The #Ukrainian counter-offensive in #Kharkiv and northern Donetsk Oblasts continued to make gains near #Lyman on September 25 and September 26.
#Russian forces continued conducting offensive operations around #Bakhmut and west of #Donetsk City.
#Ukrainian military officials maintained operational silence about the progress of #Ukraine’s southern counter-offensive on September 25 and September 26.
The Kremlin faces a daunting task in trying to calm the #Russian people while still mobilizing enough men to keep fighting.
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NEW | Al Qaeda’s Sahelian affiliate JNIM has established control over Farabougou, a key crossroads and symbolically important town in central Mali.
The capture is another blow to the Malian junta following an alleged coup attempt in early August. 🧵
JNIM overran the Malian army base in Farabougou on August 19.
JNIM fighters remained in the adjacent town in the following days and took videos of Friday prayers on August 22.
The group has since signed an agreement with local leaders to allow civilians who had fled the town to return. Returnees must pay taxes and follow JNIM-interpreted shari’a law, including provisions on music, alcohol consumption, and clothing.
Farabougou is near the RN31 highway, which connects central and southern Mali via the northern parts of the Ségou and Koulikoro regions along the Mauritanian border.
The capture of Farabougou will expand JNIM support zones along the Mauritanian border, enabling greater pressure in southern Mali on towns like Nara.
NEW | US-supported Somali forces are encountering strong resistance as they try to clear IS Somalia Province’s (ISS) cave complexes in northern Somalia’s Puntland region.
The ongoing operations are likely targeting IS global leadership and some of ISS’s final strongholds.🧵
Puntland forces with US air support have been conducting operations against ISS in the Ballade valley for over a week.
US and Puntland officials said on August 26 that they had concluded a two-week joint operation against “ISIS leadership safe havens.” x.com/USAfricaComman…
Puntland forces have continued their operations, however, and ISS ambushes, sniper fire, and suicide commando attacks since August 22 have allegedly killed more than 50 Puntland soldiers, although Puntland officials have disputed these figures.
The operation is likely targeting high-ranking ISS and possibly IS global leadership, who have so far evaded the 2025 counter-ISS offensive.
Global IS leadership figures, including suspected IS emir or global operational head Abdulqadir Mumin, are likely present in the area.
Qatari-brokered peace talks between the DRC and Rwandan-backed M23 rebels will likely drag out as both sides have been unwilling to make concessions on the central issue of M23’s territorial control, making a sustainable long-term agreement unlikely.
The lack of clarity around this issue will likely be a major obstacle in the upcoming round of talks tentatively scheduled for August 8.🧵
The DRC and M23 signed a Qatari-brokered statement of principles in late July that committed both sides to a ceasefire but deferred negotiations over the “root causes” of the conflict to be resolved in the second stage of talks aimed at reaching a final peace deal by August 18. 2/8
The two sides will likely be unable to clearly resolve the issue of M23’s territorial control and other points of divergence in a sustainable fashion that includes agreed-upon dispute-resolution mechanisms within the 10-day time frame in mid-August, however.
The DRC and M23 have refused to make major concessions on territorial control in the talks and have signaled they are unlikely to do so. 3/8
NEW | The United States sanctioned Senior Supreme Leader Adviser Ali Shamkhani’s son, Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, and his multinational shipping network on July 30 for generating tens of billions of dollars in revenue for the Shamkhani family and the Iranian regime. (1/6)
The US Treasury Department sanctioned 12 individuals, 52 vessels, and 53 entities, including 15 shipping firms, tied to Hossein Shamkhani’s network to disrupt Iranian and Russian exports of petroleum products and other goods. (2/6)
Hossein Shamkhani manages a fleet of oil tankers and containerships through several UAE-based companies. One of the companies is involved in shipping missiles, drone components, and dual-use goods from Iran to Russia to support Russia’s war in Ukraine in exchange for Russian oil. (3/6)
Mahas is the group's latest gain in central Somalia this year, where it has recaptured swaths of territory that it lost in 2022.
The group reconnected its territory in central Somalia and southern Somalia in March and recaptured the district capitals Adan Yabal and Moqokori in April and early July, respectively.
CTP warned after the fall of Moqokori that al Shabaab would target Mahas in the "coming days and weeks."
Meanwhile, US forces have been concentrating their counterterrorism efforts on northern Somalia and supporting local Puntland State forces that are fighting IS's Somalia Province.
@USAfricaCommand conducted a rare ground raid that captured the IS Somalia finance emir on July 26.
NEW | An unspecified high-ranking Iranian official cited by Amwaj Media on July 4 reported that Iran plans to resume indirect nuclear negotiations with the United States, but the conditions that Iran will reportedly present would require unspecified guarantees that the US would not strike Iran. 🧵
Such a guarantee would be inconsistent with the Trump administration’s stated position on future strikes on Iran’s facilities. The unspecified Iranian official told Amwaj that Iran is seeking a guarantee in negotiations that the United States will not conduct any additional strikes on Iran.”
European officials are concerned that Iran may try to develop a nuclear weapon to deter future attacks and that Iran may be able to build a weapon in secret unless a nuclear agreement enables the IAEA to resume inspections.