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US lawmakers seek terror designation for Polisario Front over alleged ‘Iran ties’

The Cradle | August 6, 2026

Two US lawmakers introduced a bill on 30 July calling on the State Department to consider designating the Polisario Front, a group fighting for independence for Western Sahara from Morocco, as a “foreign terrorist organization.”

US Congressmen Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey and Ronny Jackson of Texas introduced the Polisario Front Terrorist Designation Act, claiming the group is receiving assistance from Iran and poses a threat to US national security.

“The Iranian regime and its terrorist proxies are working overtime to open a new front against the United States and our allies, and the Polisario Front has become one of their instruments,” claimed Congressman Gottheimer.

However, the congressman acknowledged that no such link between Iran and the Polisario Front has been confirmed.

“This bipartisan bill makes sure that once that cooperation is confirmed, we can bring the full weight of America’s counterterrorism sanctions down on the Polisario Front,” Gottheimer added.

The Polisario Front seeks to make Western Sahara an independent country free from Moroccan control. The front was founded in May 1973 to fight Spanish colonial rule in Western Sahara. After the Spanish left the region in 1976, it proclaimed the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) with a government-in-exile in Algeria.

However, Morocco quickly occupied much of Western Sahara, claiming it as part of its territory.

The name Polisario Front comes from Spanish words for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro.

This bill follows similar initiatives introduced in Congress during 2025, including one by Republican Senator Ted Cruz.

In 2020, US President Donald Trump recognized Morocco’s claim to sovereignty over Western Sahara as part of a deal for the kingdom to normalize relations with Israel through the Abraham Accords.

France, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain followed Washington’s lead in recognizing Morocco’s claim.

Morocco is a major non-NATO ally of the US. According to the Hudson Institute, “designating the Polisario Front as a foreign terrorist organization would solidify the US-Morocco alliance.”

In July, Morocco became the first Arab and African nation to deploy its military to the International Stabilization Force (ISF), which is set to occupy Gaza under the direction of Trump’s “Board of Peace.”

Morocco signed an agreement in Rabat on 15 July to formalize its participation in the ISF, which will work in collaboration with the Israeli military.

Commenting on Morocco’s role in the ISF, a pro-Palestine Moroccan activist stated that “I don’t know what Morocco’s role will be [in the ISF] other than perhaps disarming the resistance [Hamas] and even supervising a new colonization of the Gaza Strip by the American-Zionist entity.”

Since signing the Abraham Accords, Morocco has continued to expand military and security ties with Israel.

In May 2025, Israeli forces publicly participated in the kingdom’s annual “African Lion” military drill, which brought together 10,000 troops from more than 40 participating countries.

During the opening ceremonies of the yearly exercise, jointly organized by Rabat and the US Africa Command, the Israeli flag was openly displayed for the first time.

Last week, the Moroccan government organized tens of thousands of Moroccan migrant men to storm the Spanish enclave of Ceuta on the coast of North Africa.

In July, a budget report approved by the US Congress for the first time described Ceuta and Melilla as Spanish-administered cities “located in Moroccan territory” that “remain the subject of Morocco’s longstanding claim.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called for Spain to be punished for trying to prevent the US military from delivering weapons to the Israeli military for use in its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

Israelis widely celebrated the storming of Ceuta by Moroccan men on social media.

Responsible Statecraft wrote that the Moroccan government may have been deploying “migration blackmail” to punish European nations. “But this time, Israel and the United States appear to be the principal beneficiaries.”

August 6, 2026 Posted by | Wars for Israel | , , , , , , | Comments Off on US lawmakers seek terror designation for Polisario Front over alleged ‘Iran ties’

Ceuta and immigration as a hybrid warfare weapon

By Raphael Machado | Strategic Culture Foundation | August 6, 2026

In the past week, images of tens of thousands of Moroccans—at least 60,000—invading the Spanish city of Ceuta, breaking through the border barriers with Morocco, took over social media. The autonomous city, which has only 80,000 inhabitants, had to deal with attempted home invasions and various other crimes by the invaders, who were then confronted by security forces and some self-organized groups of citizens.

These 60,000 invaded Ceuta all together, and some images and videos on social media show trucks dumping immigrants near the Spanish border. Photos revealed Moroccan police officers trying to prevent some invaders from returning to their own country. Still, thanks to the action of Spanish security forces and citizens, most of the invaders appear to have already returned to Morocco—and many of them did so voluntarily shortly after entering Ceuta.

The case had a great global impact, especially in Europe, with several governments reinforcing their own borders and Italy recommending that Spain be removed from the Schengen Area.

Several aspects of this event are noteworthy, however.

