ISIS – CounterVortex

Africa

ISIS franchise in new DRC attacks

The UN decried a new attack on civilians by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) armed group in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The UN described the incident as “one of the most appalling attacks” ever recorded in the country, and indicated that it may constitute a war crime. According to information gathered by the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO), a series of deadly attacks took place across several localities in Lubero territory, North Kivu province, resulting in the deaths of 89 civilians, including 20 women and an unknown number of children. These attacks included a raid on a healthcare center where 17 patients were killed. Assaults on healthcare facilities are strictly forbidden under international humanitarian law, which mandates that medical units be respected and protected in all circumstances. Despite its unassuming name, the ADF is integrated into the Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP). (Map: PCL)

Syria

Podcast: the new Syria in the Great Game

Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa’s White House meeting with Donald Trump followed the removal of his Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) from the list of designated “terrorist organizations” both at the State Department and at the UN. It also coincided with raids against ISIS by his security forces, raising the prospect of his government being invited to join the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS. The Washington visit also came just a month after al-Sharaa’s similar trip to meet Vladimir Putin in Moscow, where a deal was brokered allowing Russia to keep its military bases in Syria. Amid all this, Syria continues to see forced disappearances and other abuses targetting Druze, Alawites and Kurds—pointing to the looming threat of an ethnic or sectarian internal war. The US troop presence in Syria is largely embedded among the Kurdish forces in the east. As al-Sharaa becomes a new “anti-terrorist” partner (or proxy) for the Great Powers, will these troops be withdrawn—providing a “green light” for Damascus to attack the Kurdish autonomous zone? In Episode 305 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg weighs the risks at this critical moment in Syria’s transition process, nearly one year after the fall of the Assad dictatorship. (Image: Pixabay)

Africa

Trump threatens Nigeria with military action, aid cut

US President Donald Trump said that he has ordered the Pentagon, or “Department of War,” to prepare contingency plans for potential military action in Nigeria. Trump alleged that the Nigerian government has failed to protect Christian communities from violent extremist attacks. The comments follow Trump’s declaration designating Nigeria as a “country of particular concern” (CPC) for religious-freedom violations, citing what he described as an “existential threat” to Christianity. (Map: PCL)

Iraq

US troops to remain at Iraq air base

A “small force” of US troops will remain at Iraq’s Ain al-Asad air base in order to fight ISIS, the Baghdad government announced. The decision reverses plans for a full withdrawal of US forces from the base. Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said that a force of up to 350 Pentagon advisors and support personnel would stay at the base in western Iraq, as well as al-Harir base in Iraqi Kurdistan. The decision to allow the US troops to stay was made in response to “developments in Syria,” al-Sudani said. This presumably refers to the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, after the draw-down agreement between the US and Iraq was reached. (Photo: Spc. Timothy VanDusen/US Army via Task & Purpose)

Africa

Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso announce withdrawal from ICC

Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso announced that they will withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing the tribunal of serving “imperial” rather than African interests. The three countries, each governed by military juntas and members of the newly formed Alliance of Sahel States (AES), issued a joint declaration stating that they no longer recognize the ICC as a legitimate forum for justice, charging that it has become an “instrument of neo-colonialist repression.” The decision comes amid ongoing security crisis in the Sahel region, where armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State are waging brutal insurgencies, carrying out attacks against civilians as well as security forces. Human rights groups have accused state security forces of committing extrajudicial killings and other serious abuses in counter-terrorism operations. (Image: Wikipedia)

Africa

Niger: mounting atrocities by ISIS franchise

Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated that the armed group Islamic State in the Sahel Province (IS Sahel) is escalating attacks on civilians, reporting that since March the group has illegally executed 127 people in western Niger. HRW documented five armed attacks by the group in Tillabéri region during that time frame. The group killed 70 worshipers at a mosque in a mass execution in June. In May, IS Sahel attacked villages and burned at least a dozen homes, the report found. HRW stated that these attacks constituted war crimes. (Photo: Aharan Kotogo via Wikimedia Commons)

