US, FRANCE PARTNER TO CONFRONT ISLAMISTS IN MALI
Assembling in Paris last month, high-level military officials and diplomats from France and the United States discussed plans to deal with the growing terrorist threat in Mali. Split in half by Tuareg insurgents last March, Mali’s northern region quickly fell to radical Islamists, becoming a base for al Qaeda and other likeminded jihadists. Considered al Qaeda’s most dangerous offshoot, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) uses the de facto terrorist sanctuary to recruit young Africans from Togo to Senegal. France, like the United States, considers AQIM to be a serious threat. After several high profile kidnappings in 2010, France said it was at war with al Qaeda’s chapter in Mali. At the Paris meeting the two countries agreed to boost the region’s military capabilities, increase intelligence efforts in the area, establish a military base along Mali’s border in Algeria, and assemble a UN peacekeeping force. The proposed peacekeeping force would be modeled after the African Union Mission in Somalia, which consists of 16,000 Ugandan, Kenyan, and Burundian troops. (Long War Journal, November 18, 2012)
ISRAEL, HAMAS SIGN CEASEFIRE
Under international pressure Israel and Hamas have agreed to ceasefire. This comes after eight days of fighting in which Hamas launched over 1,000 rockets and Israel conducted over 1500 targeted airstrikes. The rocket fire and bombings killed 140 Palestinians and 5 Israelis, while injuring hundreds more and driving thousands away from their homes. Brokered by Egypt’s new Islamist government, the deal requires Israel to halt targeted attacks on Gaza and Hamas’s leaders and orders Hamas to stop firing rockets across its borders. The agreement also will allow for some easing of the Israel’s five year blockade on Gaza. The ceasefire comes as a political victory for Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, who had pledged to deliver Hamas on his phone call with President Obama last week. (The Guardian, November 21, 2012; Associated Press, November 21, 2012)
MIDDLE EAST NUCLEAR TALKS CANCELLED
As the international community watches Israel and Gaza’s latest ceasefire, Israel and its Arab neighbors nuclear talks have been called off. The proposed high-level talks, agreed to by the 189 member nations of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty in 2010, sought to establish a WMD-free zone in the Middle East. Western powers had high hopes for the non-proliferation conference, having hoped to bring Israel into the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty. Israel, the only state in the region not belonging to the NPT, said it would agree to renounce atomic arms only as a part of a broader peace deal with Arab states and Iran that guaranteed its security. Currently undergoing crippling sanctions imposed by the international community, Iran denies allegations that it is developing nuclear weapons. Israel, threatened by a nuclear Iran, has pushed back a preemptive strike against Iran’s nuclear program several times in the last year at the United States request. (NBC News, November 10, 2012)
SYRIAN REBELS CAPTURE BASE, LARGE WEAPONS PILE
Last week, after battling for nearly two months, the Syrian army’s 46th regiment yielded a military base near Aleppo, providing rebels with their largest weapons grab since fighting began last year. “There has never been a battle before with this much booty,” said rebel leader Gen. Ahmad al-Faj. Under the watchful eye of armed rebels boxes full of mortars, rockets, rifles, and artillery shells were unloaded by captured Syrian soldiers. The rebels also acquired five tanks and several armored vehicles. The military base, 15 miles from Aleppo, guarded the Syria’s economic hub and provided significant supplies to the Assad regime.(Associated Press, November 20, 2012)