First, to lay the groundwork: contrary to the many “progressives” who sympathized with the invasion under the argument of “decolonizing” Ceuta, the reality is that Ceuta is not a colony. The city was conquered by Portugal in 1415, passed to Spain in 1580, and since then it has been an uninterrupted Spanish possession. But even the period before 1415 is linked to Europe. Let us recall that from the year 40 to the year 709, Ceuta was governed, in succession, by the Romans, the Vandals, the Byzantines, and the Visigoths, until it was conquered by the Arabs—who, let us also remember, are also foreign invaders in North Africa. After that, Ceuta changed hands several times between Arab and Berber kingdoms until, as already mentioned, it was conquered by Portugal in the context of the reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula after 700 years of Moorish military occupation and to put an end to Mediterranean piracy.

To speak of returning Ceuta to its “true owners,” therefore, makes no sense. If Spanish rule over Ceuta is illegitimate, then all territorial changes, expansions, conquests, and occupations on the planet over the last 600 years are illegitimate.

Nevertheless, Morocco claims Ceuta (as well as Melilla) on rather dubious grounds. First, for the reasons already pointed out. Second, because Morocco as a state is quite recent, being less than 100 years old, and has never owned Ceuta or Melilla. This is not Morocco’s only dubious territorial claim; after all, its government also claims Western Sahara, which has been fighting for its independence for decades. Western Sahara is supported by Algeria against Morocco, while Spain defends the completion of the territory’s decolonization and the granting of at least autonomy to the region.

Only two countries in the world, however, recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara unconditionally: the USA and Israel.

It is difficult, therefore, not to start connecting the dots between the recent events in Ceuta and the entire recent panorama of tensions between Pedro Sánchez’s Spanish government and the governments of the USA and Israel. Spain, under Sánchez, has been the most vocally critical country of Israel, especially during the ethnic cleansing in Gaza. Furthermore, the country did not allow the U.S. to use its territory to carry out attacks against Iran. As a result, Spain earned the enmity of both countries, which have been making veiled threats for some time now.

A few years ago, even Benjamin Netanyahu’s son made a social media post recommending that Muslims take Ceuta and Melilla.

Another factor that may have influenced this crisis is the fact that in July of this year, Spain and Algeria resumed normal diplomatic relations after several years of rupture. Moreover, Spain decided to increase imports of Algerian gas, as well as putting other possible joint projects on paper. Algeria, as we have pointed out, is a geopolitical enemy of Morocco, just as Spain is.

It is necessary, however, to point out that Sánchez and the Spanish judiciary are also partially responsible for the migration chaos. A few months ago, Sánchez legalized more than 1 million illegal immigrants, in practice demonstrating that invading Spain pays off. Spain’s Supreme Court, in turn, prohibited authorities from carrying out summary expulsions of immigrants who arrived in the country by boat. For all intents and purposes, the decisions of the Executive and the Judiciary facilitated the work of agencies that promote migration.

By embracing cosmopolitanism, Sánchez and the Spanish elite have made the country an easy target for the use of migratory flows as hybrid warfare weapons—because that is what this is about. It is time to overcome the humanist naivety that sees mass immigration as a humanitarian phenomenon in which victims of imperialism flee desperately in search of a better life.

In fact, migratory flows as seen in Europe over the last 20 years are clearly artificial, and considering Israel’s role in promoting “diversity” and even the action of Israeli NGOs helping immigrants reach Europe, it is difficult to ignore the agents who wield this instrument.

August 6, 2026 Posted by | Ethnic Cleansing, Racism, Zionism, Wars for Israel | , , , , , | Comments Off on Ceuta and immigration as a hybrid warfare weapon

His Majesty’s plunder: The royal machine behind the Trump Highway and Western Sahara’s phosphate wealth

The Cradle | August 3, 2026

There is a machine in the Sahara you can see from space. A conveyor belt, the longest on earth, nearly one hundred kilometers of steel from a mine called Bou Craa to the Atlantic. For half a century it has moved phosphate out of occupied Western Sahara, through wars, ceasefires, and a promised referendum that never came. The richest layer of the deposit is already gone, sold before the Sahrawis could ever vote on it. And the electricity that keeps the belt running is sold to the state by a wind farm belonging to the king.

On 26 July, US President Donald Trump announced that the highway running past this machine now carries his name. The announcement arrived as a four-minute Truth Social video, narrated by an obvious AI voice praising his “historic courage.” Rabat, six days on, has not said the name out loud. It does not need to. The name was never the payment.