Africa

Violence escalates in DRC —despite ‘peace’ deal

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk condemned a recent surge in deadly attacks against civilians by M23 fighters and other armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The attacks come in spite of a Washington-brokered ceasefire agreement between the DRC government and Rwanda, which backs the M23 rebels. The DRC government and M23 have only signed a “declaration of principles” supposedly committing them to a formal peace deal—but meanwhile, violence on the ground has escalated. (Photo: Sylvain Liechti/MONUSCO via Wikimedia Commons)

Syria

Syria: ISIS launches attacks on ‘apostate regime’

Presumed ISIS militants attacked a police station of the Kurdish autonomous administration at al-Sabha in Syria’s eastern Deir ez-Zor province. The attack with grenades and small arms was repulsed by the local police force without loss of life. But this was only the latest in a spate of new ISIS attacks in Syria. In a first attack on central government forces since the ouster the Assad dictatorship last December, ISIS boasted in a communique last week that its fighters had killed several soldiers of the “the apostate Syrian regime” at a road checkpoint in Talul al-Safa, in southern Suwayda province. One member of the Free Syrian Army faction was also killed in an ambush by ISIS militants on an FSA patrol in al-Tanf Deconfliction Zone, a US military outpost near the Jordan border. (Photo: SOHR via Kurdistan4)

Africa

Resurgent jihadist violence in northeast Nigeria

The so-called Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) insurgent group has launched its most successful military campaign to date in northeast Nigeria’s Lake Chad Basin. Throughout May, ISWAP raided a series of supposedly impenetrable army bases, forcing the military’s withdrawal and the displacement of civilian communities—some of whom had been recently resettled by the Borno State government following its closure of IDP camps in state capital Maiduguri. This renewed campaign highlights the major challenge posed by Islamic State and Qaeda-linked extremist groups across West Africa: insurgents who are now better equipped, including with armored vehicles looted from the military, and utilizing new innovative tactics, such as near-simultaneous attacks on disparate sites. (Photo via TNH)

Syria

Syria: end indefinite detention at SDF camps

UN experts called for an end to the arbitrary, indefinite detention of tens of thousands of people in camps in northeast Syria. The detained individuals are accused by the local Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) of adherence to the extremist group ISIS, with over 52,000 currently held without any due process, 60% of whom are believed to be children. The Kurdish-led SDF has agreed to integrate into the new government’s national army, but the fate of those in their custody remains uncertain. The SDF’s often incommunicado detentions have only added to the overall number of detentions and enforced disappearances throughout Syria during the period of Bashar Assad’s rule, with estimates of over 112,000 individuals reported missing. (Image: Y. Boechat/VOA via Wikimedia Commons)

Africa

Demand investigation into Burkina Faso massacre

Human Rights Watch has called for an urgent investigation into the massacre of dozens of civilians in Burkina Faso’s western city of Solenzo. HRW noted video footage circulating on social media that implicates pro-government militias in the killings, raising serious concerns about accountability and civilian protection in a country already grappling with widespread violence and human rights abuses. The victims, many of whom belonged to the Fulani ethnic group, were targeted in what appears to be a reprisal attack amid ongoing counterinsurgency operations. (Photo of VDP fighters: Henry Wilkins/VOA via Wikimedia Commons)

Greater Middle East

Trump launches air-strikes on Yemen, Iraq

President Donald Trump ordered a series of air-strikes on Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, promising to use “overwhelming lethal force” until the Houthi rebels cease their attacks on shipping along a vital maritime corridor. Houthi authorities said 13 civilians were killed in the strikes. Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who control the capital, have said they will resume attacks on ships in the Red Sea in response to Israel’s renewed blockade on aid to Gaza. Following the January Hamas-Israel ceasefire, the Houthis had paused their campaign of attacks on shipping, which they depict as a gesture of solidarity with the Palestinians (although many targets are not linked to Israel). Days before the strikes on Sanaa, a US air-raid in Iraq’s Anbar province reportedly killed Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, the second-highest ranking ISIS leader. (Photo: CENTCOM)