Transcript:
The Inside Story: Military Conflicts
Episode 129 – February 1, 2024
Show Open:
This week on The Inside Story
Us President Joe Biden vows a response to Iran-allied militias blamed for the deaths of three American service members in Jordan.
Tightening tensions in the Middle East as Israel's war on Hamas sparks wider regional conflict.
The flow of goods interrupted by Houthi militants in a key supply route.
And we continue our coverage of Russia's war on Ukraine, now just weeks away from entering its third year.
Now, on The Inside Story... Military Conflicts.
The Inside Story:
KATHERINE GYPSON, VOA Correspondent:
I’m Katherine Gypson from Washington.
It’s been almost four months since militant Hamas fighters conducted a pre-dawn raid inside Israel. Over a thousand people, were killed and over a hundred were taken hostage.
The Israeli response has caused tens of thousands of Palestinian deaths and created a humanitarian crisis… now made worse by charges some UN relief agency workers were involved in the Oct. 7th attacks.
And as the Israeli military offensive continues, fighting has expanded outward, claiming the lives of US Troops, and drawing the US military into the conflict. It is also threatening the flow of economic goods through the Red Sea, and beyond.
All this, and a look at the situation in Europe and Ukraine on today’s Inside Story.
President Joe Biden is vowing to respond after a drone strike by Iranian-backed militias killed three U.S. service members in northeast Jordan near the Syrian border.
The White House says the attack was carried out by Iranian backed militant groups, and that has some Republican members of Congress urging President Biden to go straight to the source, and attack Iran. Iran denies any involvement.
Any response by the U.S. Is likely to further escalate and expand the conflict sparked by the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel. From Washington, VOA’s Anita Powell starts us off this week.
ANITA POWELL, VOA White House Correspondent:
The White House is under pressure to react after a drone strike Sunday killed three U.S. service members in Jordan, an act Washington blames on Iranian-backed militias operating in nearby Syria and Iraq.
On Monday, administration officials expressed confidence that Iran was behind the attack but did not give details. Nor would officials lay out their next move.
John Kirby, National Security Council:
I'm not going to telegraph any punches here from the podium. Nor will I get in front of the president or his decision-making. As he said yesterday, we will respond. We'll do that on our schedule and our time, and we'll do it in the manner of the president's choosing, as commander-in-chief, will also do it fully cognizant of the fact that these groups, backed by Tehran, have just taken the lives of American troops.
ANITA POWELL:
But, Kirby said, one thing is clear:
John Kirby, National Security Council:
We are not looking for a war with Iran. We are not seeking a conflict with the regime in the military way.
ANITA POWELL:
Iranian officials on Monday denied responsibility.
Nasser Kanaani, Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
We are not seeking tensions even with America, inside or outside the region. The Islamic Republic of Iran seriously believes in political solutions to international and regional disputes.
ANITA POWELL:
The head of NATO, in Washington on Monday, also expressed his concerns and pointed a finger at Iran.
Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary-General:
We see Iran continue to destabilize the region. Iran also bears responsibility for backing terrorists who attack ships in the Red Sea. Tehran's behavior reminds us of what a world without rules looks like: unpredictable and dangerous, a world where our security becomes more expensive.
ANITA POWELL:
It is also clear that this strike is part of the fallout from Israel’s ongoing military operation in Gaza after militant group Hamas conducted a stunning attack on civilians on October 7. And, analysts say, one more thing is clear:
Bernard Hudson, Former CIA Official:
Clearly, the U.S. strategy — if it was, starting three months ago, not to let regional tensions escalate – that strategy has failed.
ANITA POWELL:
And from Jordan’s capital – far from the drone strike — residents and analysts say they feel this represents a new phase in this conflict.
Amer Sabaileh, Political Analyst:
This attack represents a new dimension of this conflict, actually. Targeting the American troops inside Jordan or on the Jordanian border represents that this targeting is expanding from Syria to Iraq and now to Jordan.
ANITA POWELL:
So what now? It rests on these shoulders.
