US ‘not seeking regional conflict’ in Middle East, security adviser Jake Sullivan tells WEF

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Updated 22 January 2024
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US ‘not seeking regional conflict’ in Middle East, security adviser Jake Sullivan tells WEF

  • Biden administration pursuing ‘steady deterrence and steadfast diplomacy’ to de-escalate tensions, Jake Sullivan tells WEF

DAVOS: Washington is “not looking for a regional conflict” in the Middle East, Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, told the World Economic Forum in Davos on Tuesday, against a backdrop of mounting turmoil in the Red Sea.

“Through a combination of steady deterrence and steadfast diplomacy we seek to stop the spread of conflict and create the conditions for de-escalation,” Sullivan said in a special address.

The administration of US President Joe Biden was focused on “moving towards greater integration and stability in the region,” Sullivan said, but cautioned that the situation in the Middle East was likely to get worse before it gets any better.

“We are eagerly working with partners throughout the region to try and pursue a pathway. But in the meantime, we have to guard against and be vigilant against the possibility that, in fact, rather than heading towards de-escalation, we are on a path of escalation that we have to manage.”

Sullivan’s comments come just days after a US-led coalition carried out strikes on Houthi positions in Yemen in retaliation for the Iran-backed militia’s recent spate of attacks on commercial shipping routes in the Red Sea.

On Sunday, the US said it had shot down a missile fired towards one of its warships from a Houthi area of Yemen. A day later, the group said they had carried out a ballistic missile strike on a US-owned cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden. The US has since retaliated.

Several vessels have been targeted by the militia’s fighters since November in protest at Israel’s war with Hamas. The Houthis say they are targeting vessels which are Israeli-owned, flagged or operated, or are heading to Israeli ports.

Indicating that further attacks on shipping were likely, necessitating further strikes against the Houthi targets, Sullivan said: “We did not say when we launched our attacks that (Houthi strikes) were going to end once and for all.”

Sullivan said that a halt to Houthi attacks on shipping would depend on the cooperation of “those with influence in Tehran” as well as the support of US allies in the Middle East.

Turning to the conflict in Gaza, Sullivan said the US envisaged a post-war scenario where Israel continued toward normalization with its Arab neighbors, which he said was the only path to lasting, guaranteed security for Israel, as well as a state for the Palestinians.

“I know that in this moment when there’s so much anger and pain and so much uncertainty it’s hard to imagine, but it really is the only path that provides peace and security for all.”

Sullivan said the world “needed a Palestinian state” and that this was achievable “not years from now, but in the short term, if everyone takes courageous decisions and chooses that path.”

Israel launched its military operation in Gaza in retaliation for the unprecedented Hamas attack of Oct. 7, in which the group’s fighters breached the Israeli border in several places, killing some 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and taking another 240 hostage.

More than a hundred days of fighting, incessant bombardment, and restrictions on the flow of humanitarian aid into the territory has resulted in more than 24,000 deaths, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

The conflict has since spread to other parts of the Middle East, with groups allied with Iran and Hamas carrying out their own attacks, including exchanges of fire between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, attacks on US interests in Iraq, and Israeli strikes against Syria.

While reiterating Washington’s support for Israel’s right to defend itself following the Oct. 7 attacks carried out by Hamas militants, Sullivan called on the Israeli government to abide by its obligations under international law.

“This (right) does not lessen at all Israel’s responsibility to conduct its campaign in a way that upholds international humanitarian law and abides by the moral and strategic necessity to distinguish between terrorists and innocent civilians.”

Sullivan was among a senior US delegation, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, which met with Ukraine’s President Volodomyr Zelensky in Davos earlier on Tuesday. 

During his address, Sullivan reiterated that Washington was fully supportive of the Ukrainian war effort and said he was confident the US Congress would approve more aid for Kyiv “after a lot of twists and turns,” adding that the Biden administration was “seeking to get that done in the coming weeks.”

Sullivan also made reference to growing tensions between the US and China and said Washington’s restrictions on Beijing’s import of advanced chips was about ensuring American national security and not a barrier to commerce between the two countries.

“I want to be clear that these tailored measures are not a technology blockade. They do not seek to, nor in fact do they, restrict broader trade and investment,” he said.

He added that the restrictions were a “broad carve-out for commercial chips, the kind of chips that can help power economic progress,” and that strategic competitors with the US “should not be able to exploit American technologies to undermine our national security or that of our allies and partners.”


