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Africa Subsaharan
Somali pirates taken to Seychelles for prosecution
2024-05-16
[Garowe] Six suspected Somali pirates have been transferred to the Indian Ocean Island of Seychelles for prosecution, it has emerged, with the culprits transported using an EU worship
or warship
, after they were involved in the Gulf of Aden incident which was classified as a pirate attack.

Last weekend, the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
Naval Force Operation Atalanta confirmed a 'suspicious approach' that involved the Marshall Islands-flagged Chrystal Arctic, taking place last Friday approximately 100 nautical miles north of Bosaso, Somalia.

Reports indicate the vessel sighted along the Gulf of Aden was carrying 5-6 individuals who were heavily armed. The UK Maritime Trade Operations has since confirmed the incident, terming it a suspected pirate raid within the coastline of Somalia.

On sighting the potential threat, the tanker’s Master implemented self-protection measures. The armed individuals on the small craft opened fire, leading to the vessel’s Armed Security Team returning fire, prompting the small craft to abandon its approach.

The ATALANTA warship took the six men into custody after the scuffle, as some were taken for treatment following injuries sustained. The incident has since been classified as a piracy attempt, officials said.

Seychelles is among the nations with whom Operation ATALANTA has a legal agreement allowing for the trial of suspected pirates arrested by its warships. The six will have to face the trial on the island, becoming the second lot to face prosecution.

Last month, many Somali pirates were taken to India for prosecution after they were nabbed in the Indian Ocean. Cases of piracy have increased along the 3,333 kilometers of coastline for the last two years, but the government has partnered with stakeholders to curb the incidents.

EUNAVFOR suspects the presence of two or more pirate action groups off the Somali coast following a string of recent dhow hijackings. Two merchant vessels, the MV Ruen and the MV Abdullah, were hijacked in December, with the former rescued by the Indian Navy after a three-month hostage situation.

There were reports that the pirates have signed a clandestine agreement with al-Shabaab
... an Islamic infestation centering on Somalia attempting to metastasize into Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and similar places, all ofwhich have enough problems without them...
, a group seeking to topple the fragile UN-backed federal government of Somalia. Under the agreement, the two groups would share proceeds of ransom in all successful piracy incidents.
Related:
Seychelles: 2023-12-24 Iran threatens to blockade the Mediterranean Sea due to US actions
Seychelles: 2023-12-24 Red Sea Security Coalition Melts Down As Member Nations Refuse to Accept US Leadership
Seychelles: 2023-12-23 Senator Cotton: Americans will start dying due to escalation in the Red Sea

Related:
Naval Force Operation Atalanta: 2023-01-08 EU extends naval operation combating piracy off Somalia through 2024
Naval Force Operation Atalanta: 2013-10-10 EU May Help Somalia Establish Coast Guard To Combat Piracy
Link


Arabia
Houthis claim missile attack on US destroyer in Red Sea
2024-05-16
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The military representative of the Yemeni Houthis, Yahya Saria, said that the rebel movement launched a missile attack on a US destroyer in the Red Sea, on the Al Masirah TV channel.

“The Yemeni navy conducted a combat operation during which it fired several anti-ship missiles at the US destroyer Mason in the Red Sea,” Saria said.
Note that he says nothing about actually hitting the target.
He added that the Houthis also launched a missile attack on the commercial ship Destiny in the Red Sea. It was heading to the port of Eilat in Israel.

As Regnum reported, on May 8, the head of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, Mahdi al-Mashat, said at a military parade that the United States was sending “tempting offers” so that the movement would stop attacking merchant ships in the Red Sea. He called these steps by the American leadership humiliating. Al-Mashat said the Houthis will continue their attacks in support of the Gaza Strip, whose residents are suffering from attacks by the Israeli army.

Saria on May 9 announced missile strikes on three Israeli ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
How the Times of Israel reported it:
Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
’s Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
rebels on Wednesday claimed they targeted a US Navy destroyer and a commercial ship in the Red Sea, but there was no immediate confirmation that any attacks took place.

Houthi military front man Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said the rebels targeted the USS Mason with missiles and launched an attack on a ship he identified as the Destiny. Multiple vessels have that name in shipping registries.

The US Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Mason, an Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, has been in the Red Sea and the wider region as part of a US-led coalition trying to prevent Houthi attacks on shipping.
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israel's war on Gaza in numbers; IDF says they killed 300+ Hamas gunnies in Rafah and Gaza City
2024-05-15
[Al Jazeera]
  • Israeli fighter jets have bombed central Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp, killing dozens of Palestinians, with children among the fatalities. Heavy combat results in casualties on both sides as Palestinian fighters battle invading Israeli forces in northern and southern Gaza.

  • The UN says it informed Israeli authorities of the movements of a UN-marked vehicle carrying staff that was hit in southern Gaza, killing an Indian army colonel working with the UN.

  • Women and children make up at least 56 percent of the 35,173 people killed in the Gaza war, the UN says,
    and another branch of the UN says Hamas has overstated deaths of women and children by about 10,000, reducing that percentage by about half. Other sources point out that Hamas has many hardboys in the 16-20 year range, whose deaths they group among the children…
    in a new breakdown that’s the “most comprehensive” to date.

  • The US-constructed Gaza humanitarian aid pier will be operational “in the coming days”, Pentagon spokesman Major-General Pat Ryder has told reporters.


Four troops seriously wounded as IDF looks to expand northern Gaza, Rafah offensives

[IsraelTimes] Army spokesperson says over 300 gunmen killed in Rafah, Gaza City suburbs, IDF releases footage showing alleged Hamas gunmen at UN facilities in southern Gaza city

Four Israeli soldiers were seriously maimed in separate battles with button men across the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
Strip on Tuesday, Israeli authorities said, as the military expanded a renewed offensive in the north of the Strip centered around the Gaza City suburb of Jabaliya.

Three soldiers from the Paratroopers Brigade suffered serious injuries during a gunbattle in northern Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces said, while a fourth troop from the Givati Brigade was seriously hurt as a result of an bomb that detonated in Rafah in the far south of Gaza City.

Five other troops were moderately injured in the same battle in northern Gaza, while the Rafah blast left another five soldiers moderately and lightly maimed.

