CounterVortex

Syria

Is Ukraine backing Syrian insurgents?

Ukrainian special forces under command of Kyiv’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) carried out an operation against Russian forces in Syria, according to a video released by the agency. First reported by the Kyiv Post, the raid by the “Khimik” elite unit is said to have targeted Kuweires airbase outside Aleppo, which is used by both Russian and Assad regime forces. Drone strikes followed by a ground attack are said to have destroyed a Russian “electronic warfare complex” at the base, along with other “military objects.” The report said the operation was conducted in cooperation with Syrian “insurgents,” although it didn’t make clear which faction. The strike was reportedly carried out the day after a meeting at the Kremlin between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad. In May 2023, HUR chief Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov promised to “destroy Russian war criminals anywhere in the world they may be.” (Image via Kyiv Post)

Central Asia

Russia: indigenous rights groups designated ‘extremist’

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders released a statement urging Russia to refrain from designating groups advocating for the rights of indigenous peoples and national minorities as “extremist organizations.” The statement follows a decision by Russian authorities a week earlier to thusly classify 55 such organizations. The Ministry of Justice cited a June ruling by Russia’s Supreme Court banning “structural divisions” of the so-called “Anti-Russian Separatist Movement,” which was defined as an “international public movement to destroy the multinational unity and territorial integrity of Russia.” Involvement in the movement may result in a sentence of up to six years in prison—despite the fact that no such movement formally exists. (Photo of Itelmen people in the Kamchatka Peninsula via Wikipedia)

Africa

Is Ukraine backing Mali insurgents?

Mali announced that it has cut diplomatic relations with Ukraine, after a Kyiv military official boasted of having aided an insurgent attack in the country’s north that left scores of government troops and Russian mercenaries dead. Andrii Yusov, spokesman for Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency, said on social media that “the rebels received necessary information, and not just information, which enabled a successful military operation against Russian war criminals.” While not saying whether Ukrainian military personnel were involved in the fighting or were present in the country, Yusov cryptically added that the GUR “won’t discuss the details at the moment, but there will be more to come.” Malian official Col. Abdoulaye Maiga said Yusov’s comments “admitted Ukraine’s involvement in a cowardly, treacherous and barbaric attack by armed terrorist groups.” (Photo: FIDES)

Watching the Shadows

US Defense Secretary overturns 9-11 plea deal

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin rejected a controversial plea deal that would have prevented three accused 9-11 terror attack planners from facing the death penalty. The move came after a letter to the families of 9-11 victims revealed that accused co-conspirators Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Walid Bin ‘Attash and Mustafa al Hawsawi had pled guilty to orchestrating the attacks that claimed nearly 3,000 lives on Sept. 11, 2001. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which was representing Mohammed and others facing the death penalty for the 9-11 attacks, had lauded the initial plea agreement, stating it was the “right call” and the “only practical solution” after nearly 20 years of pre-trial litigation. But the deal immediately provoked controversy, spurring US lawmakers to demand answers from the White House, which denied any involvement in the negotiations. (Photo: Pixabay via Jurist)

Greater Middle East

Podcast: flashpoint Golan Heights

In Episode 237 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg provides some under-reported context for the international crisis that has quickly spiraled since last week’s deadly rocket strike on a Golan Heights village, and now threatens to escalate to the unthinkable. Under international law, the Golan is Syrian territory not Israeli. And the kids who were killed in the rocket strike were Druze not Jews. Most of the Druze residents of the Golan have refused Israeli citizenship and remain loyal to Syria. Only one country on Earth recognizes Israeli sovereignty over the Golan—the USA, thanks to Donald Trump. Israel has a complicated history with the Druze, going back well before the occupation of the Golan in 1967. But the origins of the current trajectory toward regional war in a massacre of Druze youth points again to how peoples on the ground are exploited as pawns and propaganda in the cynical Great Power game. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: Freedom’s Falcon via Wikimedia Commons)

South Asia

India lifts ban on civil servants joining RSS paramilitary

The Indian government has removed a 58-year-long policy forbidding civil servants and bureaucrats from joining or associating with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an opposition leader revealed. Jairam Ramesh, a member of Parliament with the Indian National Congress, posted a photo on Twitter of the memorandum lifting the ban by the Department of Personnel & Training. In his post, Ramesh noted that the ban was put in place in response to the assassination of independence leader Mohandas Gandhi by RSS militant Nathuram Godse in 1948. The initially temporary ban was made permanent in 1966. The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is widely perceived to be “on the same page” as the RSS, and his Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has long-standing ties to the right-wing Hindu paramilitary organization. This has been protested by the opposition as contrary to the spirit of India’s secular constitution. The result of India’s elections for the lower house of Parliament, the Lok Sabha, was announced in June, with the BJP-led coalition winning a third consecutive term. (Photo: Suyash Dwivedi via Wikimedia Commons)