Joe Biden, US President:
We lost three brave souls in an attack on one of our bases. I’m asking for a moment of silence for all three of our fallen soldiers.” (Biden during moment) “And we shall respond. God bless you all.
ANITA POWELL:
Anita Powell, VOA News, Washington.
KATHERINE GYPSON:
The United Nations has launched an independent investigation into their Relief and Works Agency, UNRWA, following Israeli claims that some of its members were involved in the October seventh Hamas terror attack in Israel. The U.S. is among several countries that have since suspended financing to the agency.
Just across the border from where UNRWA operates, Israel says that agency is politicized and has perpetuated the Palestinian refugee issue. Palestinians say UNRWA is important for providing essential services especially now with the war in Gaza. Linda Gradstein has this report.
LINDA GRADSTEIN, VOA Correspondent:
The U.S. Congressional Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee is holding hearings this week into whether the United States should permanently cut off funding to UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in charge of supporting the 1.5 million Palestinians defined as refugees in Gaza.
UNRWA’s funding has been temporarily suspended by 16 countries, including the U.S. and the EU, in response to recent Israeli revelations that UNRWA staff actively participated in the October 7 Hamas massacre in Israel.
Israel has presented proof of acts committed by at least 12 UNRWA staffers, including kidnapping an Israeli woman and participating in a massacre on a kibbutz. In addition, about 10% of UNRWA’s Gaza employees have links to Islamist militant groups and 50% have close relatives who belong to those groups, according to U.N. Watch, the watchdog group bringing evidence to the Congressional committee.
Hillel Neuer, UN Watch Executive Director:
We are releasing a new report entitled “UNRWA’s Terrorgram” where we expose an UNRWA Telegram group of 3000 teachers in Gaza. The purpose of the group is to exchange information for UNRWA teachers. Interspersed among 240,000 messages that we downloaded before they were deleted, they repeatedly celebrate terrorism on October 7 and thereafter.
LINDA GRADSTEIN:
UNRWA has a staff of 13,000 in Gaza, most of them teachers in UNRWA schools. In response to the Israeli allegations, the agency says it has fired 9 people and will continue to investigate. But some Israelis analysts say the problem with UNRWA goes far beyond today’s crisis. They say that UNRWA has perpetuated the status of Palestinians as refugees, rather than resettling them like millions of other refugees from other conflicts.
Einat Wilf, former MK Labor party:
UNRWA started as a temporary agency with good intentions, to settle the Arab refugees from the war of 47, 48, 49. There was nothing special about it. Tens of millions of refugees were settled at the time, post imperial wars, some of them with temporary agencies. None of them nor their hundreds of millions of descendants are called refugees today.
LINDA GRADSTEIN:
Wilf and other Israeli analysts say UNRWA has not resettled Palestinians from Gaza in order to keep alive their nationalistic goal of returning to their former homes in the territory now recognized as Israel.
Adi Schwartz, Political Analyst Ben-Gurion Research Institute for the Study of Israel & Zionism:
What we are seeing is not an agency that works for humanitarian issues, but an agency which is serving a political purpose, which is to undo the state of Israel.
LINDA GRADSTEIN:
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Israeli evidence against UNRWA is “very very credible” but also said that UNRWA plays a crucial role in distributing needed aid in Gaza. Palestinian officials say defunding UNRWA will be collective punishment and make the difficult humanitarian situation during the war in Gaza even worse.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, Palestinian Presidential Spokesman:
This step simultaneously taken during the war in Gaza sends a wrong message. There is a war against the Palestinian people. This decision is incorrect and should be stopped immediately. We urge all these countries to repay the UNRWA because it is a humanitarian issue.
LINDA GRADSTEIN:
Palestinians fear that if UNRWA is unable to operate in Gaza, the more than a million people sheltering in UNRWA schools will suffer an even greater humanitarian crisis.
Linda Gradstein for VOA News, Jerusalem.
