Niger’s army eliminates 20 Boko Haram militants near border with Nigeria

The Nigerien army has killed 20 Boko Haram fighters near the border with Nigeria, AFP news agency reported.

Military operations bulletin in the Diffa region (south-east of Niger) consulted by the agency indicated that the army last week wiped out in an “air-land sweep” operation the bases of the Islamic State in West Africa group (ISWAP, a splinter faction of Boko Haram) installed in the Matari forest in Nigeria from where attacks against towns and military positions in Niger are planned.

The bulletin also notes that the operation aimed to “maintain pressure on ISWAP” and “cut its supply lines”. Some 20 “terrorists have been reportedly neutralized” and “83 suspected Boko Haram terrorists” were captured and handed over to the Nigerian authorities.

The operation was conducted from March 13 to 19 by the Nigerien military of the Mixed Multinational Force (MMF) an 8,500-strong force launched in July 2015 by Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and Cameroon, to fight armed jihadist groups. In a separate note, the army claims to have intercepted and handed over to Nigerien authorities a total of 1,121 suspected Boko Haram members, including women and children.

These people live in the Sambissa forest in northeastern Nigeria and travel to the Nigerian islands of Lake Chad to flee fighting with their rivals in the Islamic State in West Africa (Iswap).

On March 11, it had also killed “some 30 terrorists” who refused to surrender.

Somalia: Al-Shabaab suffers massive losses in Jubaland

Jubaland state continued with operations against Al-Shabaab even in the middle of a planned slow-down by the federal government, targeting the militants in the latest offensive which comes days after the Jana Cabdalle battle which left several militants dead just weeks after the town was taken by the group.

Türkiye nabs 6 terrorists among others on Greek border

Turkish authorities have caught a total of 20 people, including six terrorists, in the northwestern Edirne province bordering Greece, the Defense Ministry announced Thursday.

Greek border guards were pushing the group back into Türkiye when Turkish border units grabbed them, the ministry said.

Out of Africa: Financial Networks of Islamic State 2.0

The killing of a prominent Islamic State financier in Somalia sheds light on the group’s transnational financial networks and shifting centre of gravity.

On 25 January 2023, US special forces killed well-known extremist Bilal Al-Sudani, together with nine associates, in northern Somalia. This has drawn media and expert attention to the role Somalia plays as a piece in the international jihadi jigsaw. Somalia is important not just because of the presence of Al-Shabaab but also because of the globally networked structure that Islamic State (IS) has created for finance and other purposes.

The Long Arm of Washington Extends Into Africa’s Sahel

On March 16, 2023, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced—during his visit to Niger—that the United States government will provide $150 million in aid to the Sahel region of Africa. This money, Blinken said, “will help provide life-saving support to refugees, asylum seekers, and others impacted by conflict and food insecurity in the region.” The next day, UNICEF issued a press release with information from a report the United Nations issued that month stating that 10 million children in the central Sahel countries of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger need humanitarian assistance. UNICEF has appealed for $473.8 million to support its efforts to provide these children with basic requirements. According to the Human Development Index for 2021, Niger, despite holding large reserves of uranium, is one of the poorest countries in the world (189th out of 191 countries); profits from the uranium have long drained away to French and other Western multinational corporations. The U.S. aid money will not be going to the United Nations but will be disbursed through its own agencies, such as the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance.

Palestinians Don’t Exist?

“Palestinians don’t exist.” (https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2023/03/paris-israels-smotrich-says-palestinian-people-dont-exist-calls-them-fictitious) This was the recent statement by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich that made shocked headlines around the world. And, of course, he meant it as an affirmation of Jewish nationalism, the right of Israeli Jews to dispose of all Palestinians from the Jordan to the Sea. Sounds kind of like the Nazis, no?

It Will Be Hard And Cost A Lot Of Blood For Ukraine To Kick Out Russians, Says Top U.S. General

The Russia-Ukraine war is unlikely to end on the battlefield and will instead come to a conclusion at a negotiating table, predicts a top U.S. general.

A Business Insider report — Top U.S. general says it will be really hard and cost a lot of ‘blood and treasure’ for Ukraine to ‘kick out every single Russian’ invader, March 21, 2023, https://www.businessinsider.com/costs-ukraine-blood-treasure-kick-russia-invaders-out-us-general-2023-3 — said:

Repatriating ISIS Foreign Fighters Is Key to Stemming Radicalization, Experts Say, but Many Countries Don’t Want Their Citizens Back

A review of the 10 countries that yielded the most individuals affiliated with ISIS found varying levels of commitment to repatriation and prosecution.

In the two years since the self-declared Islamic State lost its last physical stronghold in Raqqa, Syria, thousands of ISIS foreign fighters, along with their wives and children, have remained in limbo, mostly in Iraqi custody or in Kurdish detention camps in northeastern Syria.