Syria

Syria: Kurdish zone enacts amnesty law

Amnesty International responded favorably to enactment of Amnesty Law No. 10 in the Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of North & East Syria (AANES). The rights group commended the new law, which calls for a review of convictions under the regional administration’s expansive counter-terrorism laws. Aya Majzoub, Amnesty International’s deputy director for the Middle East, said: “The general amnesty law could reduce the sentences of Syrians convicted after unfair trials in the People’s Defence Courts, or, in some cases, offer them the chance to be free and resume their lives. Detainees were denied access to a lawyer and in many cases were subjected to torture or other ill-treatment to extract forced confessions.” Majzoub called on AANES authorities to expand the scope of the law to include Iraqi nationals convicted of collaborating with the Islamic State (ISIS). (Photo: SOHR)

Africa

Mali insurgents rout Russian mercenaries

A commander of Russia’s paramilitary Africa Corps was killed along with some 50 of his fighters in an insurgent ambush amid a sandstorm in northern Mali. The attack, in Tinzaouatène district along the Algerian border, is said to be the biggest loss ever for Russian forces in Africa. However, it is unclear who carried it out, as two mutually hostile groups have claimed responsibility. “Our forces decisively obliterated these enemy columns,” said a statement by the Permanent Strategic Cadre for Peace, Security & Development (CSP-PSD), an alliance of Tuareg rebel groups fighting for independence in Mali’s north. But a separate statement by Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda affiliate, also claimed sole responsibility for the attack. The Malian regime and Russian mercenaries have been fighting both groups in the region. (Map: PCL)

Africa

Arms heist in Somalia

An ambush by local militia on a weapons convoy in central Somalia has been described as the country’s “single most serious incident of arms proliferation.” The looted weapons included assault rifles, machine guns, and rocket-propelled grenades. The convoy had crossed from Ethiopia when it was attacked near the border town of Abudwaq. The consignment is believed to have been destined for one of the clans in the area that is allied with government forces waging a stalled offensive against the jihadist group al-Shabab. The price of an AK-47 has since dropped by one third on the local market. The weapons are not only likely to fuel inter-clan conflict, but they could also be bought by a resurgent al-Shabab or by bandits in northern Kenya. As al-Shabab wins back territory, it continues its campaign of bomb attacksin the capital, Mogadishu. (Map via Wikimedia Commons)

Greater Middle East

Regional war looms closer after Golan rocket strike

Israeli warplanes hit several targets in southern Lebanon, as diplomats worked frantically to prevent a regional war after a rocket strike that killed 12 youths in the Golan Heights. Israel is blaming Hezbollah for the rocket, which struck a football field in the Druze village of Majdal Shams. Hezbollah has denied responsibility, asserting that a projectile from Israel’s own Iron Dome missile defense system hit the village amid strikes on military targets elsewhere in the area by the Iran-backed Lebanese armed organization. Israel and Hezbollah have been trading strikes over the Lebanese border since Oct. 8, a day after the start of the war in Gaza. Israel has killed 527 people in Lebanon since then, according to an AFP tally, including at least 104 civilians. Israel says 23 of its civilians and 17 soldiers have been killed by Hezbollah rocket-fire over this period. (Image: Pixabay)

Watching the Shadows

Podcast: are we still sleepwalking into fascism?

Trump and MAGA are no longer hiding their intention to instate a dictatorship if they regain power, and the most radical elements of their base are mobilizing to unleash a reign of terror on the local level from coast to coast. The Democrats, however, have regained some momentum since Biden relinquished his candidacy in favor of Kamala Harris—who is certainly compromised, but (at least!) not a fascist. And progressives are organizing against the fascist attack on the grassroots level. But Palestine remains a wedge issue that could divide the progressive camp. In Episode 236 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg continues to look for a way forward. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Photo: Johnny Silvercloud via Wikimedia Commons)

Europe

‘Criminalization’ of climate protests in Europe

European governments have reacted to a growing wave of direct-action protests by climate activists with heavy-handed policing, effectively criminalizing such campaigns, seeking to dissolve groups, and imposing restrictions on basic rights, Human Rights Watch charges. “This creates serious risks to environmental activism and civil society as a whole and undercuts vital efforts to address the climate crisis,” the organization found. The press release was issued the same day a record-breaking sentence was handed down in the United Kingdom, with five Just Stop Oil activists given multi-year prison terms in a case concerning a protest action that disrupted the M25 motorway in London. (Photo: Stefan Müller via Wikipedia)