Israeli forces have recently returned to Jabaliya after the IDF identified terror operatives regrouping there. The city, just north of Gaza City, was one of the first targets of an Israeli ground offensive into Gaza which launched in late October as Jerusalem seeks to uproot the Hamas
..the braying voice of Islamic Resistance®,...
terror group and return hostages held in the Strip.

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said Tuesday that troops are now operating in areas of Jabaliya that the IDF previously did not reach in the initial ground offensive in northern Gaza. More than 80 button men have been killed in the operation that started on Sunday.

Also Tuesday, Israel expanded an evacuation order for Paleostinian civilians in the city. IDF’s Arabic-language front man Lt. Col. Avichay Adraee instructed civilians in the al-Atatra and Salatin areas to move to shelters west of Gaza City.

More than 150 button men have been killed in the nearby Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City since Israeli troops relaunched an offensive there, Hagari said.

Some 80 sites used by terror groups were destroyed as well, he said.

The IDF has had to return to previously conquered places such as Jabaliya and Zeitoun due to indications that the Hamas terror group has reemerged since the main thrust of Israel’s offensive shifted to the south of the Strip.

Some critics of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war strategy have blamed his administration’s inability to determine what will replace Hamas as the civilian authority in Gaza for the army having to double back into northern Gaza.

"There is no doubt that a governmental alternative to Hamas will create pressure on Hamas, but that is a question for the political echelon," Hagari said Tuesday in response to a question.

Most attention in Gaza in recent weeks has been focused on the south, where Israel recently launched what it has described as a "precise" operation to uproot Hamas from what is considered its last remaining major stronghold.

Hagari said more than 100 button men had been killed there and 10 tunnel systems located since Israel pushed into Rafah last week, Hagari said.

Israel invaded Gaza following the October 7 massacre, during which thousands of Hamas-led holy warriors stormed into southern Israel communities, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 252 hostage in Gaza. Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas to ensure it no longer poses a threat, but is also involved in indirect talks with the group aimed at an extended truce and exchange of hostages for Paleostinian prisoners.

Visiting troops in eastern Rafah on Tuesday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi was told by commanders there that "there are also hostages in the Rafah area. We are determined to do whatever it takes to create the conditions for them to return to us soon," Hagari said.

Fighting has also persisted in central Gaza, where the IDF said that it struck a Hamas command room based out of a UNRWA school in Nuseirat, resulting in the deaths of more than 15 terror operatives, including 10 Hamas members. Among those killed were holy warriors of Hamas’s elite Nukhba force who participated in the October 7 onslaught, Israel said.

The army says 272 soldiers have been killed during the ground offensive against Hamas and amid operations along the Gaza border.

The IDF said the strike on the school was carried out following "accurate intelligence" provided by the Shin Bet security agency and Military Intelligence Directorate.

"The strike was carefully planned and carried out using precise munitions while avoiding harming civilians as much as possible," the military said in a statement.

According to the IDF and Shin Bet, the command room was used by Hamas to plan attacks against troops operating in central Gaza in recent weeks.

In drone footage captured over the weekend and released by the IDF on Tuesday, Paleostinian button men were also seen at a UNRWA logistics center in Rafah, and near United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
vehicles.

According to the IDF, the button men were spotted by troops of the Givati Brigade on Saturday at the UNRWA logistics center in eastern Rafah.

The video showed the button men next to UN vehicles and in the logistics compound itself, which the IDF said is used by the UN body to deliver humanitarian aid. One clip was also said by the military to show a gunman opening fire inside the complex.

Following the "unusual event," the military said representatives of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) "conveyed the findings to bigwigs in the international community and called on the UN to investigate the matter urgently."

COGAT officials also "warned the UN against the presence of holy warriors in the area, and the seriousness of the danger that exists in the presence of the holy warriors in the logistics center compound with regard to the continued protection of the organization’s facilities."

Israel has previously accused UNRWA of enabling Hamas to use its facilities in Gaza for terror. It has also provided evidence that several agency employees are members of terror groups and were involved in the October 7 attack.

Following the release of the drone footage, Katz wrote on X that UNRWA "is an arm of the terrorist organization Hamas," and called on the organization’s chief, Philippe Lazzarini, to resign.

The footage was sent out a day after a member of the UN’s security staff was killed and another was maimed in a strike on a UN vehicle en route to the European hospital in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah. On Tuesday, the world body blamed Israel for the death, saying the car had been clearly marked before it was struck by shots fired from a tank. The IDF previously said the incident would be probed, but claimed that the car had been in an active combat zone and had not updated an Israeli deconfliction line about its route.

50 TRUCKS ’NOT NEARLY ENOUGH’
Nearly 450,000 of the roughly one million Paleostinians who had been sheltering in Rafah have evacuated in recent days as the IDF has escalated its operations in Gaza’s southernmost city.

The IDF says four of Hamas’s remaining six battalions are located in Rafah, along with the terror group’s leadership and many of the hostages. But it has faced pressure from the US and much of the rest of the international community to not carry out a full-scale offensive in the city.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan is scheduled to visit Israel later this week and will discuss the situation in Rafah with Netanyahu. Despite concerns that the IDF will escalate its offensive in the Hamas stronghold, a US official confirmed on Tuesday evening that Jerusalem has given assurances that it will not do so before Sullivan arrives.

The US has ramped up its criticism of Israel’s handling of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza in the days since the IDF seized the Rafah Crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on May 7. On Tuesday, US State Department front man Vedant Patel said that just 50 aid trucks had entered Gaza on Sunday, describing the convoy as "not nearly enough."

Patel reiterated that while Washington backed military pressure on Hamas, it was not the only way to "fully defeat" the terror organization. Without a political plan for Gaza’s future, the terror group will "keep coming back, and Israel will continue to remain under threat," Patel said, leading to "this continued cycle of violence."

Rejecting the notion that Israel is solely responsible for managing the humanitarian crisis unleashed in Gaza by its war with Hamas, Foreign Minister Israel Katz called for Egypt to resume sending humanitarian aid through the Rafah crossing, which Cairo refuses to do in protest of the IDF takeover.

"The world is placing the responsibility of Israel for the humanitarian issue, but the key to preventing a humanitarian crisis is now in the hands of our Egyptian friends," he said.