The road is. It is 1,055 kilometers of settlement poured across Africa’s last colony, the kind of road empires have always built and named for themselves. It connects the mine, the port, an Israeli-held offshore block, and the duty-free fertilizer now sailing for New Orleans under an emergency Washington manufactured itself. Follow it far enough and the asphalt runs from phosphate to palace.

An occupation, bought in installments

Every payment has a paper trail, and this one begins five years before the name. The convention that built the road was signed in the presence of Moroccan King Mohammed VI in El-Aaiun (also known as Laayoune) in 2015, on the 40th anniversary of the Green March, at a cost of 10 billion Moroccan dirhams (MAD) – or around $1.074 billion. Morocco poured its annexation in asphalt, as empires always have, long before Washington blessed it. What arrived in December 2020 was not the road. It was the signature.

Morocco became the fourth Arab state to normalize relations with the occupation state, and in exchange the US recognized Moroccan sovereignty over the whole of Western Sahara. Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, negotiated the deal and supplied the doctrine, likening the Sahara recognition to Trump’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights. One occupation legitimized on the template of another. The architect said it so no analyst has to.

Tel Aviv paid its own installment in July 2023, when Netanyahu sent Mohammed VI a letter recognizing the Moroccan claim. A senior Moroccan official explained what the letter was for – Rabat expects the recognition to encourage Israeli investment in the territory. Recognition as prospectus. This is trans-Zionism as designed: the occupation state sets the template, Washington executes, the client kingdom collects.

What the road runs past

South of El-Aaiun, the machine comes back into view. The Bou Craa mine feeds its conveyor belt to the harbor at El-Aaiun, where bulk vessels have carried the territory’s wealth abroad since 1975. According to the figures of the world’s largest phosphate and fertilizer producer, Morocco’s OCP Group, Bou Craa delivers around a fifth of the company’s exports from just eight percent of its extracted volume. That is what occupations are for.

The quality tells its own story. Bou Craa’s deposit sits in two layers, and Western Sahara Resource Watch, which tracks every bulk shipment out of El-Aaiun, documented that Morocco has practically sold off the high-grade layer that should have been available to the Sahrawi people, mining the poorer second seam since 2014. What remains is the residue.

None of this is legally ambiguous. The UN’s legal counsel concluded in 2002 that further exploitation of the territory’s resources against the wishes of its people would violate international law. A South African court ruled in 2018 that ownership of a phosphate cargo from El-Aaiun was never lawfully vested in OCP at all. The company ships stolen goods. A court has said so. The road Trump wants his name on is the overland artery of that trade.

An emergency of Washington’s own making

The American market took the long way round. In 2021, Washington slapped a 19.97 percent countervailing duty on OCP after Florida’s Mosaic Company complained of subsidized competition. The rate yo-yoed for five years until a trade court cut it to 2.11 percent in December 2025 and Washington quietly dropped its appeal. Then came the war.

Washington’s strikes on Iran choked the Strait of Hormuz, the artery for roughly a third of the world’s seaborne fertilizer trade. Prices climbed, farmers rationed, and on 29 June Trump declared a national emergency under a Depression-era clause of the 1930 Tariff Act, suspending the duties entirely. The suspension is time-bound, not volume-bound: a USDA official confirmed OCP can ship unlimited tonnage for eight months. Washington set fire to the supply chain, declared an emergency over the smoke, and handed the normalization partner the keys to the American market.

Now examine what sails in. North African sedimentary phosphate is naturally high in cadmium, a carcinogen the EU capped at 60 milligrams per kilo in its fertilizers. OCP’s response was to lobby against the cap, hiring Dechert LLP and Edelman and proposing Brussels raise the limit to 80. The US has no comparable federal ceiling, leaving oversight to a patchwork of state rules. Europe’s restricted rock has found a market with no thermostat. American capital wasted no time: two weeks after the proclamation, US-based firm Koch Ag signed a joint venture stake in OCP’s fertilizer complex at Jorf Lasfar. The same conglomerate poured half a billion dollars into the occupation state’s tech sector through its investment arm Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT), built under Eli Groner, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s former top civil servant, settled in the occupied West Bank.

From phosphate to palace

Tracing the flow of revenue shows that it extends beyond the state treasury. OCP belongs to the Moroccan state. But the throne sits atop a parallel structure: the royal family controls roughly 60 percent of the Al-Mada conglomerate through personal holdings named SIGER and ERGIS, both derived from regis, Latin for king, feeding a fund in which Mohammed VI holds 50.6 percent. SIGER’s director, Mounir Majidi, is also the king’s private secretary: one man running the head of state’s office and the family vault.

