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Economist
a day ago
- Politics
- Economist
Satellite images show how receiving aid in Gaza became so deadly
Graphic detail | Gunshots and stampedes Hundreds of Palestinians have reportedly been killed by Israeli gunfire and in crushes while trying to collect food Your browser does not support this video. In June alone 800 Gazans were killed while trying to collect food, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), a monitor that uses reports from Gaza's health service. The deaths came amid a deepening humanitarian crisis in the strip. The UN says every resident of Gaza faces food insecurity and a third have gone days without eating. Local health officials report that more than 100 people died of starvation in the past few weeks. On July 27th Israel paused its assault in parts of Gaza to let in more aid. Since then extra lorries have crossed and Jordan and the United Arab Emirates have dropped supplies from the air. Our charts and maps below show how in recent months the scramble for aid often turned lethal. Deaths at aid sites soared more than eight-fold between May and June. That coincides with the start of work by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an American-backed group set up to distribute aid. The GHF began operating on May 26th. Israel claimed it would stop Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls the strip, from using the flow of aid to tighten its grip on the civilian population, as it said the group had done under the previous UN-led system. According to a report by the New York Times, Israeli military officials have since admitted that they had no evidence Hamas routinely stole UN aid. The GHF has opened four large distribution hubs—three in the south and one in central Gaza—with plans for more. Some aid is still handed out at smaller UN sites, but supplies there have almost run out:organisers say Israel has strictly limited its deliveries for months. AL-MAWASI AL-MAWASI Tents and displaced people Tents and displaced people Route start Route start Mediterranean Sea Tents and displaced people Tents and displaced people Tents and displaced people Tents and displaced people Route start Military zone/under evacuation order Route start Checkpoint Checkpoint People in the courtyard area SDS2 Aid distribution site Destroyed buildings RAFAH RAFAH SDS1 Aid distribution site EGYPT EGYPT Sources: PlanetLabs, July 18th 2025; OCHA; IDF; Gaza Humanitarian Foundation The four GHF hubs are located inside Israeli-controlled zones from which civilians were previously ordered to evacuate. They are connected to non-militarised zones via pathways that begin up to 4km away, and can only be accessed on foot. The satellite images below show crowds forming at checkpoints. Inside the centre, boxes of basic food supplies—such as flour, pasta and cooking oil—are laid out in a courtyard. Since May the GHF says it has handed out more than 91m meals, which works out to less than one a day per person. SDS2 aid distribution site SDS3 aid distribution site Boxes of aid in the courtyard area People in the courtyard area Source: PlanetLabs, July 28th 2025 Order often breaks down. On July 15th, during a visit to an Israeli observation post, The Economist witnessed a crowd force its way into a GHF centre after guards allowed a group of women to join the front of a queue. Tear-gas was fired, guards stopped handing out boxes and the centre was closed (the GHF denies using tear-gas). Evidence of the disorder can also be seen from space. Satellite images from July 18th show one aid site north of Rafah overwhelmed with hundreds of people. Several were reportedly killed by gunfire from the Israel Defence Force (IDF), says ACLED. The GHF denies any such incident on that day. Data from ACLED show that since May 26th most deaths linked to aid have been caused by Israeli gunfire near GHF centres. The IDF says it fires at crowds only when they pose a threat. It disputes the casualty figures from the Hamas-run health ministry that ACLED uses. Deaths are also caused by crushes. On July 16th at least 20 people were killed in a stampede at a GHF centre. The GHF blamed gunmen linked to Hamas for sparking the panic. The killings and the humanitarian disaster in Gaza have caused alarm overseas. More than 240 charities and NGOs have called for the GHF to be shut down. On July 21st 25 governments, including Britain and France, accused Israel of 'drip-feeding' aid and called on it to abide by its obligations under humanitarian law. Following Israel's announcement that it will pause fighting in parts of the strip to allow in more aid, the GHF system will be supplemented by air-drops and additional supplies from the UN and other agencies. It is too early to tell how much that will ease the crisis.
