Free Republic

First came a single helicopter, flying low over the marshes around the river outside the village, then the rattle of automatic fire scattered the crowds gathered for the weekly market. Next came more helicopters, dropping troops off around the homes and cattle pens. The soldiers moved swiftly, ordering men into the centre of the village, gunning down those trying to escape. When some armed militants fired back, the shooting intensified. Soon at least 20 civilians and a dozen alleged members of an al-Qaida affiliated Islamist group, were dead. Over the next five days, hundreds more would die in the village...

Despite continued uncertainty about the future of the Wagner Group and its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, recent satellite imagery indicates that the private military company (PMC) is not only staying in Mali but is actively expanding its base capacity in Bamako and may intend to transfer additional valuable military equipment there in the near future. With Prigozhin’s and Putin’s goals aligned toward maintaining Wagner’s operations in Africa, policymakers seeking to disrupt Wagner’s presence should monitor and publicly highlight more subtle signs of security service disruption or incompetence, rather than waiting for Russia to gut Wagner or for the PMC to implode....

The video is as triumphant as it is gruesome. Rebel fighters, rifles slung over their shoulders, step among more than a dozen bodies strewn across the sand and rocks. Off camera, the pop of gunshots can be heard. The scene is from another battle in the vast deserts of northern Mali – except that this time the victims were Russians. At the end of the video, the camera pans to a bearded white man on the ground, apparently begging for mercy. A different video shows several white men, still alive, kneeling amid the wreckage of a vehicle, as guerrilla fighters...

The news release came after Russia said earlier in the day that it was seeking stability in the country, in which it has won significant influence since Goita’s military government took power in a coup in 2021. West Africa’s al-Qaeda affiliate and the Tuareg separatist group on Saturday hit Mali’s main army base and the area near Bamako’s airport, while driving Russian soldiers – deployed in support of government forces – out of Kidal in the north. ... The same day, the Russian Ministry of Defence issued a statement declaring that its paramilitary forces had ‌‌helped prevent a coup during...

PMC Wagner is withdrawing from Mali, the company's press service said, APA reports citing Pravda. According to the press service, "for 3.5 years, the orchestra has been fighting shoulder to shoulder with the people of Mali against terrorists."

The head of Russia's mercenary outfit Wagner said it could take months to capture the embattled Ukraine city of Bakhmut and slammed Moscow's "monstrous bureaucracy" for slowing military gains. Russia has been trying to encircle the battered industrial city and wrest it ahead of Feb. 24, the first anniversary of what it terms its "special military operation" in Ukraine. "I think it's (going to be in) March or in April," Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said in one of several messages posted online overnight. "To take Bakhmut you have to cut all supply routes. It's a significant task," he said, adding:...

The Venezuelan Human Rights Education-Action Program reported that the regime of dictator Nicolás Maduro's kidnapped Freddy Superlano, leader of the Voluntad Popular party founded by Leopoldo López. "These detainments can lead to forced disappearances and cruel and inhumane treatment to force the victims to make statements, as has been denounced in the past by the UN Mission on Venezuela," Provea wrote on its account on the social network X. The organization published a video on social networks showing how several hooded men put Superlano in a van. According to the information, three other opposition leaders were also kidnapped. Meanwhile, Voluntad...

Breaking news on the crisis in Niger; a PMC Wagner (Russian-language site at link) source has stated: A decision was made to deploy combat troops of the Wagner PMC in & around the capital of Niger, in light of current security situation & foreign threats.PMC Wagner, also known as the Wagner Group, is a Russian state-funded military group controlled by Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, and technically operates outside Russian law, which prohibits private military groups.PMC Wagner is also the group implicated in an aborted coup attempt in Russia last June, which led to the arrest of Russian General Sergei Surovikin....

Russian-controlled forces in Syria have been roaming deeper into U.S.-held territory, raising the risk of conflict in an apparent effort “to challenge our presence in the northeast,” according to a senior State Department official. “These are not daily occurrences, but they have been increasing in number,” James Jeffrey, the State Department’s lead negotiator for the Syria crisis, told reporter

Seven Russian mercenaries have been killed by ISIS-linked militants in Mozambique - including four who were shot and then beheaded. The Russians, fighting for the shadowy state-affiliated Wagner Group, were killed in two separate attacks last month, according to sources in the Mozambique military. Both attacks were ambushes in Mozambique's northern Cabo Delgado state, where ISIS first announced its presence in June this year. ... Russia has been supplying arms and military equipment to Mozambique to help in its fight against Islamist insurgent groups since signing a pact in early January 2017. However, the deal did not stipulate the supply...