Al-Mada’s energy arm, Nareva, is where the phosphate money turns royal. The wind farm at Foum el-Oued, built by a wholly-owned Nareva subsidiary, supplies nearly all the electricity OCP needs to mine Bou Craa, run the conveyor belt, and wash the rock for export. The state plunders the phosphate. The king sells the state the power that does the plundering. Every tonne leaving El-Aaiun has burned royal electricity first. All but one wind farm in the occupied territory sits in Nareva’s portfolio, and WSRW poses the question that answers itself: why would a king who profits from occupation ever back a UN peace process?

Moroccan outlet Barlamane reported that quantities invoiced on the expressway far exceeded the work actually built, prompting the equipment minister to bar the implicated survey bureau from public contracts for five years. On the road to Dakhla, even the overcharging is infrastructure.

The name was never the payment

Empires have always paved roads through conquered land and called it civilization. Rome did it, France did it in this same desert, and in July 2026 the tradition produced its densest month yet: duty-free phosphate sailing for New Orleans, Kosh Ag signing into Jorf Lasfar, and an American president naming a highway across a territory that was never Morocco’s to give. The belt at Bou Craa keeps turning, the royal turbines keep spinning, the receipts keep printing – and the only thing Rabat has still not done is say the name out loud.

August 3, 2026 Posted by | Economics, Illegal Occupation | , , , , | Comments Off on His Majesty’s plunder: The royal machine behind the Trump Highway and Western Sahara’s phosphate wealth

BRICS+ Series: Why the Egypt-UAE Energy Partnership Signals a New Phase for the Global South

By Chloe Maluleke and Dr Iqbal Survé | IOL | July 3, 2026

The latest discussions between Egypt and the United Arab Emirates on expanding natural gas production in the Nile Delta represent more than another investment agreement in the energy sector. They illustrate a broader transformation underway across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), where energy security, technological capability and regional capital are increasingly being mobilised from within the Global South rather than relying exclusively on Western financing and expertise.

For decades, energy partnerships in the MENA region largely followed a familiar pattern. Resource-rich states exported hydrocarbons while multinational energy companies from Europe and North America supplied technology, finance and operational expertise. That model is gradually evolving. Today’s agreements increasingly reflect cooperation between emerging economies that possess complementary strengths and shared strategic interests.

Egypt occupies a unique position in this transition. It is simultaneously an African, Arab and Mediterranean nation, giving it significant geopolitical value. While its domestic gas production has fluctuated in recent years because of declining output from mature fields and rising domestic consumption, Cairo remains determined to restore its status as a regional energy hub. The country’s existing liquefied natural gas (LNG) export infrastructure, strategic location along the Suez Canal and established pipeline connections position it as a gateway linking African producers with European and Asian markets.

The UAE, meanwhile, has become one of the Global South’s most influential sources of investment capital. Emirati sovereign wealth funds and state-backed energy companies are increasingly deploying finance across Africa and the wider Middle East, extending beyond traditional oil investments into renewable energy, logistics, ports and advanced extraction technologies. This reflects Abu Dhabi’s long-term strategy of securing energy assets while diversifying its international investment portfolio.

The proposed expansion of geological exploration in Egypt’s Nile Delta therefore serves multiple strategic purposes. It seeks to increase Egypt’s domestic gas output, reduce reliance on costly imports and strengthen export capacity. Equally important, it demonstrates how regional investors are assuming greater responsibility for financing critical energy infrastructure within their own neighbourhood.

For the MENA region, such cooperation strengthens economic resilience during a period of heightened geopolitical uncertainty. Conflicts across the Middle East, disruptions to shipping routes and volatile commodity prices have reinforced the importance of reliable regional supply chains. Expanding domestic production reduces vulnerability to external shocks while allowing countries greater flexibility in balancing domestic demand with export commitments.

The initiative also reflects the growing importance of technological modernisation in hydrocarbon production. Advanced drilling techniques, digital reservoir management and improved recovery methods are enabling countries to maximise output from existing fields without relying solely on new discoveries. Technology transfer has become as strategically valuable as financial investment, particularly for countries seeking to optimise mature energy assets.

The implications extend well beyond North Africa. Across the Global South, governments are increasingly pursuing development strategies centred on South-South cooperation. Rather than depending exclusively on traditional development partners, countries are building networks of investment, expertise and infrastructure with fellow emerging economies. This approach aligns with a broader effort to reshape international economic governance around more diversified partnerships.

For BRICS, the Egypt-UAE partnership reinforces several long-standing objectives. Egypt’s accession to BRICS expanded the grouping’s presence in Africa and the Arab world, strengthening its representation across key energy-producing regions. Although the UAE is not geographically located within North Africa, its growing investment footprint across the continent complements BRICS’ broader emphasis on infrastructure financing, industrial development and economic integration among developing economies.

