Offensive in Mali

And this morning a first French aircraft landed at Kidal the Islamist strongpoint in the north east (from north to east Mali = 2000 km) .The home of the Insurgeant leaders had already been taken out by prior airstrikes.
The ground troops are moving north, but are now facing the desert and mountains that ressemble the Afghanistan warzones.

In the rear : Tombooctoo has local militias chasing hidden Islamists and there is fear for a witchhunt . The Unseco Heritage library was burnt by the Islamists.
Goa: local victims of the Charia are now witnesses how their hand was cut off with a butcher knife or how people were executed by the fundamentalists. African soldiers are progressively replacing their French liberators.

 

Now THAT really p*sses me off... who do they think they are, destroying World heritage... there's so little of it left anyway...

Not sure about what will happen when the African troops are in charge...

Kind regards,

Jos

 

Jos, some fine locals have actually risked their lives and took out many of the books minutes before they were set ablaze. One local historian has kept many books hidden in a garage behind a pile of junk and others books are still buried in the desert. This also include some centenial marabout masks which wer e protected by villagers and given back to the town after the Insurgeants left.

Today French President François Hollande will visit Mali (including Liberated Tombuctoo and the Unseco Hertiage Mosk. )
He will explain the French strategy to the Malians and encourage African troops to progressesely replace the French. This way the French will not be considered as occupiers but as liberators .

 

The Visit of the French President was a success and the locals thanked him for getting them rid of the terrorists.


The French army has now taken over Kidal in the norht east and is approaching the Algerian border after a 1500 km campaign in three weeks. (The city could have fallen two days earlier without a sand storm . )

Local Tuaregs have "switched sides" and captured Jihadists and handed them over to French Intelligence. Surviving islamists have fled into the mountains where they still hold 7 cilvilian hostages .

Over 30 aircrafts are now rotating over their heads, bombing their war zone, and without the support of the locals and cut from their supplies and their former allies, they shouldn't resist too long .

The capture of Islamist leaders is great news for the free world , they will probalby avoid quite some trouble for many countries for a while.

Joe Biden is currently visiting France to talk about U.S. logistic support (mainly air fuel supplies, which would accelerate the rotations of French aircrafts. )

 

From what I read the Tuaregs had to a large extent "switched sides" before the French arrived. However they were getting the worst of it. Now that the French have broken the military strength of the Ilamist radicals they are likely to find out just how bad an idea it was to "irritate" the locals. Especially since said locals are also inclined to be violent and have pretty good memories.

 

That is correct. In fact theTuaregs feel they have been cheated by the Islamists. They made them believe they could rule northern Mali and were in fact driven out . They feel very bitter and are now becoming the Terrorists' worst potential enemies, because: for once they have been betrayed , secondly they know where the terrorists hide, third they know the desert better than anyone else and finally they have a lot to gain by regaining prestige from the black majority in the south.

 

Not to mention they have the government, the French, and possibly others ready to back them up if they find a group of Islamist that are big enough that they need the help. There may also be some proffit in it for them. I know the US has put bounties on some of the Islamist leadership but not sure of any in that area. I wouldn't be surprised if we weren't the only ones though. Quite a few players want to see them stamped out and it's relatifly cheap to let the Tuaregs do it.

 

Here's a new write up on the strategypage on the issue:
Mali: Deliver Smart Bombs As Needed
Here's one in Foreign Policy Magazine (this one requires a subscription but it's free) only perifially related but ...
Vive L'Empereur! - By Michael Peck | Foreign Policy
I should comment the Peck writes game related articles for the magazine above. If you subscribe you can get daily updates on various situations as well.

 

Here's another one:
Nigeria: Mali Connection Confirmed

 

And another. Good quick summary of the events I think.
Armor: French Blitz In Mali

 

Things are moving in Gao. Islamists have mined the access and 4 Malian soldiers and 2 civilians were killed by there booby traps . The yesterday two Kamikaze attacks occured in the city. Today they launched an attack on the Police station and gave the Malians a hard time. They had to call the French for help and it wasn't until the French returned into the town they had handed over to the Malians that the Islamists were neutralised (sources are mentionning a gang of 20 men , but this has to be confirmed) .