France 24
4 days ago
- Politics
- France 24
African armies turn to drones with devastating civilian impact
On this important holiday for Ethiopian Orthodox and Protestant Christians, many families had gathered in the morning to repair the local primary school. But out of the blue, shortly before 11:00 am (1400 GMT), "a drone fired on the crowd and pulverised many people right in front of my eyes", a resident told AFP. Ethiopia and many other African nations are increasingly turning to drones as a low-cost means of waging war, often with mixed military results but devastating consequences for civilian populations. Last year, Ethiopia carried out a total of 54 drone strikes, compared to 62 attacks in Mali, 82 in Burkina Faso and 266 in Sudan, according to data collected by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), a US-based monitor. According to one of two Gedeb residents contacted by AFP, the strike killed "at least" 50 people, and according to the second, more than 100 -- a figure corroborated by several local media outlets. It is one of the deadliest in a series of drone attacks since the conflict began in August 2023, pitting the Ethiopian army against the Fano, the traditional "self-defence" militias of the Amhara ethnic group. A shoe seller at the scene, whose nephew was killed instantly, also blamed an armed drone that continued to "hover in the air" some 20 minutes after the strike. "The sight was horrific: there were heads, torsos and limbs flying everywhere and seriously injured people screaming in pain," he recalled. Ethiopian authorities have not released any information about this attack in Amhara, where the security situation makes some areas very difficult to access and communications are subject to significant restrictions. The Ethiopian army's use of drones, which began during the bloody Tigray War (2020-2022), has since spread to the Amhara and Oromia regions amid multiple insurgencies. In the Amhara region alone, now the hardest-hit, at least 669 people have been killed in more than 70 drone strikes since 2023, according to ACLED data analysed by AFP. Low-cost Remotely piloted aircraft used for reconnaissance and strikes -- low-cost technologies now ubiquitous in current conflicts and particularly in Ukraine -- are generating massive interest in Africa. Some 30 African governments have acquired drones, according to data cross-referenced by AFP from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) "Military Balance" and the Center for a New American Security's Drone Proliferation Dataset. For decades, wars in Africa had been fought on land, conducted primarily by light and mobile infantry units. "Drones offer sub-Saharan African militaries more affordable and flexible access to air power, which has been out of reach until now due to its cost and operational complexity," said Djenabou Cisse, a west African security specialist at the Foundation for Strategic Research. Countries like China, Turkey and Iran have the advantage of selling drones "without attaching any political conditionality related to respect for human rights", she added. Among African military commands, the most popular is undoubtedly the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drone, which, along with its big brother, the Akinci, has dethroned the Chinese Wing Loong in recent years. The TB2 made a notable appearance in 2019 in Libya, the first African theatre of drone warfare, between the Ankara-backed Government of National Accord and its eastern rival, Marshal Haftar, equipped with Chinese weapons supplied by the United Arab Emirates. The following year, its deployment in the Karabakh region during the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and then in Ukraine starting in 2022, boosted its popularity. Orders soared and waiting lists grew. While contract details are kept secret, experts consulted by AFP estimate that a "system" of three drones costs nearly $6 million -- significantly less than the several tens of millions for a fighter jet or combat helicopter. This offsets its rather average performance, with a range limited to 150 kilometres (75 miles). The TB2 is produced by private company Baykar, headed by the son-in-law of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. It "is now an integral part of Turkey's foreign policy, whose strategy is to export its military products worldwide," said Batu Coskun, a researcher at the Sediq Institute in Tripoli. The growing footprint of Turkish drones in Africa is partly due to the fact that unlike the West, Ankara is free from the cumbersome export control procedures for military equipment. "It's essentially at the president's discretion," he said. Turkish military cooperation After severing ties with former colonial ruler France, the military regimes of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have turned to Turkish drones to attack jihadist fighters as well as separatists. In December last year, the Malian army eliminated a leader and several members of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), a pro-independence coalition, in a drone attack. In November 2023, drones played a decisive role in the recapture of the northern Malian city of Kidal from predominantly Tuareg rebels. A senior Malian officer praised the "discretion" of Turkish military cooperation. "When you pay for military equipment in the West, it has to go through political agreements, negotiations," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "With Turkey, we have a speed that we don't have elsewhere, not even in Russia or China," two countries that also supply military equipment, he added. According to a young Malian surveillance drone pilot, who also wished to remain anonymous, the Turkish aircraft "are easy to pilot, which means we don't need