The partnership also supports BRICS’ vision of enhancing energy security through diversified production and investment channels. As global energy markets become increasingly fragmented by geopolitical tensions, emerging economies are seeking to reduce exposure to concentrated supply chains and external political risks. Regional cooperation between BRICS members and partner economies helps create a more distributed and resilient energy architecture.

However, challenges remain. Expanding natural gas production requires sustained investment, regulatory certainty and environmental stewardship. Natural gas is frequently presented as a transition fuel capable of supporting economic development while renewable energy capacity expands, yet long-term climate commitments will continue to shape investment decisions. Egypt and the UAE will therefore need to balance immediate energy security objectives with growing international pressure to accelerate decarbonisation. [emphasis added]

Ultimately, the significance of the Egypt-UAE energy discussions lies not simply in additional gas wells or increased reserves. They reflect a deeper shift in how emerging economies are organising capital, technology and political partnerships. As the Global South assumes a more active role in financing its own development, regional cooperation is becoming an increasingly important pillar of economic resilience. In that sense, the Nile Delta may represent not only a source of natural gas, but also a symbol of a changing global economic order in which the future of energy is being shaped as much by cooperation within the Global South as by traditional centres of power.

Dr Iqbal Survé is a past chairman of the BRICS Business Council and co-chairman of the BRICS Media Forum and the BRNN.

Chloe Maluleke is an Associate at BRICS+ Consulting Group, Russia & Middle East Specialist.

July 31, 2026 Posted by | Economics | , , , | Comments Off on BRICS+ Series: Why the Egypt-UAE Energy Partnership Signals a New Phase for the Global South

Mafia buying up some of 800,000 weapons missing from Ukraine – Italian prosecutors

RT | July 30, 2026

The Italian mafia is seeking to buy up some of the 800,000 firearms reportedly missing or stolen from Ukraine since 2022, including drones and other advanced arms, senior prosecutors have warned.

Some 780,465 items sent to Ukraine have reportedly disappeared since the escalation of the conflict, including around 149,000 during the first five months of 2026. The Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper reported on Wednesday that much of the arsenal consisted of European military supplies intended for Kiev.

The outlet noted that European law enforcement authorities have struggled to track the flow of these arms, given that Western governments conceal the details of their extensive military shipments to Ukraine.

The weapons have since reportedly ended up on the European black market and are now said to have attracted the attention of Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian Mafia, which would like to upgrade its arsenal with military-grade systems.

Palermo chief prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia told Italy’s parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission this week that the criminal organization was trying to build a “quality arsenal” and has already obtained access to AK-47 rifles and powerful explosives.

De Lucia said that the mafia is also trying to obtain more advanced weaponry, such as mine-dropping drones, warning that Italian security services are not prepared to deal with such weapons systems.

Concerns over weapons leaking from Ukraine into European criminal networks have persisted since the early months of the conflict. Europol reported back in 2022 that arms were being trafficked into the EU for organized crime groups, with several countries, including Finland, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Spain, having since stated that weapons sent to Kiev had reached local criminals.

The latest report comes amid repeated corruption scandals involving Ukraine’s military and state institutions. Recent investigations have uncovered millions of dollars in illicit sales of military equipment and theft from military repair contracts and drone funds, alongside wider schemes involving defense procurement and foreign donations.

Commenting on the Italian prosecutor’s warning, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Moscow had long warned that Western weapons sent to Kiev would spread through illicit markets and eventually threaten Ukraine’s European sponsors.

Zakharova explained that some of the weapons supplied to Kiev never actually reach their stated destination because of corruption, while those that do arrive are divided between the front, black-market buyers, and armed groups in other regions.

Russian officials have also accused Ukraine of supplying weapons and drone expertise to militants in Africa, while Mali has alleged that Kiev provided kamikaze drones to terrorist organizations operating in the Sahel.

July 30, 2026 Posted by | Corruption | , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Mafia buying up some of 800,000 weapons missing from Ukraine – Italian prosecutors

Chad announces withdrawal from International Criminal Court Treaty

MEMO | July 28, 2026

Chad announced on Monday that it is withdrawing from the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court (ICC), saying it has formally notified the United Nations of its decision.

In a statement, Chad’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the ICC had become “a politicised and biased tool” against countries in the Global South, particularly in Africa, and argued that the court lacked balance and effectiveness in addressing cases from different regions.

The ministry said the court’s focus on African cases prompted the government to reassess its membership in the Rome Statute.

