Posted by BW Actual on Jul 3rd 2024
BLACKWATER USA | DAILY BRIEF
Gaza
- According to the NYT, Israel's top military leaders have joined global calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, even if it means leaving Hamas in power.
- PM Netanyahu would be loath to accept that outcome: he's gambled his fragile coalition's far-right support on his repeated commitments to destroy Hamas.
- Thousands of Gazans fled Khan Younis after Israel issued new evacuation orders yesterday. The new orders were apparently spurred by a volley of around 20 Hamas rockets that Israel says were fired from Khan Younis the day before.
- After "enabling civilians to evacuate from the area," Israeli forces fired back overnight.
- This is the second time Israel has launched an operation to root militants out of Khan Younis. It declared its first ground operation there a success in early April after about five months of fighting, but militants apparently returned after Israeli troops moved on to Rafah.
- Pyongyang claimed that one of the two Hwasong-11Da-4.5 missiles it tested on Monday carried a "super-large [dummy] warhead" akin to the bunker busters South Korea has developed to target underground hideouts.
- It seems it didn't carry the dummy warhead very far: one of those two missiles North Korea fired on Monday promptly crashed into an empty field near the launch site. It would make sense if that was the one carrying the "super-large" payload, as ballistic missiles like this usually carry warheads weighing less than a ton. It would've struggled to fly with the 4.5 ton warhead Pyongyang claims was aboard.
- Hungary's PM Orban paid a surprise visit to Kyiv just after his country took over the rotating presidency of the EU.
- Orban's visit surprised many, since he's been the EU's most Kremlin-friendly leader and the sole voice against several EU measures supporting Ukraine.
- Analysts say he wants to improve his credibility as a neutral actor and end the isolation he's faced in Europe for aligning with Putin and in opposition to the rest of the bloc.
- Hyundai and batterymaker LG Energy Solution opened Southeast Asia's first electric vehicle (EV) plant. Pres. Widodo wants his country to leverage its massive nickel reserves - which are the world's largest - to become an "important global player" in the EV market.
- DRC's state-owned mining companies began selling copper directly to buyers for the first time. Previously, the parastatals' joint-venture partners were responsible for all sales and the state simply collected its share of proceeds. DRC believes (probably correctly) that it can capture more of the supply chain's profits through direct sales.
- At least 120 people died in a stampede at a hot, overcrowded Hindu religious gathering in Uttar Pradesh. Indian authorities have done more in recent years to enforce crowd control at large gatherings like this, but stampedes are still common.
- Egyptian media reported that PM Madbouly plans to shake up his cabinet in a bid to overhaul the economy. After a decade of debt-funded spending, Egypt badly needs new investment.