At least 58 corpses found in Libyan hospital, ministry says

Updated 20 May 2025
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At least 58 corpses found in Libyan hospital, ministry says

  • The corpses found on Monday are the second set of unidentified remains discovered in recent days

TRIPOLI: At least 58 unidentified corpses were found on Monday in a hospital in Tripoli that was under the control of a militia whose leader was killed last week, the interior ministry said.
The corpses were found in a morgue refrigerator in Abu Salim Accidents Hospital in the densely populated Abu Salim neighborhood, following a report from the hospital, the ministry said in a statement.
Pictures of corpses with numbers and censored faces were posted by the ministry, showing remains in various states of decomposition on steel carriers and beds. Some of the remains were burnt. An investigation was underway to establish the identities of the deceased.
“So far, 23 corpses have been examined, and all necessary legal procedures have been taken, including documenting data and collecting samples,” the ministry said.
Abu Salim was home to a militia known as the Stabilization Support Apparatus, whose chief, Abdulghani Kikli, widely known as Ghaniwa, was killed in unconfirmed circumstances last Monday.
Kikli’s killing led to the sudden defeat of the SSA by factions aligned to internationally recognized Prime Minister Abdulhamid Al-Dbeibah of the Government of National Unity (GNU).
On Tuesday, Dbeibah ordered armed groups to be dismantled, triggering the fiercest clashes Tripoli had seen in years between two armed groups. The clashes killed at least eight civilians, according to the United Nations.
The corpses found on Monday are the second set of unidentified remains discovered in recent days. On Saturday, officials said nine corpses had been found in a morgue refrigerator in Al-Khadra hospital, another SSA-controlled hospital in the Abu Salim neighborhood.
The militia had not reported the corpses to the relevant authorities, the interior ministry said.
Dbeibah said on Saturday that eliminating militias was an “ongoing project,” as a ceasefire after last week’s clashes remained in place.
The GNU posted a video on Monday showing bulldozers demolishing the so-called 77 camp, one of the biggest facilities that was under control of SSA. The camp is to be turned into a national park.
Libya has had little stability since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising ousted longtime autocrat Muammar Qaddafi. The country split in 2014 between rival eastern and western factions, though an outbreak of major warfare paused with a truce in 2020.


Netanyahu says UK-French-Canada condemnation gives ‘huge prize’ to Hamas

Updated 20 May 2025
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Netanyahu says UK-French-Canada condemnation gives ‘huge prize’ to Hamas

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday hit back at condemnation of his country’s military offensive in Gaza by the leaders of France, Canada and Britain saying they had given a “huge prize” to Hamas.
“By asking Israel to end a defensive war for our survival before Hamas terrorists on our border are destroyed and by demanding a Palestinian state, the leaders in London, Ottawa and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on October 7 while inviting more such atrocities,” Netanyahu said in a statement, referring to the October 2023 attack that set off the Gaza war.


Palestinian hospital chief calls for pressure on Israel

Updated 20 May 2025
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Palestinian hospital chief calls for pressure on Israel

HELSINKI: An East Jerusalem hospital chief told AFP on Monday that Gaza was in a “catastrophic” state after weeks of a complete blockade of humanitarian aid and called on countries to act to end the suffering of civilians.
Fadi Atrash, chief executive of the Augusta Victoria-Hospital in East Jerusalem — which helps Palestinians from the occupied territories and Gaza — said he could no longer “find the words” to describe the crisis faced by people in war-torn Gaza.
“We are facing a very, very critical and catastrophic situation,” he said, with all components of the health care system destroyed, and health care workers “running out of energy.”
Augusta Victoria, which had a hospital in Gaza that has been destroyed in Israeli bombings now provides health care in Gaza with the limited resources available, Atrash said.
Atrash visited Finland — which has not recognized Palestine as a state — on Monday as part of a tour of the Nordic countries.
“My main message for the Nordic countries is to put pressure to stop the war, to stop the killing.”
Humanitarian food, medical and fuel supplies have been blocked from entering Gaza for 11 weeks, and the World Health Organization has warned that two million people face starvation.
Finland’s President Alexander Stubb joined other European leaders on Monday to call on Israel to guarantee the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Stubb also said “forced displacement of populations is a war crime and cannot form part of any solution,” in a post on X.
Israel this month approved an expanded military offensive in Gaza but has agreed to let limited aid into Gaza.


Gaza civil defense says 91 killed in Israeli strikes Monday

Updated 20 May 2025
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Gaza civil defense says 91 killed in Israeli strikes Monday

GAZA CITY: A Gaza civil defense official said that 91 people were killed in strikes and attacks throughout Monday as Israel steps up an offensive in the Palestinian territory.
The deaths had been recorded since the early hours of Monday, according to Mohammed Al-Mughayyir, an official in the civil defense agency of the Hamas-run territory. The department had earlier given a toll of 52 dead.


Yemen’s Houthis threaten Israeli port

Updated 20 May 2025
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Yemen’s Houthis threaten Israeli port

SANAA: Yemen’s Houthis said Monday that they would target Haifa port in Israel as part of a “naval blockade” in response to Israeli escalation in the Gaza war.
The Houthis would “begin working to enforce a naval blockade of the port of Haifa,” said military spokesman Yehya Saree.
“All companies with ships present in or heading to this port are hereby notified that, as of the time of this announcement, the aforementioned port has been included in the target bank,” the Houthi spokesman added.
The move was “in response to the Israeli enemy’s escalation of its brutal aggression against our people and in Gaza,” he said, adding their attacks on Israel would “cease once the aggression on Gaza ends and the blockade is lifted.”
Earlier on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his country will “take control” of the whole of Gaza, as rescuers reported dozens killed in a newly intensified offensive.