According to the statement, the decision followed what the government described as a comprehensive review of the ICC’s performance since its establishment in 2002. While criticizing the court’s effectiveness, Chad said it remained committed to promoting justice and protecting human rights through national and regional institutions.

Under Article 127 of the Rome Statute, a state’s withdrawal takes effect one year after formal notification is received by the United Nations. The treaty also provides that withdrawal does not exempt a state from obligations arising before the withdrawal becomes effective, including cooperation with investigations and proceedings already underway.

Chad’s announcement follows similar moves by several other countries. According to the Chadian government, Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso submitted notices of withdrawal earlier this month, while Venezuela has also announced plans to begin the withdrawal process, citing concerns over what it describes as bias within the court.

The announcement also comes amid developments within the ICC itself. Member states recently voted to remove Prosecutor Karim Khan from office following allegations of misconduct. The allegations have received international attention, and the proceedings have taken place under the court’s internal governance procedures.

July 28, 2026 Posted by | Progressive Hypocrite | , , , , , , | Comments Off on Chad announces withdrawal from International Criminal Court Treaty

France planning third attack on former colony – African leader

RT | July 27, 2026

French intelligence services are preparing a third attack on Niger’s main airport after two assaults on the facility this year, the West African nation’s transitional leader, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, has said.

Tchiani made the allegation in an interview on state-owned RTN on Saturday to mark the third anniversary of the transitional authorities taking power following the ouster of French-aligned President Mohamed Bazoum. France condemned the July 2023 coup, refused to recognize the new authorities, and demanded Bazoum’s reinstatement.

“The June 18 attack was not the last because we are already tracking [them], since the objective has not been achieved. French intelligence is currently working to attempt a third attack,” Tchiani said.

Gunmen launched an assault on Diori Hamani International Airport in Niger’s capital Niamey on June 18, killing 13 people, including 11 security personnel and two civilians, according to the Sahel state’s Defense Ministry. At least 22 assailants were neutralized and about 20 suspects arrested. Al-Qaeda-linked Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) claimed responsibility for the attack.

The airport, which also hosts a military airbase and the headquarters of the joint Niger-Burkina Faso-Mali force, was previously attacked in January. Islamic State claimed responsibility for that assault, during which officials said 20 militants were killed and 11 arrested. Gen. Tchiani accused France, Benin, and Ivory Coast (Cote d’Ivoire) of sponsoring the violence. Paris and the two neighboring countries have denied the allegations.

On Saturday, the Nigerien leader accused French intelligence of assembling, training, and equipping militants from JNIM who were behind last month’s offensive. He said the operation was intended to simultaneously target the airport, the presidential palace, and an officer-training center in Tondibia, on the outskirts of Niamey.

Tchiani linked the attack to the withdrawal of at least 4,000 foreign troops from the Niamey airbase. He claimed France sought to portray their presence as essential to Niger’s security and their departure as a cause of permanent instability.

Niger and its neighbors Mali and Burkina Faso have battled jihadist violence for more than a decade. The three former French colonies formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) in 2023 to jointly combat the insurgency after severing defense ties with Paris over alleged French aggression and its failure to contain the militants.

The AES leaders have jointly condemned what they described as a “cowardly and perfidious aggression” supported by “foreign state sponsors” against their countries.

July 27, 2026 Posted by | Militarism | , , , , | Comments Off on France planning third attack on former colony – African leader

British Army faces Kenya setback amid row over troops’ crimes

RT | July 24, 2026

The UK has canceled a major army exercise in Kenya after the two countries failed to resolve a dispute over Nairobi’s powers to prosecute British soldiers accused of committing crimes in the East African nation.

The planned Exercise Haraka Storm, involving the 1st Battalion and The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, was reportedly scheduled to begin in September in central Kenya’s Laikipia County. It will instead be held outside Kenya, the British Ministry of Defence said on Thursday, according to The Guardian. Kenya’s Standard newspaper reported that the training would be moved to neighboring Tanzania.

“It is with regret that the necessary licences required to allow training to take place in Laikipia later this year have not been forthcoming,” a Ministry of Defence spokesperson said.

The African state hosts a permanent British Army training support unit, known as BATUK, in Nanyuki, about 200km (125 miles) north of the capital, Nairobi. British troops have trained there since Kenya’s independence in 1963, conducting infantry exercises, as well as engineering and medical deployments under a bilateral defense cooperation agreement.

Kenyan lawmakers have, however, withheld approval for a renewed bilateral defense agreement amid demands for greater jurisdiction over serious offenses committed by British troops. Funding for BATUK is also reportedly under negotiation.