In my opinion the French shouldn't leave liberated areas too ealry, as the Malians have no capacity to defend the city alone at this point. The Islamists are hiding in the mountains and guerilla actions are now the only way for them to get back on the theatre.

In the meantime the French have moved further north and liberated Tissali

 

This is the problem...I have no doubt the French and their allies can win the war...Its what happens afterwards that I fear most. The USA is already moving to install uav's on the Niger border. Hopefully hitting hard initially and the fact the locals don't want any of the bearded ones around will be to the good here.

 

Yes, the French have been smart been systmatically sending Malians into liberated towns first, then hand towns ove to the malians and work with African armies. This way they cannot be accused of behaving like an occupying force and the population remains on their side. The trouble is that as soon as they leave , it might start all over again They do not have the budget to stay forever and the African occupation forces are not operational yet. The point is that without the intervention the whole of Europe would soon or late have to face terrorists who would have been trained there without the destruction of the Islamist training camps and the killing or capture of their leaders .

 

Some scumbags have kidnapped a French toutist family in Cameroon and are said to be hiding them in Nigeriria , what's absolutely disgusting is the age of the hostages: there are three adults and four children aged 12,10, 8 and five year old !

On the field in Mali (or rather the desert) the Foreign Legion has cleared a terrorist stronghold in the Ifoghas hills ; killing about 20 enemies, but their was one casualty . I will publish a memorandum about him when it's available.

 

France is now considering purchasing the Predator UAV from America. This may cause some antagonism with the French military budget being looked at at this time. French sat comms is in a prime position here with their Astrium links and their partnerships with Paradigm in UK etc. The UAV purchases if they happen will be a direct result of the Mali operations.

 

It's expensive, but it's worht it. If it could prevent assaults , it would be an intelligent investment. So far drones and satelites have saved many lives in this war, I'm 100% for unmanned aircrafts. As to the money if India buys the 126 Rafales they said they were going to ,it would help a lot

 

A couple of new articles on the strategypage related to Mali
Apparently the Indians are getting involved:
Peacekeeping: India Gets More Involved
and on US intel ops:
Intelligence: Reachback From Mali

 

Apparently there's a lot of fallout from events in Mali. See:
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htterr/articles/20130320.aspx
and
http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htwin/articles/20130321.aspx

 

The problem as I see it is the Teurags have always thought they have a genuine grievance and have been sniping at authority and fighting since God knows when....They cannot now be side shunted and the opportunity under this action to be condemned as Ali Q and all that goes with that...The Teurags are not going to go away and its not the job of any of us to take sides once Ali Q have been shown the door. But I fear this will be the excuse to wipe out a proud people.

 

Thanks for keeping this alive Urgh, I have been dragged away these days. I'm acutally disguested by the media who hardly mention the fallen. No sooneer are they dead, tha tthey are buried given a posthumuously medal and let's move on to new topics.

In the meantime another brave soldier died this week when his armored vehicle drove on a mine.

What's most important are the following facts:
-all cities ar enow liberated, only some mountain pockets are sporadically resisting.
- 2 Islamists leaders have been taken prisonner, their mean boss was killed.
-among other pows were westerners
-huge weapon depots are discovered and destroyed every day (mainly older Lybian ones)
- a massive terrorist training camp was dismantled. It could host as many as 1000 terrorists at the time and those guys were a thread to our democracy.
-the mountains and desert are systematically cleaned and the large majority of Mali will be given back to the Africans , hopefully in April .

I'm surprised this conflict has now been occulted by the media , it's vital for our free world , but not many people seem to care. Who knows how many lives were saved with the dismantling of this camp ?