a long training period". In Chad, four Turkish drones have replaced French fighter jets at the forward bases they occupied until N'Djamena ended its military cooperation agreements with France at the end of 2024. The latter had repeatedly provided air support to help the Chadian government halt the advance of rebels threatening the capital. The capital N'Djamena is equipped with only five Russian Sukhoi aircraft and as many ageing Mi-24 helicopters. Contrary to Franco-Chadian relations, "there is no military cooperation agreement (between N'Djamena and Ankara) but a trade agreement that allows us to acquire military equipment", a Chadian officer told AFP. Turks are present to provide technical assistance and the former French bases are "entirely in the hands of the Chadian military", the same source added. This flexible cooperation on drones clearly illustrates the desire of some African leaders to "assert their sovereignty and greater strategic autonomy". said researcher Djenabou Cisse. 'Extreme fear' On the ground, however, the tactical and strategic gains from the use of drones do not always materialise, several experts said. "Drones alone cannot defeat an adversary," Cisse said, adding: "We saw this in Libya, where both sides had sophisticated drones, and more recently in Sudan, where each side uses drones, but with very unequal capabilities." "Not only have these countries failed to fully stabilise but conflicts have often become entrenched or even escalated," the researcher added. Drones are proving especially decisive in open terrain, when the enemy is unable to disperse and hide as is the case with jihadists in the Sahel, according to a detailed study by the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). In Ethiopia, they helped turn the tide of the conflict in Tigray at a key moment, giving a decisive advantage to federal forces without, however, securing a definitive victory. In the summer of 2021, a large column of Tigray rebel forces, which reached within 200 kilometres of Addis Ababa and threatened to seize the capital, was stopped by the arsenal of drones deployed by the government. Analysis of satellite images by Dutch peace organisation PAX at several Ethiopian air bases confirmed the presence of TB2s and, more recently, the Akinci, as well as Chinese Wing Loongs and Iranian Mohajer-6s. These drones have "significantly increased the Ethiopian army's intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, as they can prowl for nearly 24 hours, track enemy movements, identify their positions, provide targeting information or directly strike targets," Wim Zwijnenburg, a drone specialist for PAX, told AFP. While the fighting subsequently focused primarily on Tigray, it continued into 2022 and high tensions remain in the region despite the conclusion of a fragile peace agreement, while other hotbeds of violent insurrection have spread to Amhara and Oromia. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, winner of the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize for his peace efforts with neighbouring Eritrea, is now regularly accused of indiscriminate abuses against the population. "The drones continued to target civilians despite the presence of sophisticated sensor systems, high-definition cameras and night vision," supposedly allowing for better threat identification, said Zwijnenburg, deploring "a lack of operator training or, in the worst case, a deliberate decision". In Gedeb, the small Amhara town targeted during Passover, residents contacted by AFP said there had been no fighting in the area in the run-up to the attack. They live in constant fear now.
Int'l Business Times
5 days ago
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
Troops Kill At Least 95 'Bandits' In Northwest Nigeria
Nigerian troops killed at least 95 members of an armed criminal gang in a shootout and airstrikes earlier this week, according to a situation report shared with the UN and seen by AFP on Thursday. Armed gangs known as "bandits" have taken root across Nigeria's rural hinterlands amid poverty and government neglect. They raid, loot and burn villages, exact taxes, and conduct kidnappings for ransom. On Tuesday, Nigerian air and ground troops "foiled an attempted bandit attack, launching air strikes and shootouts" in the northwestern state of Niger, according to the report, which was produced by a private conflict monitor. It added that "at least 95 bandits" were killed in the clash, which occurred near the villages of Warari and Ragada in the Rijau local government area. The Nigerian military put out a statement about the clash Wednesday, saying that forces "engaged terrorists in a firefight, neutralizing several." One soldier was killed, it said. Tuesday's attack follows a slew of battles where the Nigerian military -- which has in the past has been quick to publicise and sometimes exaggerate its gains -- has kept relatively mum on apparent victories where scores of bandits were killed. An intelligence source told AFP the military was changing tack after realising publicising their gains was keeping jihadists and bandits abreast of their operations. The army did not respond to a request for comment. Nigeria's myriad bandit gangs maintain camps in a huge forest straddling Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna and Niger states, in unrest that evolved from clashes between herders and farmers over land and resources into a broader conflict fuelled by arms trafficking. Violence has spread in recent years from its heartland in the northwest -- where analysts say some gains have been made by the military recently -- into north-central Nigeria, where observers say the situation is getting worse. Increasing cooperation between the criminal gangs, who are primarily motivated by