The unit has faced widespread allegations of misconduct, including murder, rape, and environmental pollution. A two-year Kenyan parliamentary investigation report released last December accused British soldiers of murder, sexual assault, torture, and forcibly evicting residents near Nanyuki. It also documented claims involving civilian deaths and injuries from unexploded ordnance, pollution, toxic-waste disposal, and damage to wildlife habitats.

Former serviceman Robert Purkiss has been charged in Kenya with the 2012 murder of 21-year-old Agnes Wanjiru. He is contesting extradition from Britain. Wanjiru’s body was found in a septic tank near a Nanyuki hotel after she was last seen with British troops. Purkiss denies the charge.

Last year, Britain agreed to pay £2.9 million ($3.9 million) to more than 7,700 Kenyans and an environmental group over a 2021 wildfire accidentally started by British troops. The blaze destroyed more than 12,000 acres of the Lolldaiga Hills and reportedly caused one death.

The Ministry of Defence said it remained committed to its defense partnership with Kenya and would continue talks aimed at resuming training.

Nelson Koech, chairman of the Kenyan parliament’s defense committee, said Nairobi is seeking stronger accountability measures, greater protection for local communities, and implementation of the BATUK inquiry’s recommendations.

The two governments are “actively engaging to address these outstanding issues,” The Guardian quoted Koech as saying.

July 24, 2026 Posted by | Militarism | , , , | Comments Off on British Army faces Kenya setback amid row over troops’ crimes

Red Sea tensions rise as French report claims military base is being built in Somaliland

MEMO | July 7, 2026

A report published by the French newspaper Le Monde says satellite image analysis indicates the gradual construction of a military base in the city of Berbera in the self-declared region of Somaliland.

According to the report, the project is being supported by the United Arab Emirates and is intended to serve the interests of the United States and Israel.

Le Monde said satellite images reviewed by the newspaper showed continued expansion of Berbera Airport since October 2025, including infrastructure development. The newspaper said the work suggests a new military facility is being built at a strategically important location near the southern entrance to the Red Sea.

The report said Berbera has attracted growing interest from regional and international powers because of its location on the Gulf of Aden, close to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the world’s most important maritime routes.

It linked the reported developments to increasing competition for influence in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea, amid regional security tensions and efforts to protect international shipping lanes.

According to the newspaper, the report included no official comment from the UAE, the United States or Israel. There has also been no official response from the authorities in Somaliland or the Somali federal government to the claims.

Berbera occupies a strategic position on the Gulf of Aden near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, through which a significant share of global trade and energy supplies passes between Asia and Europe. Its location has made the area a focus of military and economic competition among regional and international powers.

The UAE has invested in Berbera Port for several years through DP World, which is responsible for developing and operating the port. The UAE previously used facilities in Berbera for logistical and military purposes during its operations in Yemen before announcing a reduction in its military presence there.

July 7, 2026 Posted by | Illegal Occupation, Wars for Israel | , , , , | Comments Off on Red Sea tensions rise as French report claims military base is being built in Somaliland

West African states begin withdrawal from ICC

MEMO | July 3, 2026

Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have officially begun a one-year process to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), the court has announced.

The three West African countries previously said they would leave the ICC, describing it as “a tool of new colonial oppression,” according to Reuters.

The presidency of the ICC’s governing body confirmed that Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger had submitted formal notices of withdrawal, triggering a one-year process to leave the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the court.

In a statement, the presidency said the move could weaken global efforts to end impunity and undermine the pursuit of justice. It urged the three countries to remain committed to the Rome Statute.

The statement also stressed that withdrawal does not release a state from any obligations arising during its membership of the Rome Statute.

July 4, 2026 Posted by | Progressive Hypocrite | , , , , | Comments Off on West African states begin withdrawal from ICC

Extremists attack five Malian towns in coordinated dawn attack

Al Mayadeen | July 4, 2026

Mali’s army announced on Saturday that insurgents launched attacks before dawn against its positions in Aguelhok, Anefis, Gao, Sévaré, and Kenieroba, spanning the country’s north and center. Fighting in the different locations began around 5 am local time.

The army says the assaults were attempted strikes on its positions, according to a statement carried on state television.

In Gao, a local official told Reuters that gunfire and rocket fire had targeted a military camp since before dawn. Explosions were also reported in Sévaré, with aircraft later spotted flying over the area, a security source told AFP.

In Kenieroba, roughly 74 kilometers from Bamako, a major prison complex holding extremist prisoners came under attack. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

FLA claims gains in Anefis

The Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), a Tuareg-led separatist movement, confirmed it carried out the assault on Anefis, in the northeastern Kidal region.