KATHERINE GYPSON:
Israel’s war on Hamas continues to sow chaos beyond Israel’s borders. Hundreds of cargo ships moving from Asia to Europe are now avoiding the Red Sea and Suez Canal route due to persistent attacks and hijackings by Houthi militants responding to the war. The International Chamber of Shipping, a major trade group, says these incidents are causing significant disruptions in global commerce. That means higher costs and delays. Jonathan Spier narrates this report from Alfonso Beato in Barcelona, one of the main ports in Europe handling cargo from the Red Sea.
JONATHAN SPIER, VOA Correspondent:
Activity is up at the Port of Barcelona where major shipping companies are now entering the Mediterranean, opting to circumnavigate Africa to avoid Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
The violence has disrupted a crucial trade route at the Suez Canal between Asia and Europe. The European Shippers Council says the attacks have increased shipping costs, with carriers imposing substantial surcharges per container.
Jordi Torrent, Port of Barcelona:
Since the vessels were diverted two months ago, the main effect is that the vessels have arrived at the port of Barcelona or any other Western Mediterranean port within two, three weeks, or ten days of delay. This was the main effect at the beginning, and the other fact that is still taking place, obviously, is that the prices of maritime transportation have increased by more than 100% compared to the prices before the war started.
JONATHAN SPIER:
China and Southern Asian countries accounted for 30% of European imports in the first half of 2023, and taking longer routes is having a widespread effect.
Jordi Torrent, Port of Barcelona:
The biggest commercial partner of Europe is Asia, so everything that we consume in part, in total, goes through the Suez Canal, so all sectors were affected. We have seen what happened in the Tesla Factory in Germany that had to stop production for a few days.
JONATHAN SPIER:
Due to component shortages, Tesla announced it was halting most car production at its Berlin factory from January 29 through February 11th, potentially threatening the manufacture of as many as 7,000 vehicles.
The supply chain disruptions are also hitting small businesses.
Pilar Texeido, Shop Owner:
We have several providers here at the store who have notified us that they will have problems supplying merchandise since because it’s manufactured in southeast Asia and everything that is related to maritime transport is being complicated due to this conflict.
JONATHAN SPIER:
Israel's plan to destroy Hamas continues, and so do the attacks by Yemen´s Houthis on passing cargo vessels. Analysts say the supply chain disruptions represent a new blow to a European economy that’ s already fighting inflation and a mild recession.
For Alfonso Beato in Barcelona, Jonathan Spier, VOA News.
KATHERINE GYPSON:
VOA’s Heather Murdoch has been covering this regional conflict for many years and she joins me in Istanbul, Turkey to share her insight on the growing U.S. military involvement.
What are you hearing about the reaction to this attack on the US military?
HEATHER MURDOCK, VOA Correspondent:
This is the first time US military personnel have been killed since this conflict in its current form began in October. And for the people who live here, average people that aren't involved particularly in the conflict, the reaction is generally fear because the US soldiers being killed means that there's going to be a reaction from the US, which could also prompt a reaction from Iran. And in countries like Iraq, where this attack was initiated, civilians are, of course, always afraid and rightly so that this conflict between the United States and Iran will end up in their backyards.
This, of course, has emboldened militants groups in Iraq and Syria, in Lebanon. You know, the US military is a favorite target among a lot of these Iran, Allied militant groups, and this, from their perspective would be a success. But this also raises tensions between the countries these major powers, the US and Iran have been fighting through via proxies for decades in this region in several countries. So the closer they get to fighting each other directly, the more people are afraid that all out war will spread far beyond the Gaza and Israel fight.
The idea that the United States or Iran would attack each other directly, is probably the foremost fear on people's minds right now.
KATHERINE GYPSON:
When Republican members of Congress tied any additional Ukraine funding to progress on immigration enforcement – they created a legislative logjam that has
kept US senators locked in negotiations for the past four months.
The White House wants $60 billion in humanitarian and military aid for Ukraine last October, Republicans say only if the White House increases funding for domestic border security and changes the US asylum system.
Two of the toughest issues in American politics - additional aid to Ukraine to fight Russian aggression and immigration enforcement - have kept US senators locked in negotiations for the past four months. Support for sending more aid to Ukraine decreased among Republican lawmakers throughout 2023.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D. – NY, Senate Majority Leader:
The security of our southern border is on the line. The security of Israel is on the line. The health and safety of innocent Gaza civilians is on the line. The stability of the Indo Pacific region is on the line. And finally—as every Senator on both sides knows—the survival of Ukraine is on the line.