financial gains, and jihadists -- who are waging a separate, 16-year-old-armed insurrection in the northeast -- has seen attacks worsen. Despite recent gains in the northwest, the military remains overstretched. While improved cooperation between the army and air force has aided the fight, analysts say, air strikes have also killed hundreds of civilians. Between 2018 and 2023, there were more deaths from bandits than there were from jihadist groups, according to figures from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), a US-based monitor. Last week motorcycle-riding bandits rounded up a group of farmers working their fields outside Jangebe village in Zamfara state, killing nine and kidnapping around 15 others, local residents told AFP. Earlier this month, Nigerian soldiers killed at least 150 members of a criminal gang in an ambush in northwestern Kebbi state this week, a local official said. Despite recent gains in the northwest, the military remains overstretched AFP
Hindustan Times
5 days ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Russian sabotage attacks surged across Europe in 2024
IN AN INTERVIEW on July 21st, Martina Rosenberg, the head of Germany's military counter-intelligence service, warned of a 'sharp increase in cases of espionage and hybrid measures', a reference to sabotage. That came just three days after Britain imposed sanctions on 18 Russian intelligence officers for what it described as 'irresponsible, destructive and destabilising hybrid activity' around the world. A new report by Charlie Edwards and Nate Seidenstein of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a European think-tank, reveals how Russia's campaign of sabotage and subversion in Europe has escalated sharply since 2022—and why it might have fallen in recent months. The IISS compiled their dataset by combining their own incident monitoring with that of Bart Schuurman of Leiden University, in the Netherlands, and the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED). It captures everything from GPS interference to assassination plots. Each incident is assigned a confidence level, reflecting the murkiness of covert activity. Some events once feared to be sabotage—such as fires in Lithuania and Latvia in 2022-23 and at arms plants in Wales and Germany last year—are excluded because there is no credible link to Russia. Chart1 The number of suspected Russian sabotage operations in Europe almost quadrupled between 2023 and 2024, with more than 30 incidents recorded last year (see chart). These included damage to undersea cables, many in the Baltic Sea, as well as interference with water supply systems in Finland and Germany, and attacks on military equipment across northern and eastern Europe. Russia is increasingly using criminal proxies, rather than regular intelligence officers (who were expelled en masse from European embassies in 2022) to carry out attacks. In July, for example, three men were convicted of setting fire to a Ukraine-linked warehouse in London on behalf of the Wagner group, a Russian mercenary outfit. This 'gig economy' model allows for greater flexibility and deniability. Its use may explain the recent surge in low-tech attacks. Another factor may be Europe's creaking infrastructure. Decades of underinvestment have left vital systems fragile and vulnerable, note Messrs Edwards and Seidenstein. The fact that private companies own and operate much of European infrastructure compounds the problem—about 90% of NATO's military transportation uses civilian assets and more than half of satellite communications come from commercial providers. Those firms often prioritise efficiency over resilience. Sweden is currently investigating the suspected sabotage of over 30 telecommunications towers along its east coast, used by both civilians and the military. Russian-sabotage-attacks-surged-across-Europe-in-2 Perhaps the most surprising finding in the IISS report is that suspected Russian sabotage appears to have declined in the first half of 2025. This could partly be due to a delay in reporting and investigations, but the IISS reckons there are other possible explanations. One is deterrence: after NATO members launched Baltic Sentry, a series of air and naval patrols, incidents in the Baltic Sea dropped off. Another is political: the Kremlin might have chosen to turn down the temperature during talks with America about the war in Ukraine. A third is that Russian spies realised they had gone too far with some operations—such as the alleged placement of exploding packages at logistics hubs belonging to DHL, a shipping company, in Britain, Germany and Poland—and risked provoking a major crisis with NATO. The IISS warns that the pause may be temporary. Russian intelligence services may simply be regrouping their criminal networks and refining tactics. If so, Europe may be in for a renewed offensive sometime soon. 'We are not in war,' noted Admiral Pierre Vandier, NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, at the NATO summit earlier this summer, 'but we are not in peace.'
Bloomberg
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Jihadist Attacks Put Benin on Track for Deadliest Month
Benin is headed for its deadliest month of Islamist violence since militants linked to al-Qaeda began making inroads in the West African country in 2021. Over the past four months, extremists killed at least 254 civilians and soldiers in Benin, according to data from the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project – a nonprofit monitoring conflict globally. The tiny country, and its border region with Niger and Nigeria, is emerging as the new frontline in the regional battle against al-Qaeda and Islamic State-affiliates that have killed thousands and displaced millions across the Sahel.