His comments prompted an angry response from Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry who said in a statement that Israel’s seizure of the Rafah crossing and its military operations in the area were the main obstacles to aid entering Gaza.

Meanwhile,
...back at the shootout, another bullet hole appeared in Butch's hat......
the US military is expected to connect one end of a hulking metal dock — the length of five US football fields — to a beach in northern Gaza to allow for more aid to be brought into the enclave.

Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said that humanitarian groups are ready for the first shipments through the US maritime route. "In the coming days, you can expect to see this effort underway. And we are confident that that we will be able to, working with our NGO partners, ensure that aid can be delivered," he said.
Link


Africa Horn
The threat of Somali piracy on the rise, EU warns
2024-05-14
[SHABELLEMEDIA] A report on the threat of piracy off the coast of Somalia from the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
’s ATALANTA mission said that there has been an increase in incidents that could increase the risk of piracy in Somalia waters.

The European Union has said that pirates have started hijacking speedboats, to use them to carry out attacks from areas 600 nm off the coast of Somalia.

"Although there have been no incidents of piracy in the past seven days, the payment of a ransom could create a new wave of hijackings," EU NAVFOR ATALANTA said.

The ATALANTA mission said that it is estimated that at least two pirate groups may be sailing off the coast of Somalia, preparing to attack fat merchantmen.

European navies have said that piracy attacks are possible and can always happen. They said it is important that ships operating in the Western Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden, especially those within 700nm of Somalia’s coast, comply with security recommendations.

In March of this year, a ship belonging to Bangladesh was taken for a ransom of 5 million dollars, which is the first ransom paid to Somali pirates in decades.

Link


Arabia
US downs 3 drones from Houthi area of Yemen ‘to protect freedom of navigation’
2024-05-13
[IsraelTimes] US Central Command (CENTCOM) says it has destroyed three drones launched from a Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
controlled area of Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
into the Red Sea.

"It was determined that these UAS [uncrewed aerial systems] presented an imminent threat to both coalition forces and merchant vessels in the region," CENTCOM says in a statement.

"These actions are taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for US, coalition, and merchant vessels."

CENTCOM also reports that a drone was launched from a Houthi controlled area of Yemen into the Gulf of Aden yesterday, with no injuries or damage reported by American, coalition, or commercial ship.
Related:
Gulf of Aden: 2024-05-10 Houthis claim attack on Israeli ships in Gulf of Aden
Gulf of Aden: 2024-05-01 Houthis attack Israel-linked ship in Indian Ocean, 2 US warships in Red Sea
Gulf of Aden: 2024-04-27 US says it downed two Houthi drones, anti-ship missile as rebels renew attacks
Related:
Red Sea: 2024-05-12 Another piracy incident reported off Somalia coast, threat of Somali piracy rising per EU
Red Sea: 2024-05-11 Illegal migrants aid criminal networks to steal Texas crude oil
Red Sea: 2024-05-10 Houthis claim attack on Israeli ships in Gulf of Aden
Link


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
PA says it can only pay 50% of civil sector salaries this month as tax funds withheld
2024-05-13
[IsraelTimes] Finance Ministry says it is preventing transfer of tax revenues, said to amount to $46 million, citing Ramallah’s diplomatic efforts against Israel

The Paleostinian Authority said Sunday it will only be able to pay a part of public sector salaries this week as the Finance Ministry is continuing to withhold tax revenues that it collects for Ramallah, keeping up a squeeze on payrolls that has lasted for months.

Channel 12 reported over the weekend that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had been holding back NIS 170 million shekels ($46 million) in tax revenue for nine days, in protest of PA efforts "fighting against the State of Israel." It was an apparent reference to reports that Ramallah has been pushing for the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for top Israeli officials for alleged breaches of international law
…one can indeed see how that might rankle…
in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response...
during the war against Hamas
..a contraction of the Arabic words for "frothing at the mouth",...
The PA said it would pay Paleostinian public sector employees 50 percent of their March salaries on Tuesday after Israel withheld a transfer due for the month of April.

It said the arrears would be paid once the financial situation allowed.

The Finance Ministry confirmed it had been decided not to transfer tax revenues this month but declined to provide details.

The squeeze on public sector salaries, and the fact that tens of thousands of Paleostinians have been prevented from working in Israel since the start of the war in Gaza in October, have added to growing economic hardship in the West Bank.
Those jobs will be filled by others: Indians, Thai, ...
Israel collects hundreds of millions of shekels in Paleostinian tax revenue, which Smotrich held up earlier in the war over concerns that the portion of the funds that Ramallah uses to pay for services and employees in Gaza — roughly NIS 260 million ($73 million) monthly — could wind up in the hands of Hamas.

Although Hamas wrested control of Gaza from the rival Fatah faction in 2007, the Paleostinian Authority, which is dominated by Fatah, continues to fund some health and education services in the enclave.

An agreement was eventually reached in February to transfer the payments via Norway to ensure no money is diverted to the terror group.

But in a letter sent last month to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and widely reported by Hebrew media, Smotrich wrote that the PA is an immediate danger to Israel and called on the premier to annex the West Bank if the Paleostinians don’t desist from their diplomatic efforts against Israel.
Link


Africa Horn
Sudan's descent into chaos sets stage for al-Qaida to make a return to historic stronghold
2024-05-13
[AFRICANEWS] "Sudan
...a Moslem country located in the Horn of Africa. It is noted for its affinity for rule by ex- or current generals, its holy men, and for the oppression of the native Afro population by its Arab conquerors. South Sudan, populated mostly by the natives, split off from Sudan proper, which left North and South Darfur to be oppressed by the guys with turbans...
's moment has come; chaos is our chance to sow the seeds of jihad," warned Abu Hudhaifa al-Sudani, a high-ranking al-Qaeda leader, in an October 2022 manifesto.

His words may have seemed premature at the time, but a year of brutal civil war has now plunged Sudan into the kind of chaos in which terrorist groups thrive. The risk of al-Qaeda gaining ground in Sudan is now very real and imperils, I believe, not only the country itself but also regional — and potentially global — security.

In April 2023, fighting broke out in Sudan between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, creating a power vacuum that Lions of Islam are eager to fill.

