Bill and Joe catch up on the latest news from the Middle East, including U.S. pressure on Israel (led by Secretary of State Blinken) to come to a permanent ceasefire in Gaza while the U.S. also considers withdrawing its own troops from Syria; Israeli casualties in Gaza (including suffering the recent historic loss of 24 IDF reservists); Israeli strikes inside Lebanon; and, yes, more Houthi drama.

Bill and Behnam discuss the recent attacks in Iraq as well as the latest string of Houthi incidents and U.S.-led coalition's response. 

Bill and Joe discuss stats released this week by the IDF pertaining to its operations in Gaza and why escalation at Israel’s northern border with Lebanon is "just a matter of time.”

Bill and Behnam unpack the details they’ve been able to gather so far surrounding the U.S. and UK-led coalition strike against Houthi targets inside Yemen and whether this will restore deterrence. 

Accurate preview courtesy of Behnam: “We like to say ‘freaky Fridays’ here [we do not] — it can’t get freakier than the first-ever, historic use of force since October 7 by the U.S. and UK against the Houthis.”

Joe just returned from Israel and joins Bill to share insights from his trip which included a sobering visit to Nir Oz, one of the kibbutz communities along the Gaza border that was brutally attacked by Hamas on October 7, 2023. 

Included in Joe’s haunting description of a scene “almost untouched since October 7” and frozen in time: “There’s still blood on the ground. There’s still blood on the walls. There’s glass everywhere. You can still smell burnt wood; a lot of these homes were burned with people still inside of them. There is still the smell of death.” His visit was also marked by the constant hum of heavy artillery and gunfire, apache helicopters, and the incessant buzzing of drones (AKA “the lawnmower of the sky”). 

Also discussed: being on sustained high-alert for shelling from rockets, mortars, and drones; spending time at Israel’s northern border with Lebanon to observe Israel’s management of the Hezbollah threat; takeaways from conversations with Israelis — from cab drivers to government officials — about the resolve of Israelis and the still-standing solidarity between them, whether or not they share the Biden administration’s insatiable appetite for a ceasefire, and why one Israeli official told him that on October 7, “Israel shrunk.”

Bill and Behnam unpack this week's headlines from the Middle East, including the assassination of Hamas deputy Saleh al-Arouri; the U.S. strike that killed Iran-backed militia commander Abu Taqwa Al-Saedi in Iraq (and subsequent drama with the Iraqi government); the U.S.-led coalition dubbed Prosperity Guardian’s “final warning” to the Houthis; and the ISIS bombings at a memorial in Kerman, Iran for slain IRGC-QF commander Qassim Suleimani.

Bill and Behnam are back for what has been dubbed by Behnam as the first and last Freaky Friday of 2023 to discuss news of an alleged Israeli assassination of an IRGC general, context of U.S.-launched strikes against the Hezbollah Brigades after the group targeted U.S. forces at an airbase in Erbil, the latest string of Houthi maritime attacks (remember Operation Prosperity Guardian… yeah…), and the painful irony of a million dollar missile shooting down a thousand-dollar drone, AKA Iran’s asymmetrical warfare strategy. 

Bill and Behnam check in on the U.S.-led coalition formed earlier this week in response to increased maritime aggression from the Iran-backed Houthis — spoiler: France seems to already be backing out. They examine countries noticeably absent from the bloc, like Egypt, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia. They also ponder the strategic nature of Operation Prosperity Guardian — is it only defensive? How about going on the offensive to prevent Houthi attacks in the first place?

Bill thinks he's seen this movie before. It's the one where they ignore the core of the issue.

Bill is joined by CDR Salamander to discuss the coalition announced today by U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin during his trip to the Middle East. The coalition — made up of the UK, Bahrain, Canada, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Seychelles and Spain in partnership with the US — was formed with the objective of “ensuring freedom of navigation in the Red Sea” following the recent uptick in Houthi aggression and attacks in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden area. 

Bill and Joe discuss the latest issues emanating from Israel's defensive war in Gaza, including the tragic death of the three Israeli hostages mistakenly shot by IDF soldiers, the massive labyrinth of tunnels continuing to be discovered by the IDF and controversy surrounding the decision to flood them, and use by Hamas of suicide bombers — Joe explains why one case is different.