KATHERINE GYPSON:
After the White House asked for $60 billion in humanitarian and military aid for Ukraine last October, Republicans said they will only vote for more assistance if it was paired to increased funding for domestic border security and changes to the US asylum system. Democrats - and some Republicans - have warned that failing to send more aid to Ukraine will result in a victory for Russian president Vladimir Putin.
KATHERINE GYPSON:
Following the Turkish parliament’s approval of Sweden’s bid to join NATO, Hungary is now the only member state blocking Swedish entry into the alliance.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban publicly invited his Swedish counterpart for negotiations in Budapest. Sweden refused. Sweden has often criticized a perceived democratic backslide in Hungary, and it now hopes to isolate Orban.
HENRY RIDGWELL, VOA Correspondent:
Nearly two years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the conflict grinds on into a war of attrition – and NATO is adapting to the threat from Moscow.
The alliance this week launched Steadfast Defender 24, its largest military exercises since the Cold War. Over the coming months, some 90-thousand NATO military personnel will take part in a range of drills across Europe, like those seen here in Romania in 2023. Fifty naval vessels, eighty aircraft and over a thousand combat vehicles are involved.
Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary-General:
We do all of this to show we have the readiness, preparedness and the forces in place to remove any room for miscalculation or misunderstanding in Moscow about our readiness to protect every inch of NATO territory.
HENRY RIDGWELL:
The logistical challenge of moving soldiers and equipment is a vital part of the exercises.
Liana Fix, Council on Foreign Relations:
So how do they get there? And how do they get there quick? Because the war in Ukraine has shown that being too slow means that a part of your territory can be occupied and has to be re-conquered.
HENRY RIDGWELL:
Sweden, which hopes to join the alliance in the coming months, will also take part.
It’s the biggest NATO drill since the Reforger exercises of the 1980s.
But while NATO flexes its muscles, its ally Ukraine is running low on ammunition – as military aid packages in both the United States and the European Union remain blocked by political infighting.
Liana Fix, Council on Foreign Relations:
The narrative from Ukraine is that Ukraine is defending NATO. And that is a valid narrative if one follows the logic that Ukraine is actually diminishing Russia’s army, has diminished Russia’s army, and has diminished the military threat that Russia poses to the NATO alliance. So from Ukraine’s perspective, it must be a lonely moment to watch this NATO exercise.
HENRY RIDGWELL:
NATO this week signed a contract for 220-thousand rounds of artillery ammunition to replenish members’ stockpiles that have been depleted through supplying Ukraine – but they will take two to three years to arrive.
Henry Ridgwell, VOA News, London.
KATHERINE GYPSON:
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials say they uncovered massive military fraud in a scheme that saw tens of millions of dollars exchanged for weapons that never materialized. The discovery follows the downing of a Russian plane said to be carrying Ukrainian POWs. Arash Arabasadi has this story.
ARASH ARABASADI, VOA Correspondent:
Soldiers holding defensive positions near the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut fire artillery rounds after last year’s counteroffensive failed to pierce heavily fortified Russian positions in the south and east of Ukraine.
They say the one thing they always need is more ammunition.
It is against this backdrop that the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, announced it charged five people with embezzling some 40 million dollars meant to buy 100-thousand mortar shells. The money changed hands. The weapons never came.
Rooting-out corruption was and remains a key pillar in Ukraine’s bid to join NATO and the EU, with officials from both groups demanding Kyiv address internal fraud.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin continues striking Ukrainian targets like residential buildings and civilian infrastructure.
But it was in Saint Petersburg just days ago that a court convicted Darya Trepova for a terror attack on Russian soil in April 2023.
Trepova was charged with delivering an explosive device to a pro-war Russian blogger as he gave a talk at a local café. She called it all a set up — saying she thought she was delivering a listening device and not a bomb that could have also killed her.
She was sentenced to 27 years.
