Operation Barkhane News & Updates

[Vergennes]

The French defence minister Florence Parly has just made the announcement few minutes ago. More than 50 terrorists affiliated with Al-Qaeda were killed on friday during an operation carried out by the French army in the so called "three borders" area near Burkina Faso. An entire katiba of Ansarul Islam operating near the border with Burkina Faso was neutralized.

Founded by the Burkinabe Malam Dicko, the Islamist group Ansarul Islam has claimed responsibility for numerous attacks against the Burkina army. The United States had placed him on their “terrorist” blacklist in early 2018. “While the Malian transitional authorities have reaffirmed their commitment to the fight against terrorism, this tactical success shows us once again that terrorist groups cannot act with impunity in the face of our forces, ”added Florence Parly.

According to her, the French army was able to spot by its drones a large column of jihadists on motorcycles. “These motorcycles then grouped together and hid under the trees. We had two Mirages in the area, Barkhane immediately launched the operation and launched a strike ”. About fifty weapons were seized and about thirty motorcycles destroyed. The operation took place with the participation of French special forces.

Mali : l'armée française tue plus de 50 djihadistes près de la frontière burkinabè

L'opération menée par la force Barkhane s'est déroulée vendredi 30 octobre.

www.lefigaro.fr

 

[Vergennes]

Walid the Berber,a reliable source on the ground already confirmed yesterday (before today's official announcement) the Barkhane force had conducted airstrikes on the night of the 30th october in the Boulikessi area (the same area) targeting a position of Ansarul Islam/JNIM.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1322903636016566272

 

[Vergennes]

Walid had also reported fights and airstrikes involving the French Barkhane force on wednesday (28 october).

It has just been revealed today +30 terrorists were killed in the Ménaka region.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1321424764989296640

 

[rainmaker]

Stopping the flow of money to Salafist organizations and preventing the preaching of Salafi ideology is much more effective than killing the end-products of Salafi brainwashing, which really doesn't work because they all want to be "martyrs". Today France has killed 50 terrorists, tomorrow another 100 will join up.

Mali and all other countries should focus on stopping the flow of money to Salafist organizations inside their societies, and stopping the preaching of Salafism by preachers.

 

[Bayraktar TB2]

That's a weekend for TSK in Northern Iraq and Syria

 

[Vergennes]

Stopping the flow of money to Salafist organizations and preventing the preaching of Salafi ideology is much more effective than killing the end-products of Salafi brainwashing, which really doesn't work because they all want to be "martyrs". Today France has killed 50 terrorists, tomorrow another 100 will join up.

Mali and all other countries should focus on stopping the flow of money to Salafist organizations inside their societies, and stopping the preaching of Salafism by preachers.

The situation is indeed a bit complicated.

The situation in the Sahel is a bit bogged down and France cannot hand over to local armies the task to secure their countries on their own and stem the jihadist violence. These armies are underfunded,undertrained,lack modern equipments,lack modern reconnaissance means,lack air support, etc.. (I could go on). You could say they can't afford them. That is right. But there are other reasons. Leaders of these countries are afraid of strenghtening their armed forces for fears of coup d'états,which are common in the region. It happened in Mali few months ago. Without the French presence and support,all those countries would collapse within weeks.

Terrorists groups have no troubles recruiting and brainwashing young and desperate people given the high poverty,high unemployment in these countries,the lack of public services,the fact states have abandoned large part of their countries. They are also playing on inter-communal tensions to get their ranks filled up.

Lately Mali due to rising number of civilians and military casualties is negociating with terrorist groups,which could see them becoming a political force and their fighters joining the army (among other options). France has always ruled out dialogue with those groups and sees as a threat peace between the Malian state and terrorist groups. Many in Mali are citing the Afghan case to push for negociations.

The situation has become so ironic that a village in Mali called Farabougou was besieged and is now under total blockade of the jihadists,the Malian army is inside the village but they have concluded with the terrorists a "non agression pact". The French Barkhane force did not intervene.