At the same time, the Rapid Support Forces — a group that developed under and was once allied to Sudan's al-Qaeda-harboring former president Omar al-Bashir
...Former President-for-Life of Sudan He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself head cheese. He fell out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Hee was overthrown by popular consent in 2019. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it...>
— has been solidifying its grip in strategic areas such as Darfur and southern Khartoum.

Indeed, both the paramilitary group and the armed forces have been accused of recruiting Islamist fighters, fueling fears that the civil war will — regardless of the victor — prove a toehold for bully boy groups.

As a defense policy researcher and counterterrorism expert, I'm concerned that Sudan risks becoming an al-Qaeda stronghold — and a potential base for orchestrating attacks on the U.S. and its allies. A potential Rapid Support Forces takeover in Sudan could mirror pre-9/11 Afghanistan, where Taliban
...Arabic for students...
control facilitated al-Qaeda's rise.

Al-Qaeda members, seeking opportunities to achieve what they couldn't in the Middle East, are already heeding calls to head to Sudan.

DECADES OF TURMOIL AND EXTREMISM
Sudan's civil strife predates the current fighting by decades. It ignited in 1989 when al-Bashir seized power, aligning the nation with radical Islamist ideologies. He imposed Sharia law and in 1991 sheltered al-Qaeda leader the late Osama bin Laden
...... who is now neither a strong horse nor a weak horse, but a dead horse......
. Under al-Bashir's regime, bin Laden established training camps and expanded al-Qaeda's financial network, laying the groundwork for the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Facing international sanctions over its support of terrorism, Sudan expelled bin Laden in 1996.

But al-Bashir's sponsorship of the Janjaweed militia group, the architects of the 2003 Darfur genocide, further solidified his alignment with Islamist bully boys. Under scrutiny, al-Bashir rebranded the Janjaweed as the Rapid Support Forces in 2013, appointing ex-Janjaweed member Mohammed Hamdan "Hemeti" Dagalo as its leader and retaining their brutal tactics.

The 2021 coup, orchestrated by Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan of the Sudanese Armed Forces and Hemeti of the Rapid Support Forces, soon devolved into a power struggle between the two men, igniting Sudan's current conflict.

Today, with Hemeti at the helm, the paramilitary group continues its oppressive campaign in West Darfur, engaging in alleged ethnic cleansing against the Indigenous Masalit people.

Meanwhile,
...back at the barn, Bossy's udder had begun to ache...
a prison attack in April 2023, which the Sudanese army blamed on Rapid Support Forces rebels, facilitated the escape of al-Bashir's allies, though the former president remains hospitalized under guard.

SUDAN AT THE HEART OF JIHAD
With conflicts in the Middle Eastand Eastern Europe, the West might be overlooking the crisis in Sudan and the potential it holds for al-Qaeda, a group that has long harbored ambitions of returning to Sudan.

Despite his expulsion, bin Laden continued to emphasize Sudan's importance in his plans for global jihad. This was evident in his 2006 audiotape and diary entries in which he referred to Sudan as a pivotal operational base.

A 2023 publication by key al-Qaeda figure Ibrahim al-Qussi titled "Fragments from al-Qaeda's History" revealed that bin Laden directed an investment of US$12 million solely for jihad in Sudan, highlighting the region's ongoing relevance to al-Qaeda's objectives.

Sudan's appeal to Lions of Islam extends beyond its connections to bin Laden. Strategically bridging North and sub-Saharan Africa, Sudan is a key location for Islamist Lions of Islam aiming to expand their influence across the region.

After the 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban's return to power, al-Qaeda reestablished a presence in the country, reopening training camps and madrassas.

Well before that, however, al-Qaeda had long since evolved from a centralized organization in Afghanistan into a decentralized network with global affiliates — from the Arabian Peninsula to the Indian subcontinent all the way to sub-Saharan Africa and the Sahel.

HISTORIC TIES, NEW AMBITIONS
Recent developments highlight al-Qaeda's increased focus on Sudan and are driven by detailed expansion plans of Sudanese al-Qaeda leader Abu Hudhaifa al-Sudani. A former bin Laden associate with a notorious background in Afghanistan and Iraq, al-Sudani issued a renewed call for jihad.

Following the onset of civil war in Sudan, al-Sudani's 2022 manifesto, "Now the fighting has come: War messages to the Mujahideen in Sudan," not only prescribes a military strategy of targeted strikes and guerrilla warfare across Sudan but also a vision for jihad extending from Dongola in the country's north to Darfur in its south, with Khartoum as the command center.

Al-Qaeda further articulated its threat in a message on the 22nd anniversary of the 2001 attacks on the U.S., promising, "It is only a matter of time before the next strike eclipses the horrors of 9/11."

This declaration, combined with the group's escalating presence in conflict zones such as Niger and Libya, actively positions them to target U.S. interests worldwide. Indeed, a 2022 United Nations
...an idea whose time has gone...
report indicated that al-Qaeda was planning high-profile attacks, possibly at sea.

What an bully boy takeover would mean

Al-Qaeda's potential in resource-rich Sudan should not be underestimated. Historically, the group's operations from resource-limited Afghanistan were devastating; in Sudan, with its abundance of oil, gold and fertile land, their capabilities could be significantly magnified.

Sudan provides a lucrative base for whoever holds power. Forging links with both sides of the civil war would no doubt be of huge financial benefit to al-Qaeda should either side prevail, in the same way al-Bashir's rule was a generation earlier.

And Sudan's Red Sea access makes it potentially an even greater threat than Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

Gaining a Sudanese stronghold could empower al-Qaeda affiliates across Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
, Somalia and the Sahel region
... North Africa's answer to the Pak tribal areas...
, exacerbating regional conflicts and threatening crucial Red Sea trade routes. Interestingly, a United Nations July 2022 report revealed that al-Qaeda's Yemen branch had been boosting its maritime capabilities.

The resurgence of al-Qaeda capabilities in the region could lead to increased piracy, militarized blockades and unregulated arms flow, escalating regional tensions and causing broader geopolitical unrest.

