President al-Sisi has asked France for modern military equipment. Recent jihadist attacks on the Sinai, including a complex suicide and indirect fire attack that killed 32 security personnel on Jan. 29, have stoked nationalist sentiment in Egypt. A court has banned Hamas’ armed wing, labeling it a terrorist organization. An Egyptian policeman was arrested after […]
The Libyan representative to OPEC was released after his kidnapping on Jan. 15 in Tripoli. The internationally recognized prime minister visited the battleground of Benghazi to show support for pro-government troops fighting there. The UN has still not found an appropriate site for planned peace talks within Libya.
The Interior Ministry announced that security forces broke up a terrorist plot to “attack vital sites in the southern and eastern parts of Tunisia;” 15 people were arrested. The new government will be announced on Feb. 2.
An Algerian court has issued a letter of request for Moroccan judicial authorities to provide the identity of an Algerian arrested as a suspect in the jihadist murder of French hiker Hervé Gourdel. People’s National Army forces arrested three smugglers in the areas of Bordj Badji Mokhtar and In Guezam. The Algerian parliament passed a […]
Chadian forces crossed into Nigerian territory and took the town of Malam Fatori in Borno state from Boko Haram; the Nigerian air force also conducted airstrikes on the town. An mob angry about the rise of Boko Haram stoned the convoy of President Goodluck Jonathan in Jalingo; a recent poll indicates that the upcoming presidential […]
A UN official said the organization’s aid effort is having trouble delivering supplies to 40% of the population in need. Talks between various opposition factions and the regime began in Moscow on Jan. 25. The US State Department denied assertions it has abandoned moderate rebels. Journalists entering Kobane have said the city is “a mass […]
Victims of Shabaab’s sharia courts are petitioning the government for support. The jihadist group’s former intelligence chief, Zakariya Ismail Hersi, said he has quit the group and renounced violence; Hersi surrendered to Somali forces in December. Somalia’s president renewed an amnesty offer for Shabaab members who leave the group.
Egypt withdrew from an international meeting on Libya, protesting the inclusion of Qatar and Turkey, “countries outside the African Union.” A grenade attack targeting a bus injured three in Port Said.
At least 10 people, including a former US Marine, were killed when gunmen went on a shooting rampage in the Corinthia Hotel in Tripoli on Jan. 27. The Libyan Buraq Airlines has suspended all flights for two days after one of its air crews was killed in the attack. Libya’s Health Minister said medical supplies […]
The People’s National Army arrested a terrorist and captured “a quantity of munitions and a pump-action shotgun” in the commune of Lakhdari 122 km east of Algiers.The Minister of Justice said that “Algeria … must fill counterterrorism loopholes contained in its Legislation.” Algeria and Nigeria jointly called for a political solution to the conflict in […]
UN forces reportedly killed three protestors and injured others in Gao after using gunfire to disperse a protest over a plan to disarm a pro-government militia; some reports described the protest as a siege. Suicide bombers and gunmen killed about a dozen people during an assault on Tuareg rebel positions near Tabankort town; the attackers […]
Boko Haram released photos of a training camp for children. Residents of Adamawa state say that jihadists are “rampaging through villages … burning and looting.” Upcoming elections are deemed “too close to call.” Sharia police arrested 12 men for planning to wed; gay marriages and relationships were banned by the government in January 2014. The […]
A report in a Kuwaiti newspaper alleges that despite claims by an Israeli security source to the contrary, Israel was aware of the presence of an Iranian general in a convoy targeted in southern Syria on Jan. 18. UN aid shipments to Syria have provided food to about 600,000 people since July. The US provided […]
A car bomb targeting a Turkish government convoy killed five policeman and one bystander in Mogadishu just prior to a planned visit by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan; Erdogan postponed his Jan. 23 arrival to attend the funeral of Saudi King Abdullah. The UN, IGAD, AMISOM and the UK issued a joint statement voicing “concern […]
The rival Islamist parliament based in Tripoli has suspended participation in UN peace talks, claiming new offensives by forces aligned with the internationally recognized government. Both sides claimed that the other initiated hostilities near the key oil port of Es Sider. The US State Department warned “U.S. citizens against all travel to Libya and recommends […]
Algeria has strengthened border security in anticipation of the anniversary of the Tiguentourine gas plant siege, and last week announced the disruption of a terrorist cel that had plans to attack oil and gas facilities. The army also arrested “twelve smugglers of different nationalities,” seizing “vehicles, trucks and foodstuffs” on Jan. 19 and 20 in […]
Tuareg separatists protesting UN airstrikes claimed to have driven UN forces from an airfield in Kidal in northern Mali. A dutch helicopter fired on a car near the town of Gao, killing four rebels. UN forces repelled rebels who attacked them with a heavy machine gun near Tabankort.