 

[Vergennes]

Operation Barkhane was launched in 2014 after Operation Serval in 2013 which goal was to repel the jihadists advance towards the Malian capital,Bamako,and to regain the territories and towns of Northern Mali who fell to the terrorists.

Operation Barkhane was intended to act as a follow up of Serval and has expended over the vast Sahel region with the aim of helping the local countries to maintain control of their (vast) territories while also preventing the region to become a safe-haven for islamist terrorist groups.

France's main areas of operations and presence are in Mali,Niger and Tchad. It isn't shown in the map,but special forces are based in Burkina Faso. France's means in the Sahel are as follow ;

5100 troops
3 UAVs (Now armed)
7 aircrafts
22 helicopters
6 to 10 transport aircrafts and tanker
290 armored transport vehicles
380 logistic vehicles
240 light armored vehicles

 

[Ryder]

The situation is indeed a bit complicated.

The situation in the Sahel is a bit bogged down and France cannot hand over to local armies the task to secure their countries on their own and stem the jihadist violence. These armies are underfunded,undertrained,lack modern equipments,lack modern reconnaissance means,lack air support, etc.. (I could go on). You could say they can't afford them. That is right. But there are other reasons. Leaders of these countries are afraid of strenghtening their armed forces for fears of coup d'états,which are common in the region. It happened in Mali few months ago. Without the French presence and support,all those countries would collapse within weeks.

France is BTW sending 500 more troops the region in 2021.

Terrorists groups have no troubles recruiting and brainwashing young and desperate people given the high poverty,high unemployment in these countries,the lack of public services,the fact states have abandoned large part of their countries. They are also playing on inter-communal tensions to get their ranks filled up.

Lately Mali due to rising number of civilians and military casualties is negociating with terrorist groups,which could see them becoming a political force and their fighters joining the army (among other options). France has always ruled out dialogue with those groups and sees as a threat peace between the Malian state and terrorist groups. Many in Mali are citing the Afghan case to push for negociations.

The situation has become so ironic that a village in Mali called Farabougou was besieged and is now under total blockade of the jihadists,the Malian army is inside the village but they have concluded with the terrorists a "non agression pact". The French Barkhane force did not intervene.

The place is tribal too Jihadists also get lots of recuitment with tribes who back them or forced too.

Whole thing is a clusterfck of epic proportions. Despite French backed forces kicking Jihadists out of cities many of the Jihadists or militants are fighting a guerilla style war in the desert. Not to mention this is the sahara desert we are talking about.

Irony in this whole jihadist war is that even jihadists are fighting each other or switching sides. You have isis and aq fighting for influence especially among groups like boko haram, ansaru various other militant groups.

 

[mulj]

i am sure if France return 1200 tons of gold excavated from there that they would manage somehow

 

[Vergennes]

i am sure if France return 1200 tons of gold excavated from there that they would manage somehow

The Malian soil is allegedly rich in ressources but remains largely unexploited. Mali indeed exports gold but is largely exploited in in the south of the country in questionable and suspicious ways not even by French companies.

"If the French aren't in Mali for gold,they are for uranium". Uranium in Mali is alleged,a Canadian company explored the soils but found nothing.

Guess you must be of these people ------>

The truth behind the viral video showing gold bars 'looted in Mali'​

The truth behind the viral video showing gold bars 'looted in Mali'

observers.france24.com

 

[mulj]

The Malian soil is allegedly rich in ressources but remains largely unexploited. Mali indeed exports gold but is largely exploited in in the south of the country in questionable and suspicious ways not even by French companies.

"If the French aren't in Mali for gold,they are for uranium". Uranium in Mali is alleged,a Canadian company explored the soils but found nothing.