But as the United States redirects resources and attention to wars in Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...
and the Middle East and countering China, Sudan has seemingly slipped down its priority list. Complicating matters further, U.S. responses are tangled in the conflicting interests of its Gulf allies supporting various factions in Sudan's civil war.
Related:
Al-Qaeda: 2024-05-11 Sinister Hamas terms would let it keep most hostages, win the war, inflame the West Bank
Al-Qaeda: 2024-05-11 UNRWA shuts Jerusalem headquarters after Israelis allegedly set fire in compound
Al-Qaeda: 2024-05-10 After ban, ministry raids Al Jazeera's Nazareth branch, seizes equipment
Link


Great White North
Canadian police arrest fourth Indian man for murder of Sikh leader Nijjar
2024-05-13
[GEO.TV] A fourth person has been arrested and charged with the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar
…erstwhile head of the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) in Canada, one of several Sikh groups who seek to carve out an independent homeland for the Sikhs in Indian Punjab, because they respect the borders of their Pakistani trainers and paymasters too much to aim for doing the same in their actual historic homeland in the Pakistani Punjab. While they wait, they amuse themselves with criminality and terrorism, according to the Indian authorities, who had long been trying to persuade Canada to extradite Mr. Nijjar. He acquired Canadian citizenship despite arriving there under false pretenses and a false identity. India claims he died last summer of Sikh inter-gang activities ....
last year, Canadian police said on Saturday, in a case that strained diplomatic relations with India.

Canadian police earlier this month arrested and charged three Indian men in the city of Edmonton in Alberta and said they were probing whether the men had ties to the Indian government.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) announced Saturday that Amandeep Singh, 22, has been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in Nijjar's killing.

Singh, an Indian national who resided in Brampton, Surrey and Abbotsford, was already in jug for unrelated firearms charges out of Peel, Ontario, IHIT said.

Nijjar, 45, was rubbed out in June outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, a Vancouver suburb with a large Sikh population. A few months later, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
...hereditary prime minister of the Great White North...
cited what he said was evidence of potential Indian government involvement, prompting a diplomatic crisis with New Delhi.

Nijjar was a Canadian citizen campaigning for the creation of Khalistan, an independent Sikh homeland carved out of India. The presence of Sikh separatist groups in Canada has long frustrated New Delhi, which had labeled Nijjar a "terrorist".
Related:
Hardeep Singh Nijjar 05/04/2024 Canadian police make arrests in Hardeep Singh Nijjar assassination investigation
Hardeep Singh Nijjar 04/30/2024 'We will protect your freedom,' Canada PM Trudeau tells Sikhs
Hardeep Singh Nijjar 02/17/2024 Immigration Drives Male Population ‘Boom' in Canada

Related:
Edmonton: 2024-05-04 Canadian police make arrests in Hardeep Singh Nijjar assassination investigation
Edmonton: 2024-01-29 Edmonton City Hall Shooter Made Gaza ‘Genocide' Tape Before Attack: Reports
Edmonton: 2024-01-27 O Canada: Stringent Gun Control Fails to Stop Firearm Attack on Edmonton City Hall
Related:
Vancouver: 2024-02-26 Wild moment gunman wielding an automatic unloads on blacked-out BMW wounding four men in suburban Vancouver
Vancouver: 2024-02-17 Immigration Drives Male Population ‘Boom' in Canada
Vancouver: 2024-02-14 Jewish Canadian politician fired, gets death threat after snark about pre-Zionist Palestine
Related:
Khalistan Tiger Force: 2024-01-06 Canada-Based Gangster Lakhbir Singh Landa Declared Terrorist By MHA
Khalistan Tiger Force: 2024-01-06 Chargesheet Filed Against Close Aide Of Canada-Based Khalistani Terrorist Arsh Dala
Khalistan Tiger Force: 2023-09-28 Fundamentalism by any other name
Link


India-Pakistan
AJK cop shot dead as protests against inflation turn violent
2024-05-12
[GEO.TV] A cop was rubbed out after festivities between the police and Awami Action Committee (AAC) protesters as the demonstrations against high electricity bills and taxes entered second day in Mirpur, Azad Jammu and Kashmir
...a disputed territory lying between India and Pakistain. After partition, the Paks grabbed half of it and call it Azad (Free) Kashmir. The remainder they refer to as "Indian Occupied Kashmir". They have fought four wars with India over it, the score currently 4-0 in New Delhi's favor. After 72 years of this nonsense, India cut the Gordian knot in 2019, removing the area's special status, breaking off Ladakh as a separate state, and allowing people from other areas to settle (or in the case of the Pandits, to resettle) there....
(AJK) on Saturday.

Markets, trade centres, offices and schools and restaurants remained closed across the AJK due to the AAC’s call for a shutter down and wheel-jam strike across the state to protest the electricity price hike and taxes.

Heavy police force was deputed on all the ways leading to Madina Market, where the AAC had organised a reception for the long march participants.

The routes leading to Muzaffarabad were blocked with barricades at Shahrah-e-Srinagar, while heavy police contingents remained present on the thoroughfare.

The day dawned with large number of participants from Bhimbar, Mirpur and Kotli marched towards Muzaffarabad in groups.

Related:
Muzaffarabad: 2024-02-06 COAS says 'any aggression to be responded with full military might'
Muzaffarabad: 2023-10-11 Meet the Harvard Students Supporting Hamas' Invasion of Israel
Muzaffarabad: 2023-09-11 LeT commander who had key role in Rajouri attack killed inside PoK mosque
Link


Africa Horn
Another piracy incident reported off Somalia coast, threat of Somali piracy rising per EU
2024-05-12
In fond memory of Pappy, who started tracking Somali pirates for us years ago.
[Garowe] Another piracy incident has been reported in Somalia, multiple sources confirmed, just as the country struggles to bring order and stability to the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea coastlines, which are now prone to such attacks.

Eyewitnesses said a merchant's vessel has reported a suspicious approach by a blue-hulled small boat with several gunnies some 170 kilometers northwest of Bosaso, within Puntland
...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion...
state. Most cases of piracy are reported around the Puntland coastline.
Link


Arabia
Houthis claim attack on Israeli ships in Gulf of Aden
2024-05-10
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The armed forces of the Shiite movement Ansar Allah (Houthis) ruling in northern Yemen attacked three Israeli ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.The military representative of the Houthis, Yahya Saria, announced this on May 9 on the Yemeni TV channel Al Masirah.