In a new video release, Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau claimed responsibility for a recent massacre in Baga that killed hundreds of people, saying God “commanded” the group to do it. A Guardian analysis stated that “Army corruption, troop mutinies, alienated citizens and a lack of political will” are reasons Nigeria’s strategy against the terrorist […]
Airstrikes reported to have been conducted by the Syrian regime killed at least 39 people in the village of Khansaa, and the town of Saraqeb and the village of Sheikh Mustafa in Idlib province; some reports speculated that the strike in Khansaa might have been executed by the US-led coalition. An Israeli airstrike on Jan. […]
The US is sending 20 Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) armored vehicles to African Union forces combatting terrorism in Somalia. Turkish special forces arrived in Mogadishu prior to a visit by President Raccip Tayyip Erdogan.
Jihadists claimed to have bombed a pipeline in North Sinai that carries oil into Jordan; the claim is unverified. President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said that 208 people who had “taken up arms” against security forces were killed in 2014, and almost 1,000 were arrested. Sisi also argued that freedom of expression and protest rights were secondary […]
The internationally-recognized government reaffirmed its support of former Khaddafi General Khalifa Haftar, who was officially reinstated to the army recently. Libya’s representative to OPEC has gone missing in Tripoli as of Jan. 15. Over 7000 stranded Pakistanis were airlifted home from Libya and 51 Egyptian fishermen arrived in Rashid Port on Jan. 19 after fleeing […]
Tunisia’s Ambassador to Libya Ridha Boukadi said that two journalists kidnapped by the Islamic State in Libya were alive, despite the jihadist group’s announcement of their execution. National Guard units arrested a “‘dangerous’ terrorist” in an ambush conducted in Sidi Bouzid.
Guinea will send 500 soldiers to aid the peacekeeping mission in Mali. The UN is overseeing negotiations between Tuareg MNLA separatists and the pro-government Arab Azawad Movement, which clashed in Tabankort over the weekend.
10,000 Cameroonians have fled toward the interior of the country as Boko Haram has begun conducting attacks on the western border. A lack of agreement between Nigeria and Cameroon is frustrating efforts for the two countries to conduct joint operations against the jihadist group. Minister of Communication Issa Tchiroma Bakary has called for international support […]
Hundreds of people hailing from the villages of Kekenu, Budur, Yoyo and Mile near the recently attacked Baga village have fled in the face of threats from Boko Haram. 22 senior Nigerian military officers are to be tried in late January on unspecified charges “related to the counterinsurgency operations in the country’s northeast.”
Five Hezbollah fighters and one commander were killed by an Israeli airstrike in southern Syria. The Assad regime has started destruction of its chemical weapons facilities. Kurdish forces have captured a key hilltop in the ongoing fight with the Islamic State for Kobane. Kurdish and Syrian regime troops clashed near the city of Hasakeh in […]
A blockade by Shabaab on the Bakool town of Waajid of southwest Somalia is causing a food shortage. Two would-be bombers were killed when their explosives prematurely detonated as they were driving a rickshaw in Mogadishu. The the district commissioner of the city of Afgooye and two of his bodyguards were killed when their vehicle […]
President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi released a statement claiming that free speech rights in Egypt are intact and that there are no political prisoners in the country, while calling for a renewed dialogue on Islam. A traditional Jewish festival that would have taken place on Jan. 10 did not happen as an Alexandria administrative court formally […]
The Libyan army and an alliance of militias around Tripoli have declared a partial ceasefire. The rival Islamist parliament agreed to partake in UN-sponsored negotiations if the talks are held inside Libya. The UN hailed upcoming talks in Geneva while threatening sanctions against warring parties. A bomb thrown at the Algerian embassy in Tripoli from […]