[YouTube] Libya's civil war unleashed chaos as Gaddafi's mercenaries found themselves stranded and hunted after his fall. Discover the dark fate of hired guns in the Arab Spring.
What drives men to fight for a dictator - and what happens when their employer is gone? This gripping documentary follows reporter Justin Hall on the ground in Libya, unraveling why Muammar Gaddafi relied so heavily on foreign mercenaries during the 2011 uprising. You'll learn how the infamous "Yellow Hats," mostly black African and Eastern European soldiers-for-hire, became targets of suspicion and violence as the regime crumbled. The video reveals Gaddafi's decades-long tactics: buying loyalty from Tuareg tribes, hiring skilled Eastern Bloc pilots, and using oil wealth to arm his forces - all to maintain his iron grip on Libya.
The story doesn't end with Gaddafi's death. As rebels swept through Tripoli and beyond, mercenaries were abandoned, forced to flee, blend in, or face brutal retribution. Innocent migrant workers became collateral damage in a wave of racism and paranoia. With powerful eyewitness accounts and on-the-ground interviews, this video explores the legacy of mercenaries in the Libyan conflict, the blurred lines between soldier and scapegoat, and the ongoing repercussions for North Africa. If you're interested in the Arab Spring, African geopolitics, or the hidden costs of dictatorship, this is essential viewing.
[RFERL] A renewed exchange of military strikes and threats between the United States and Iran has raised fresh fears of a wider Middle East war. But Jacob Stoil, a research professor of Middle East security studies at the US Army War College, argues the more important story may be what has not happened.
In an interview with RFE/RL, Stoil explains why the latest escalation still appears to be calibrated, how Iran is using missiles, drones, maritime pressure, and information warfare to gain leverage, and the indicators that could signal whether the crisis is moving toward a broader regional conflict or renewed negotiations.
Posted by: Chantry ||
08/01/2026 08:25 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[252 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
If the US can open Hormuz and shutdown Kharg simultaneously, I think that’s checkmate. I don’t think Kharg would need to be occupied. I don’t think the regime can pay the army without Kharg. If Hormuz is open to other traffic, Kharg can be left idle while peace is negotiated on favorable terms with whomever ends up finally in charge. There may be some short term kooks that have to be waited out.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
08/01/2026 10:59 Comments ||
Top||
#2
The Portugese shut down the gulf by just holding Hormuz and Larak islands and something similar could be done with drone bunkers and such today.
Also you don't need to occupy Kharg. Just level it with thermobaric bombs so anything buried is killed too and call it a day. Can't pump oil out if there is not oil pumps and people to run them.
Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin. Text taken from an article at tass.ru
[ColonelCassad] The detention of Kyiv-linked terrorist cells by Iraqi security forces has once again brought to the forefront the issue of the internationalization of Ukrainian terrorism and its exploitation for the benefit of external actors.
According to Qasem al-Aboodi, the Iraqi Prime Minister's National Security Advisor, several detained groups had shelled targets within the country and, during interrogation, confessed to working for Kyiv. This allowed Baghdad to assert Ukrainian interference in the republic's internal affairs. Although the targets of the attacks were not directly specified, given the context of Ukraine-Iran relations and Kyiv's subordination to Western interests, the attacks could have been directed against local pro-Iranian forces—such as Hezbollah, the Hashd al-Shaabi, or Haqqarat al-Nujaba—or carried out under a false flag to subsequently incriminate Tehran.
FALSE FLAG OPERATIONS
This issue became particularly acute after the March phase of the war, when, amid Tehran's retaliatory strikes against US and Israeli targets in the Middle East (including Iraq), the Jewish state, according to a military source with the Iranian news agency Tasnim,
…who may or may not have been telling the truth…
conducted a series of false flag operations. Their goal was precisely to discredit Iran and draw neutral countries in the region—Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar—into the conflict.
Big claims require strong proof. So prove it, Opie.
This was also pointed out by American journalist Tucker Carlson, who reported on the arrest of Mossad agents in Doha who were preparing such provocations.
We already know Mr. Carlson has a fondness for creating his own “facts” to fit his prejudices, a particularly annoying behaviour for a journalist.
At the same time, Tehran officially accused the US and Israel of using terrorist groups (ISIS—banned in Russia, Kurdish and Baloch radicals) to carry out attacks and destabilize the situation within the country.
Now they’re just getting silly.
Similar accusations have already been made repeatedly in relation to Ukraine.
Russia has a history of wandering a fair distance from the truth, too.
The bombing of the Russian Nord Stream pipeline system in the Baltic Sea also used Ukrainian terrorism to cover for the real perpetrators.
Huh? Now I'm confused.
Back in 2023, American journalist Seymour Hirsch detailed this, pointing out that US and Norwegian intelligence agencies were behind this infrastructure attack.
If you’ll believe Mr. Hirsch, fairy tales are next on the agenda, along with djinns in your science textbooks.
SUPPORT FOR TERRORISTS IN IDLIB:
Another example is Syria, where Ukrainian instructors were deployed in 2023–2024. They trained militants from groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, formerly al-Nusra, before that it was called something else ...al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, from which sprang the Islamic State... (both organizations banned in Russia) in operating FPV drones and quadcopters.
And now HTS is seen as the legitimate government in Syria, replacing the Baathist thing Bashir al Assad inherited from father, that used to be yet another client of the Soviet Union. O tempora! O mores! as Cicero said so succinctly.