“The Yemeni Armed Forces carried out an operation involving naval forces, unmanned air forces and missile forces, hitting two Israeli vessels in the Gulf of Aden - MSC DEGO and MSC GINA. The attack was carried out with the help of several ballistic missiles and drones, and the hit was accurate,” Saria said.

In addition, according to him, Yemen's missile forces carried out two operations against the MSC Vittoria, first in the Indian Ocean and then in the Arabian Sea.
Sounds like they missed…
Yahya Saria added that the Yemeni Armed Forces are monitoring the development of the situation in the Gaza Strip and are increasing the level of their military operations in order to defeat the oppressors of the Palestinian people.

As Regnum reported earlier, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saria said that the Ansar Allah movement intends to attack ships associated with Israel or going to its ports everywhere, including in the Mediterranean Sea, if Israel launches an operation in Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.

The Houthis also intend, in the event of such a development of the situation, to introduce “comprehensive sanctions” against all ships of companies related to supply and entry into Israeli ports, and will also prevent the passage of all ships of these companies through the area under their control, he added.

On May 7, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced the start of a military operation in Rafah.

In addition, the IDF reported taking control of the border crossing on the Gaza Strip border with Egypt. The passage of residents and humanitarian aid through the border checkpoint has been stopped.

On the night of May 6-7, it became known that the head of the Politburo of the radical Palestinian movement Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, said that he was waiting for Israel to respond to the plan proposed by Egypt and Qatar for a ceasefire, withdrawal of troops and lifting the blockade. This was announced by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian after a conversation with Haniyeh.

At the same time, according to local media, Israel continued to strike Rafah, which is a humanitarian corridor.
Related:
Gulf of Aden: 2024-05-01 Houthis attack Israel-linked ship in Indian Ocean, 2 US warships in Red Sea
Gulf of Aden: 2024-04-27 US says it downed two Houthi drones, anti-ship missile as rebels renew attacks
Gulf of Aden: 2024-04-26 Good Morning
Link


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Ukrainian Perspective: Invasion of Ukraine: May 8, 2024
2024-05-09
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.

Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title.

[Korrespondent] 22:11 The United States is working on new packages of military assistance to Ukraine, but is not yet ready to talk about the timing, State Department Speaker Matthew Miller said.

22:09 Zelensky said in an evening video message that he heard a separate report from the Minister of Defense and a report from the Commander-in-Chief today. The main priorities are positions at the front, the physical protection of people and communities, and the disruption of any attempts at offensive actions by the Russian Federation.

22:04 The Slovaks have collected more than 4 million euros for shells for Ukraine - this money is enough to produce almost 2,700 artillery ammunition. They should be delivered to Ukraine no later than the end of summer, said Dodo Dobrik, a participant in the Gift for Putin project.

21:56 The Russians attacked Ukraine at night with a new and modernized X-101 missile with a double warhead, writes the specialized publication Defense Express. The main feature of the missile is that in addition to the standard warhead weighing 450 kg, it had an additional warhead weighing 350 kg, that is, a warhead weighing 800 kg was used in total.

20:57 The UK announced an additional contribution to the Ukraine Energy Support Fund in the amount of about 23 million euros, the Ministry of Energy reported. The funds will be used to purchase equipment to repair damaged energy infrastructure, strengthen physical protection and provide backup power, including generators and distributed generation.

20:31 The Verkhovna Rada adopted in the second reading bill No. 11079-1, which allowed certain categories of prisoners to mobilize into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. As expected, such an initiative caused a strong reaction in society and many concerns, but people’s deputies assure that the document is well thought out and prohibits the mobilization of those convicted of serious crimes. Read more in the material Mobilization of prisoners: who will go to the front.

19:24 Zelensky said that he had telephone conversations with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Prime Ministers of Denmark and the Netherlands Matte Frederiksen and Mark Rutte, Secretary General of the Council of Europe Maria Pejčinović-Burich - they all confirmed their participation in the Global Peace Summit, which will be held in Switzerland on 15 -June 16. In addition, the president had a “long and substantive” conversation with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Zelensky invited him to the Peace Summit, and the integration of Ukraine into the EU was also discussed.

19:18 The total resource of prisoners who could potentially be mobilized into the Ukrainian Defense Forces is 15-20 thousand people, said the head of the parliamentary faction Servant of the People David Arakhamia. “We don’t know how many of them will sign the contract, because this will happen by agreement of the parties. We estimate that it will be several thousand people,” he added. Arakhamia noted that prisoners will be able to mobilize after a court decision on parole.

18:53 The former commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who did not appear in public for a long time after resigning from office, became more active in the media field and social networks. First, he published a photo on his Facebook page, and then met with one of the Ukrainian singers and came to Lina Kostenko’s home. Read more about Zaluzhny’s appearance in public in the article What surprised the general.

18:27 Great Britain will send the Russian military attaché, “who is an undeclared military intelligence officer,” said the country’s Interior Minister James Cleverley. London will also deprive some properties of diplomatic status and limit the validity of Russian diplomatic visas.

17:58 The number of victims as a result of the shelling of Kharkov has increased to seven, of which four are children from eight to 15 years old, said the head of the OVA Oleg Sinegubov. Two children are in serious condition.

17:46 In India, four citizens were arrested suspected of luring Indians by deception into the war in Ukraine on the side of the Russian Federation, the BBC reports, citing the Indian Central Bureau of Investigation. According to the department, people were lured with offers of study and work in Russia with high salaries and obtaining Russian citizenship. As a result, at least 35 Indians ended up in the war, at least two of them died. According to Reuters, the Indian Foreign Ministry "in strong terms" raised this issue with the Russian authorities.

17:29 Italian President Sergio Mattarella said that Russia's invasion of Ukraine cannot be resolved by encouraging the Kremlin's aggression. According to him, peace can only come when the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine is restored.

17:01 EU permanent representatives have previously agreed on the use of income from Russian assets for military assistance to Ukraine, the Belgian presidency reported.

16:56 The elected President of Slovakia, Peter Pellegrini, stated the need for “peaceful negotiations” between Ukraine and the Russian Federation and noted that he was ready to offer Bratislava as a platform for them.