All this comes as wartime officials disputed each other’s accounts of the downing of a Russian military plane said to be carrying 74 people – including 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers – en route to a supposed-prisoner swap for Russian POWs.
Moscow has provided little evidence to back its claims that Ukraine shot down the jet or that captured soldiers were onboard. Ukraine says Russia is so far blocking an international investigation while Kyiv neither confirms nor denies involvement in the crash.
Arash Arabasadi, VOA News.
KATHERINE GYPSON:
It’s easy to see the impact the wars in Israel and Ukraine are having on the countries and people that call those regions home... we see it in lives lost, in homes destroyed, and in civilians fleeing the chaos.
But researchers say it’s also having a big impact on the entire planet and that war is making the world’s climate crisis worse. Veronica Balderas has more.
VERONICA BALDERAS IGLESIAS, VOA Correspondent:
The rubble from some 170,000 buildings damaged in the war in Gaza is more than just a humanitarian concern. It’s also an environmental one.
Linsey Cottrell, The Conflict and Environment Observatory:
What’s the likelihood that there may be storage of chemicals, fuel tanks and other materials that may cause contamination. // The environmental quality of existing groundwater supplies are already poor and that has been exacerbated by the current conflict.
VERONICA BALDERAS IGLESIAS:
Scientists are trying to assess the environmental impacts of the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Studies include war-related forest fires and pollution from weapons -- significant threats to humans, wildlife and ecosystems in Ukraine, researchers warn.
Nickolaï Denisov, Zoï Environment Network:
Any ordinance which is explosive, when it explodes it can set up new fires, it definitely produces more chemicals that come out.
VERONICA BALDERAS IGLESIAS:
Separate researchers in Europe, the U.K. and the U.S. are making pioneering efforts to measure war-related greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.
Lennard de Klerk, Initiative on GHG Accounting of War:
Greenhouse gas emissions you don’t measure directly, so you derive them from the amount of fuel that has been used, or the amount of fire, so we have different kinds of sources.
VERONICA BALDERAS IGLESIAS:
One peer-reviewed study conducted inside Ukraine says the first 18 months of war produced more greenhouse gases than the annual emissions of Austria, Portugal, or Hungary.
But the lack of international guidelines to measure emissions from conflict, the limited opportunities for field research, and the secrecy surrounding military operations mean that estimates are not always precise or conclusive. Nonetheless those making them argue they are important to better understand and improve the global fight against climate change.
Benjamin Neimark, Queen Mary University of London:
If we haven’t learned anything over the past few years, you know, extreme weather events from floods to extreme temperatures, to you know, a whole host of salinity problems, you know, this is at our front door.
VERONICA BALDERAS IGLESIAS:
Holding climate polluters accountable remains a challenge. Under the current international reporting system, countries report the greenhouse gas emissions produced in their own territory. There are no formal guidelines to measure those emissions from a conflict or a legal framework to attribute responsibility.
Rostyslav Bun, Lviv Polytechnic National University:
International efforts will be needed from scientists, policymakers to develop some new guidelines.
VERONICA BALDERAS IGLESIAS:
The U.S. military backs the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, but the Pentagon says it takes the threat from climate change seriously, Press Secretary Major General Pat Ryder told VOA.
Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon Press Secretary:
When it comes to climate change, and the effect of climate change, the department has been very clear to include referencing it in our national defense strategy, that we as a U.S. military, need to adapt and be ready to address the kinds of challenges that climate change presents.
VERONICA BALDERAS IGLESIAS:
Researchers underlined that while mitigating environmental and climate change impacts must remain a top concern, addressing the humanitarian crisis and civilian suffering in war zones must also take precedence.
Veronica Balderas Iglesias, VOA News, Washington.
KATHERINE GYPSON:
Thank you for being with us on The Inside Story.
Stay up to date with all the latest news at VOANews.com.
You can follow me on X formerly known as Twitter @ KGYP
Catch up on past episodes at our free streaming service, VOA Plus.
For all of those behind the scenes who brought you today’s show, I’m Katherine Gypson.
We’ll see you next week for The Inside Story.
