Month: November 2024

Naim Qassem vows Hezbollah will continue fighting

Naim Qassem, newly appointed as Hezbollah’s secretary-general, has become the centerpiece of the group’s narrative efforts. On October 15, as then-deputy secretary-general, he gave his third speech after Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah’s assassination, amidst rumors he had fled Lebanon to Iran.

Against a dark and nondescript backdrop—perhaps to signify Hezbollah mourning its fallen leaders, particularly Nasrallah—and flanked by a Hezbollah flag and, unusually, a Lebanese flag on his right and a picture of Nasrallah to his left, Qassem delivered his most defiant speech yet. As with Nasrallah’s speeches, the themes and tropes raised by Qassem were then echoed and amplified by the group’s officials and media apparatuses.

Le Grand Jeu dans la Corne de l’Afrique continue. Partie 4 : Le conflit éthiopien-somalien à travers le prisme d’autres acteurs extérieurs

S’agissant du Royaume-Uni, principal allié des États-Unis, il adopte dans ses relations avec l’Éthiopie une approche plus pragmatique.

Le 21 août de cette année, lors de sa visite à Addis-Abeba, la ministre britannique du Développement international, Anneliese Dodds, a déclaré lors de sa rencontre avec le ministre des Affaires étrangères éthiopien, Tayé Atské Sélassié, que Londres soutenait un dialogue inclusif et pacifique en Éthiopie et dans la région en général. Elle a également discuté des perspectives de coopération économique entre les deux pays. Cette visite n’était pas un hasard.

Post-Sinwar: Hamas at a Crossroads

The assassination of Sinwar places Hamas at a crossroads at various organizational, political and military levels, especially in the context of the course of the war in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, and the movement’s role on the day after the war, which may affect its alliances and relations internally and externally.

Political extortion? JNIM’s blockade of Boni, Mali.

In June 2024, fighters from the Katiba Serma sub-group of Jama’at Nusrat al Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) redoubled their efforts to cut off the town of Boni, in the Mopti region of central Mali.1 This is the latest iteration of a blockade that the jihadist group had intermittently imposed for more than nine months on the Route Nationale (RN) 16.2 Blockades are very much part of JNIM’s toolkit in its areas of influence not just in Mali, but also in neighbouring Burkina Faso.

AN IRANIAN FINGERPRINT? Tracing Type 56-1 assault rifles in Somalia

The Yemeni civil war erupted in late 2014 when the Houthi insurgent movement captured large swathes of the country, including the capital of Sana’a. By the following year, Yemen had become a key battleground in the Iran–Saudi proxy conflict. While Saudi Arabia and its allies waged war in support of
Yemen’s internationally recognized government based in Aden, evidence suggests that the Houthis, in turn, have received training and other material support from the Islamic Republic of Iran.

IRAN’S CRIMINALS TATECRAFT – HOW TEHRAN WEAPONIZES ILLICIT MARKETS

Over the past decade, Iran’s regime has been involved in collaborations with criminal actors across the world, seeking to assassinate critics and adversaries, procure materials to advance its nuclear programme, circumvent international sanctions and money-laundering controls, and fund armed groups and terrorist organizations that have carried out horrific attacks.

Hezbollah’s Military Tactics In The Post-Nasrallah Era – Analysis

The Iran-led “Axis of Resistance,” composed of a coalition of armed and political groups across Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, has been striving to play a significant role over the past year amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza. The military operations, tactics, and strategies of Hezbollah, a key player in this axis, are critical in shaping the future of the conflict in Lebanon and beyond.

Congo wants UN peacekeepers gone. But endless war around minerals is complicating that

The end of one of the world’s deadliest and yet most shadowy wars is as difficult to predict as the end of the large peacekeeping force meant to contain it.

Congo desperately wants stability in its mineral-rich east, of intense interest to the global economy. But political friction means the government wants the longtime United Nations peacekeeping force there to get out.

Black Axe—Nigeria’s Most Notorious Transnational Criminal Organization

Black Axe’s violent organized criminal network undermines economic development and political reform within Nigeria while scamming victims abroad out of billions via cybercrime.

A 21-country INTERPOL initiative known as Operation Jackal III targeting Black Axe, the Nigerian organized crime group, led to the arrest of 300 suspects and the seizure of $3 million in assets in a sting operation culminating in July 2024. While a victory for law enforcement, the action is unlikely to make a dent in the operations of Black Axe, which has an estimated 30,000 members in dozens of countries and yearly proceeds estimated to exceed $5 billion.