16:15 In the almost completely destroyed Chasovy Yar of the Donetsk region, 679 people remain who refuse to evacuate, said the head of the OBA Vadim Filashkin. According to him, every day it becomes more and more difficult to deliver humanitarian aid to the city, since the enemy is shooting at all routes.

16:03 Since March, Russia has resumed periodic massive attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, which were previously practiced in the fall of 2022 and next winter. According to Ukrenergo estimates, this is the fifth such attack since March 22. In early April, Putin acknowledged new attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, presenting them as a response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian fuel and energy sector facilities. Read more in the article Power outages throughout the country.

15:40 The European Union did not refuse to recognize Putin as President of Russia, since all member states could not reach a consensus on this issue, said Peter Stano, spokesman for the EU foreign policy service. According to him, the bloc itself does not have the authority to recognize or not recognize anyone’s power, and traditionally such a decision is made by member states.

“Of course, if 27 member states unanimously say that they do not recognize the legitimacy of a country’s representative, as they did in the case of the Syrian leader Assad or the dictator in Belarus Lukashenko, then we can have this position. In the case of Russia there is no pan-European EU position agreed upon by the 27 countries that would argue that we do not see Putin as a legitimate representative of Russia,” Stano explained.

15:07 British intelligence reports that Russia has begun equipping its main X-101 aircraft missiles with a second warhead. It is designed for increased fragmentation damage to the target, which will make it more effective against unfortified targets. Analysts note that the range of such missiles is halved, but this will still be enough for Russia to strike throughout Ukraine.

14:59 Three children injured as a result of the shelling of Kharkov are in serious condition, said Oleg Sinegubov, head of the OBA. According to him, the boys, aged 13, 14 and 15, were playing football on the playground when the Russians struck the city. Two adults were also injured.

14:32 In Kharkov, the number of victims has increased to five, of which three are children, said Oleg Sinegubov, head of the OVA.

14:28 The Verkhovna Rada adopted a bill on the mobilization of convicts as a whole. According to the document, only certain categories of prisoners can mobilize. It is prohibited for those convicted of premeditated murder, sexual violence and crimes against the fundamentals of national security to mobilize.

14:05 In Kharkov, according to preliminary information, a hit was recorded in an open area on the territory of an educational institution. There is information about three injured children aged 12 to 15 years, said the head of the OVA Oleg Sinegubov.

13:41 The Russians attacked Kharkov - according to preliminary information, at least three children were injured, said the head of the OVA Oleg Sinegubov.

13:24 The Verkhovna Rada approved presidential decrees on extending martial law and general mobilization for 90 days - until August 11, 2024. Now Zelensky must sign them. This is the 11th decision to implement martial law and general mobilization since the beginning of a full-scale war.

13:10 The number of victims of the Russian attack on Odessa on April 29 has increased to seven - one of the wounded died in the hospital, the city council reported.

12:59 In the Donetsk region, rescuers spent more than ten hours extinguishing a fire in a coniferous forest in the vicinity of the city of Liman, caused by Russian shelling. A total of five fires broke out over a total area of ​​470 hectares. There was no information about deaths or injuries, the State Emergency Service reported.

12:21 In 2024, Ukraine caught up with Russia in terms of production of kamikaze drones similar to Shahed-131 and Shahed-136, as well as in the production of other attack drones, General Director of Ukroboronprom German Smetanin said in an interview with ArmyInform. He confirmed that “everything that explodes in Russia is all ours.”

In addition, according to Smetanin, Ukraine has significantly increased the production of ammunition - this is the main product the front is waiting for. The enterprises have not only established and are scaling up the serial production of artillery shells and mortar mines of Soviet caliber, but are also gradually moving to the production of NATO caliber ammunition - 60-mm mortar mines. The Defense Forces also successfully use air defense systems developed as part of the Ukrainian-American FrankenSAM project against enemy drones. Such a system shot down the Iranian kamikaze drone Shahed from a distance of 9 km. “We are capable of producing even more, but we are constrained by the state’s lack of money, and we are counting on additional funding, in particular from abroad,” Smetanin added.

11:37 Tonight from 18:00 to 23:00 it is possible to restrict household and industrial consumers throughout Ukraine, Ukrenergo reported. The restrictions will be evenly distributed across all regions, and shutdown schedules will be published on the official pages of local regional power companies. The reason for the restrictions is a shortage of electricity in the energy system, which arose due to new damage to the equipment of Ukrainian power plants as a result of Russian strikes. A particularly difficult situation is expected today from 18:00 to 23:00 - Ukrainians are asked to consume electricity sparingly at this time.

11:14 Lithuania may refuse to provide residence permits to men from Ukraine if Kiev proves that they are evading military service, said Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte. At the same time, according to her, Lithuania will not deport or search for Ukrainian men in the country, because this would be illegal.

Simonyte also stated that Lithuania is ready to send its soldiers to Ukraine on a training mission. According to her, the Lithuanian parliament has already given permission, but Kyiv has not yet asked for it.

10:43 They plan to include a clause in the NATO declaration following the July summit stating that the Alliance will not send its troops to Ukraine, writes the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. Also at the summit, a decision should be made on the transfer of coordination of Western assistance to Ukraine from the United States to NATO headquarters. The publication notes that in general, “the strategy dictated by the United States does not change,” but a “change of pace” is being prepared.

10:02 The General Staff announced the estimated losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of May 8:

  • personnel - about 477,430 (+970) people,

  • tanks - 7418 (+13),

  • armored combat vehicles - 14,246 (+19),

  • artillery systems - 12,317 (+30),

  • MLRS - 1057 (+0),

  • air defense systems - 792 (+0),

  • aircraft - 349 (+0),

  • helicopters - 325 (+0),

  • UAV of operational-tactical level - 9728 (+11),

  • cruise missiles - 2151 (+2),

  • ships/boats - 26 (+0),

  • submarines - 1 (+0),

  • automotive equipment and tank trucks - 16,549 (+40),

  • special equipment - 2019 (+2).

