Tag: GWOT

Iraq

Gaza: flashpoint for regional war? (redux)

SyriaThe Pentagon carried out air-strikes on Iran-backed militia forces in Iraq in retaliation for a drone attack on a US airbase in Erbil, while a senior commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps was killed in a presumed Israeli strike in Syria. Israel continues to trade cross-border fire with Lebanon's Hezbollah, while Yemen's Houthi armed movement claimed responsibility for drone attacks targeting the Israeli port city of Eilat. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Israel is now fighting on "seven fronts"—Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Yemen. (Image: Pixabay)

Africa

Au revoir to (some) French troops in Niger

NigerFrance looks set to begin a "limited" military withdrawal from Niger, after ongoing popular protests have made it clear its troops are no longer welcome. Niger's new military leaders had given France a month to pull its 1,500 soldiers—plus ambassador—out of the country. But Paris, which does not recognize the legitimacy of the junta, had refused. Now, with the expiry of the deadline, talks are underway with Nigerien army commanders (not the putsch leaders, French officials stress) for an undisclosed number of French troops to be transferred to Chad. But France's military presence is resented across the Sahel. Last week, there were demonstrations outside the French base in Faya-Largeau, northern Chad, after a French legionnaire killed a Chadian soldier. (Map: Wikivoyage)

Africa

Podcast: flashpoint Niger

NigerIn Episode 186 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg examines the coup d'etat in Niger, which now threatens to plunge West Africa into regional war—with potential for escalation involving the Great Powers. Lines are drawn, with the Western-backed ECOWAS demanding the junta cede power, and Russian-backed Mali and Burkina Faso backing the junta up. Pro-junta demonstrators in Niger's capital, Niamey, wave the Russian flag—probably to express displeasure at US and French neo-colonialism. The Wagner Group, which already has troops in Mali and Burkina Faso, has expressed its support for the junta, and offered fighters to help stabilize the regime. Elements of the tankie pseudo-left in the West are similarly rallying around the junta. Amid this, leaders of the Tuareg resistance in Niger have returned to arms to resist the new regime, and the country's mine workers union is also demanding a return to democratic rule. Listen on SoundCloud or via Patreon. (Map: PCL)

Africa

Military coup d’etat consolidated in Niger

NigerNiger's national broadcaster identified Gen. Abdourahamane Tiani as president of the country's new military government following a coup that deposed elected President Mohamed Bazoum. The country's new ruling junta, called the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Homeland, was formed out of Niger's presidential guard, which carried out the coup. The AU, EU, US and Russia have all condemned the coup as unconstitutional. However, Wagner Group commander Yevgeni Prigozhin lauded the coup as part of "the struggle of the people of Niger [against] their colonizers," and and offered his fighters' services to bring order. Pro-coup protesters in Niger have been photographed with Russian flags. (Map: PCL)

Africa

French forces out of Burkina Faso, into Ivory Coast

Ivory CoastFrance has officially ended its operations in Burkina Faso a month after the ruling junta there terminated a military accord that allowed the former colonial power to fight jihadists. French forces remain in the greater region, however. The move came as French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu visited Côte d'Ivoire, pledging to boost military support as jihadist attacks hit coastal West African states. (Map: Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection)

Africa

Somalia: US raids on ISIS stronghold

SomaliaA US special forces raid in Somalia ordered by President Joe Biden killed a key regional ISIS leader, Bilal al-Sudani, the Pentagon said in a statement. Sudani apparently died in a gun-battle after US troops descended on a cave complex in a mountainous area of northern Somalia. The statement did not specify the location of the raid, but the announcement followed reports in Somali media describing a US drone strike on a stronghold of the self-declared Islamic State-Somalia in the Cal Miskaad mountains of the autonomous northern region of Puntland. The raid came as the US military has been stepping up attacks on the Qaeda-aligned Shabaab rebels in central Somalia, in conjunction with Somali government and African Union forces. (Map via Wikimedia Commons)

Watching the Shadows
Gitmo

UN experts condemn Gitmo on grim anniversary

AlbertaThe legislature of the oil-producing Canadian province of Alberta invoked the controversial Alberta Sovereignty Act in response to federal environmental policies. The provincial legislature passed a resolution resolving to "urge the Government to use all legal means necessary to oppose the implementation and enforcement of the Federal Initiative in Alberta." The initiative refered to is Canada's proposed Clean Energy Regulations, which the resolution says would have "an extreme chilling effect on investment" in Alberta's electricity energy sector. Premier Danielle Smith introduced the Sovereignty Act in November 2022, asserting that Albertans no longer wanted "Ottawa to…interfere in our constitutional areas of jurisdiction," and proclaiming a right to provincial non-compliance. (Photo of Alberta's shale oil fields by Kris Krug, via The Tyee)

The Andes
paramilitaries

Colombia: inactive guerillas join active paras off US terror list

BurmaBurma's ruling junta acknowledged that it withdrew its forces from a key city on the border with China after it was seized by an alliance of ethnic rebel armies. The fall of Laukkai is the most significant defeat the junta has suffered since the self-declared Three Brotherhood Alliance launched its offensive in northeastern Shan state in October. Days earlier, at least 150 junta soldiers fled across the border into India's Mizoram state, driven from their outposts in Burma's northwestern Chin state by the rebel Arakan Army. The soldiers turned themselves over to a detachment of India's paramilitary Assam Rifles, and had to be flown back to Burmese territory. (Map: PCL)