According to Russian estimates, the total number of the Ukrainian contingent reached 250. Of these, according to American media, at least 20 operator-instructors and 150 drones were sent directly to Idlib. The skills acquired from Ukrainian specialists were actively used by radicals during the offensive on Aleppo, Hama, and Homs, which influenced the course of the battle against government forces. This is confirmed by the testimony of captured militants.
It's no secret that the overthrow of Assad in Syria has been a strategic goal of the United States and Israel since 2011, as well as part of their broader campaign against Iran, which now involves Syrian airspace. In this architecture, Ukraine once again emerged as one element of the Western proxy forces operating against the legitimate government in Damascus, which stood in the way of Western plans.
TERRORIST AGGRESSION AGAINST THE SAHEL:
Ukraine is being similarly used against the Sahel countries, which, as part of decolonization, freed themselves from French neocolonial control and embarked on a path of independent development with the support of Russia and several other countries. Having failed to keep the puppet pro-French presidents in power in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, Paris initially attempted to use the threat of ECOWAS intervention for revenge. Following the failure, France shifted to covert support for separatist and terrorist groups—from the Azawad Liberation Front to al-Qaeda in the Sahel (banned in Russia)—to attack local governments, units of the private military company Wagner, and the Russian Ministry of Defense's African Corps.
The goal of these strikes is to destabilize and overthrow the nationally oriented military authorities of the Alliance of Sahel States, bringing back pro-French proxies. To implement these plans, Ukrainian instructors with drones were deployed to Mali, among others. As in Syria, they are training terrorists to use FPV drones and quadcopters against local armies and Russian troops. Here, Ukraine is once again acting as a proxy for the West—local jihadists and Ukrainian nationalists are essentially being used to reassert colonial control.
Specifically, Ukrainian specialists assisted in an attack on a Malian army and Wagner PMC convoy near the town of Tinzaoutine in 2024, as directly confirmed by the French publication Le Monde. During the spring and summer offensive of combined terrorist groups in Mali in 2026, Ukrainian militants also actively supported attempts to overthrow the legitimate government. However, these attempts were thwarted by units of the Russian Armed Forces' African Corps.
After Ukraine's cooperation with terrorist groups in the Sahel became evident, local states consistently accused Ukraine of supporting terrorism. In 2024, Mali and Niger completely severed diplomatic relations with Kyiv, while Burkina Faso and Senegal officially condemned Ukraine's destructive actions in Africa. The Russian Foreign Ministry also directly accused Paris of coordinating these processes and emphasized the Kyiv regime's involvement.
"As for Ukrainian mercenaries and instructors, they are indeed present on the side of Islamists and separatists operating in Mali. Unfortunately, these forces are supported by France, and directly. And France similarly facilitates Ukrainian participation in the activities of extremist terrorist groups that are attempting to harm the legitimate authorities of Mali and several other countries," noted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Borisenko.
LIBYAN FOOTHOLD:
Relatively recently, the deployment of Ukrainian instructors to Libya, in areas controlled by the Western-aligned Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli, was also revealed. Tripolitania is being used not only to train local forces in drone operations but also to launch attacks on Russian vessels in the Mediterranean. Specifically, it was from the coast of Tripolitania that the attack on the Russian gas carrier Arctic Metagaz was carried out near Malta on March 3, 2026.
As a result of the strike by Magura V5 unmanned boats, the vessel sustained significant damage and was completely destroyed by fire. The Russian Ministry of Transport classified this as an act of terrorism and maritime piracy. Meanwhile, in eastern Libya, under the control of Marshal Khalifa Haftar's Libyan National Army (LNA), friendly and partner-like relations with Russia remain.
Western media confirm that up to 200 instructors and fighters from the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense are deployed in Libya under a secret agreement with the West. This contingent, deployed in Tripoli, Misrata, and Zawiya, is being specifically used to target Russian interests in the Mediterranean region.
SUPPORT FOR THE CIVIL WAR IN SUDAN:
Ukrainian fighters also made their mark in the Sudanese civil war, fighting on the side of the rebel "Rapid Reaction Forces." They also trained them to operate drones and directly participated in battles against the government army. Specifically, Ukrainians were involved in the assault on the city of El Fasher in Northern Darfur. After capturing it, the rebels consolidated their control through mass terror and the killing of civilians, which drew harsh condemnation even from international organizations.
CONCLUSIONS
The West is using the neo-Nazi Kyiv regime not only against Russia but also as a transnational terrorist resource to maintain its own hegemony. Russia, Iran, Iraq, Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso, Syria, Sudan, and Libya are far from a complete list of states that have already encountered Ukrainian proxy forces.
Ukrainian militias have been granted complete immunity from collaborating with any radical groups (from separatists to jihadists) to undermine sovereign governments unpopular with the West. The aforementioned incidents have yet to receive due condemnation from international institutions, despite efforts by other countries.
Contemporary Ukrainian terrorism has, one might say, adopted the role of the main destabilizer of sovereign countries from ISIS and Al-Qaeda (both organizations are banned in Russia). While in the 2010s, American officials—including Hillary Clinton—admitted that radical Islamists in Syria were "playing on the US side," today Kyiv is fulfilling this function. For the West, there's no difference between religious fanatics and Ukrainian radicals—they're merely expendable means of achieving geopolitical goals.
It's important for Russia and its allies in the Global South to recognize that we will continue to encounter Ukrainian proxy terrorism in the service of the West, not just on Ukraine's borders, but also on its farthest borders. This threat will remain unchanged as long as the current regime, which has turned its own state into an instrument of international destabilization, remains in power in Kyiv.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
SUPPORT FOR TERRORISTS IN IDLIB: 