For his part, spokesperson Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane told Reuters that several army positions in the town had fallen and that clashes were ongoing inside it.

A resident reached by AFP said armed fighters had entered the town but that the army camp had not yet fallen, and government forces were still resisting.

JNIM, the al-Qaeda-linked coalition that has also operated alongside the FLA, had not issued a claim as of Saturday.

Anefis and Aguelhok are the only locations in the Kidal region where Malian troops have maintained a presence since the collapse of government control there in late April, when FLA and JNIM fighters seized the city of Kidal itself.

Russian forces, deployed to Anefis after that offensive, are also stationed in the area, making it a focal point for both Bamako and Moscow’s regional military presence.

Part of a broader pattern since April

Saturday’s attacks come just over two months after JNIM and the FLA carried out a coordinated wave of strikes on military and administrative targets across Mali, including in Bamako, Kati, Gao, Sévaré, and Kidal.

That offensive killed Defense Minister Sadio Camara, whose responsibilities were temporarily transferred to President Assimi Goïta, and led to the withdrawal of Malian and Russian forces from Kidal and other northern towns.

Russia’s Defense Ministry described the April events as a foiled coup attempt involving roughly 12,000 fighters, it said were trained with Western support.

July 4, 2026 Posted by | Militarism | , | Comments Off on Extremists attack five Malian towns in coordinated dawn attack

Explainer: Which foreign delegations attended the funeral of martyred Leader of the Islamic Revolution?

Press TV – July 4, 2026

The funeral ceremony for the martyred Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, brought together one of the largest gatherings of foreign dignitaries in Iran in recent decades, with representatives from across Asia, Africa, Europe, the Americas, and major international organizations attending the event in Tehran.

The delegations included presidents, prime ministers, parliamentary speakers, foreign ministers, senior government officials, political leaders, and representatives of religious organizations and resistance movements, underscoring the broad international participation in the ceremony.

Asia

Asia accounted for the largest share of official delegations.

From West Asia, Iraq sent one of the largest delegations, including Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani, Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, senior officials, and representatives of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).

Saudi Arabia was represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed Al-Khuraiji, while Oman sent the chairman of its State Council and Qatar was represented by Parliament Speaker Hassan bin Abdullah Al Ghanim.

Shia community representatives also attended from Bahrain and several other Persian Gulf countries.

Lebanon dispatched Defense Minister Michel Menassa alongside senior delegations from Hezbollah and the Amal Movement.

Yemen was represented by Vice President Mahmoud al-Junaid and an Ansarullah delegation.

Palestinian groups also attended, including senior Hamas leaders and Islamic Jihad Secretary-General Ziyad al-Nakhalah.

From the wider Asian region, Pakistan sent one of the highest-level foreign delegations, headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir. The delegation also included the Senate speaker, senior government officials, and religious leaders.

Afghanistan was represented by delegations from the Taliban administration and the Afghan resistance.

India sent a special government envoy at the deputy foreign minister level.

China was represented by He Wei, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.

Tajik President Emomali Rahmon attended the ceremony in person, while Armenia was represented by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Georgia sent President Mikheil Kavelashvili along with a Muslim delegation.

Türkiye dispatched Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz, together with political and party representatives.

Turkmenistan was represented by Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, Chairman of the People’s Council and National Leader.

Among other participants were Azerbaijan’s parliament speaker, Kazakhstan’s foreign minister; the parliamentary speakers of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka; Thailand’s deputy prime minister; Malaysia’s agriculture minister; Myanmar’s special envoy; and official delegations from South Korea and North Korea.

Africa

Several African governments were represented by ministerial- or cabinet-level delegations.

Egypt sent its Senate speaker.

South Africa, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Namibia, Tanzania, and Tunisia all sent official representatives.

Nigeria and Senegal also dispatched delegations to participate in the funeral ceremonies.

Europe and the Americas

Russia sent Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, as President Vladimir Putin’s special representative.

Belarus was represented by its parliament speaker, while Serbia sent its communications minister. Bulgaria also dispatched parliamentary and political representatives.

Germany was represented by members of the country’s Shia community.

From Latin America, Cuba sent its higher education minister as a special representative, while Nicaragua was represented by Foreign Minister Valdrack Jaentschke.

International organizations

The ceremony also drew senior representatives of several international organizations.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) was represented by Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbayev, while the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) sent Deputy Secretary-General Tariq Ali Bakheet.

The D-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation and the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) were represented by their respective secretaries-general.

July 4, 2026 Posted by | Solidarity and Activism | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Explainer: Which foreign delegations attended the funeral of martyred Leader of the Islamic Revolution?

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