09:38 Over the past 24 hours, 84 military clashes took place at the front, the General Staff reported in its morning report. In particular, in the Avdeevsky direction, the Defense Forces repelled 27 attacks in the areas of the settlements of Alexandropol, Novoaleksandrovka, Progress, Evgenievka, Novoselovka Pervaya, Umanskoye, Netaylovo, Donetsk region. Another 17 attacks were repulsed in the Bakhmut direction - in the areas of Verkhnekamensky, Vyemka, Sporny, Razdolovka, Ivanovsky, Novy and Andreevka of the Donetsk region.

In the Seversky and Slobozhansky directions, the Defense Forces did not allow the penetration of enemy DRGs in the area of ​​​​the settlement of Pylnaya, Kharkov region. In the Kupyansk direction, 16 enemy attacks were repelled in the areas of Sinkovka, Peschanoye, Berestovo in the Kharkov region, as well as Stelmakhovka in the Lugansk region; on Limansky - three attacks in the Nevsky district of the Lugansk region and Ternov, Donetsk region; on Novopavlovsky - 11 attacks in the areas of Krasnohorivka, Konstantinovka, Vodyanoy and Urozhayny, Donetsk region; on Orekhovsky - six attacks in the area of ​​Staromayorsky, Donetsk region, Rabotino and north-west of Verbovoy, Zaporozhye region; on Kherson - three attacks on the left bank of the Dnieper.

09:25 The head of the Lviv Regional Military Administration, Maxim Kozitsky, clarified that in the Stryisky district, Russian troops attacked a gas storage facility, in Chervonogradsky - a heating station. He noted that the region lacks modern air defense systems; they are trying to compensate for this by creating mobile groups.

09:13 Zelensky recorded an address on the occasion of Remembrance Day and the victory over Nazism in World War II. The President emphasized that “the world slept through the revival of Nazism - at 5 am on February 24, 2022. And today everyone who remembers the Second World War and has lived to this day feels déjà vu.”

09:10 In the Ivano-Frankivsk region, as a result of a night attack on an energy infrastructure facility, a fire started, which was quickly extinguished. No people were injured, said Svetlana Onishchuk, head of the OVA.

09:06 At night, Russian troops shelled Belozerka, Kherson region - one person was killed, two were wounded, said the head of the OVA Alexander Prokudin. Over the previous 24 hours, one person was killed and three were injured as a result of Russian shelling in the region.

08:59 In the morning, Russia attacked the civilian railway infrastructure in Kherson; as a result of the attacks, the tracks and the city station were damaged, Ukrzaliznytsia reported. The movement of train No. 121/122 Kyiv - Kherson - Kyiv is temporarily limited to Nikolaev, from there passengers will be transported to Kherson and back by buses. All 99 passengers are safe.

08:44 Air defense destroyed 59 out of 76 air targets at night, the Air Force command reported. Russia used for a combined strike:

  • one Kh-47M2 Kinzhal aeroballistic missile (launched from the Tambov region);

  • two Iskander-M ballistic missiles (Crimea);

  • four Caliber cruise missiles (Black Sea);

  • 45 X-101/X-555 cruise missiles from Tu-95 TS strategic aviation aircraft (Saratov region, Caspian Sea);

  • one Iskander-K cruise missile (Crimea);

  • two X-59/X-69 guided aircraft missiles (occupied Zaporozhye region);

  • 21 attack UAVs of the Shahed-131/136 type (Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Kursk region).

59 air targets destroyed:

  • 33 Kh-101/Kh-555 cruise missiles;

  • four Caliber cruise missiles;

  • two X-59/X-69 guided aircraft missiles;

  • 20 attack UAVs of the Shahed-131/136 type.

08:38 Zelensky said that on the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in World War II, Russia fired more than 50 missiles and more than 20 suicide bombers into Ukraine. Infrastructure was attacked in Lviv, Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Poltava, Kirovograd, Zaporozhye, and Ivano-Frankivsk regions.

08:32 At night, the Russians attacked the Kiev region with missiles and drones, two people were wounded, the prosecutor's office reported. In several areas of the region, private households were damaged and fires broke out. The mayor of Brovary, Igor Sapozhko, clarified that two people were injured as a result of a missile attack and a fire at a civilian infrastructure facility. In Kyiv itself, all air targets were shot down, said the head of the KGVA Sergei Popko. According to him, the enemy attacked the capital with X-101/X-555/X-55 cruise missiles.

08:26 At night, the Russians attacked two critical energy infrastructure facilities in the Lviv region, said the head of the OBA Maxim Kozitsky. In particular, cruise missiles hit a power generation facility in the Chervonograd region, and firefighters are working on the scene. Also, as a result of the missile hit, a critical energy infrastructure facility in the Stryisky district was damaged. In addition, in the morning the enemy attacked the area with Daggers - critical and residential infrastructure was not damaged.

08:05 In Zaporozhye, as a result of a night attack, there was destruction at critical and civilian infrastructure facilities, said the head of the OVA, Ivan Fedorov. Over the past 24 hours, one person was injured in the region as a result of an air strike in the Zaporozhye region.

07:53 At night, three thermal power plants of DTEK came under Russian attack, the equipment was significantly damaged, the company reported.

07:42 The head of the Vinnytsia OVA, Sergei Borzov, reported that critical infrastructure facilities were hit during a night attack.

07:37 At night, the Russians fired artillery and kamikaze drones at the Nikopol district of the Dnepropetrovsk region. One person was injured, five private houses, a gas pipeline, and a power line were damaged, said the head of the OVA, Sergei Lysak.

07:29 In the Poltava region, a hit to an energy infrastructure facility was recorded. According to preliminary information, no people were injured, said the head of the OVA, Philip Pronin.

07:26 As a result of a night missile attack in the Alexandria district of the Kirovograd region, a critical infrastructure facility was damaged, said the head of the OBA Andrei Raikovich. An eight-year-old child was injured and 13 private houses were damaged.

07:20 Russia attacked electricity generation and transmission facilities in the Poltava, Kirovograd, Zaporozhye, Lvov, Ivano-Frankivsk and Vinnytsia regions at night, said Energy Minister German Galushchenko. He called for economical use of electricity, especially in the morning and evening hours.

01:12 The Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked an oil depot in Lugansk, said the leader of the “LPR” Leonid Pasechnik. As a result of the attack, a fire broke out and five oil depot employees were injured. Power lines were damaged and houses in the area of ​​the oil depot were partially without power.

Link



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