritime city.” According to Colton Jones on Defense Blog, analysts have identified several weapon systems, including 30mm and 20mm cannons, lightweight torpedoes, and six box launchers which can presumably house C802 anti-ship missiles.

The gang members in Ecuador taking over a TV station while launching other attacks is a case of "violent lobbying," a term coined by Benjamin Lessing

🔶️ It's an extreme example of gangsters in LatAm using this insurgent-like tactic but it's not the first.

⬛️ Here are other cases:

🔶️ Colombian capo Pablo Escobar unleashed massive violence against the government and civilians to get his way and exert pressure. His most infamous act was using a hitman to down Avianca Flight 203 in 1989. It killed all 107 occupants. As this included Americans, US courts acted.

🔶️ In 2006, Brazil's PCC gang - or First Commando of the Capital - rose up in prisons in São Paolo and carried out almost 300 attacks, burning banks,busses, and police stations and killing dozens of officers. The attack was likely in response to the prison transfer of its leaders.

🔶️ In 2015 in Jalisco, Mexico, gunmen from the Jalisco New Generation Cartel burned cars and trucks in what are called narco bloqueos and attacked police, soldiers. It was in response to an attempt to arrest boss El Mencho. They shot down an army helicopter, probably with a 50 cal.

🔶️ In 2019, gunmen for the Sinaloa Cartel rose up in Culiacán, Mexico, following the arrest of Ovidio, son of El Chapo. They took hostages, fought with soldiers and blockaded streets. The Mexican government finally let Ovidio go - although the Mexican army re-arrested him in 2023.

🔶️ It is "violent lobbying" because the gangsters are using bloodshed and terror to exert pressure. They want the government to back off or release a suspect or stop raiding their dope.

🔶️ It makes the government pay a cost to go after them - and governments will often back down.