Guess you must be of these people ------>

The truth behind the viral video showing gold bars 'looted in Mali'​

The truth behind the viral video showing gold bars 'looted in Mali'

observers.france24.com

Nevertheless, lets be honest your presence there is not for some support and order per se, you are just holding grip tight enough to continue unfair explotation of natural resources in region.

 

[rainmaker]

The situation has become so ironic that a village in Mali called Farabougou was besieged and is now under total blockade of the jihadists,the Malian army is inside the village but they have concluded with the terrorists a "non agression pact". The French Barkhane force did not intervene.

Mali will learn the hard way what Pakistan learned when it agreed to enforce limited Sharia as a "non aggression pact" with their terrorists:

That Salafists do not give a damn about any agreement, and they look upon all secular governments as "kuffar" worthy only to be murdered, and they will NEVER keep up their end of any agreement, and will use any ceasefire to build up strength to carry out more terrorist attacks and bring more areas under their control to enforce "Shariah law" .

There is only one way to deal with militant Salafis and that is through a strong army and intelligence. Not a single Salafist movement has been defeated through negotiations, because they inevitably betray any agreements. This is a lesson learned by many countries over the past 2 decades.

 

[Vergennes]

Mali will learn the hard way what Pakistan learned when it agreed to enforce limited Sharia as a "non aggression pact" with their terrorists:

That Salafists do not give a damn about any agreement, and they look upon all secular governments as "kuffar" worthy only to be murdered, and they will NEVER keep up their end of any agreement, and will use any ceasefire to build up strength to carry out more terrorist attacks and bring more areas under their control to enforce "Shariah law" .

There is only one way to deal with militant Salafis and that is through a strong army and intelligence. Not a single Salafist movement has been defeated through negotiations, because they inevitably betray any agreements. This is a lesson learned by many countries over the past 2 decades.

Well,yesterday a Malian soldier was killed in Farabougou in a firefight with jihadists,who are still blocking and besieging the village. Civilians who try to enter or leave the village are abducted. (Seems some were later released)

Negociations are still on with the jihadists who are asking for shariah to be installed and for the disarmament of a specific ethnic group in the area so they end the blockade. What a mess.

 

[Vergennes]

There's currently an operation launched by the French army and its partners involving more than 3000 soldiers (1.600 French,1.100 Nigeriens,300 Malians,troops) in the three borders area of Mali,Burkina Faso and Niger called "Opération Bourrasque". More details will be given by the French MoD on thursday.

 

[Nilgiri]

There's currently an operation launched by the French army and its partners involving more than 3000 soldiers (1.600 French,1.100 Nigeriens,300 Malians,troops) in the three borders area of Mali,Burkina Faso and Niger called "Opération Bourrasque". More details will be given by the French MoD on thursday.

Excellent, best of luck to all allied forces involved.

 

[Asena_great]

i wonder what make these terrorist to pop up around the world

 

[Ryder]

Mali will learn the hard way what Pakistan learned when it agreed to enforce limited Sharia as a "non aggression pact" with their terrorists:

That Salafists do not give a damn about any agreement, and they look upon all secular governments as "kuffar" worthy only to be murdered, and they will NEVER keep up their end of any agreement, and will use any ceasefire to build up strength to carry out more terrorist attacks and bring more areas under their control to enforce "Shariah law" .

There is only one way to deal with militant Salafis and that is through a strong army and intelligence. Not a single Salafist movement has been defeated through negotiations, because they inevitably betray any agreements. This is a lesson learned by many countries over the past 2 decades.

Honestly even if the Malian government agreed to Sharia law in Mali.

This is not going to stop terrorists and their takfir.

Even if you implement sharia to these takfiris its not enough because to them you are implementing the wrong one. This is why 90% of them make takfir on the Ottomans, Seljuks, Abbassids various other Islamic Empires because to them they did not rule with the correct one.

Basically boils down to this our sharia is the right way not yours. Reminds me of commies.

 

[rainmaker]

i wonder what make these terrorist to pop up around the world

1. These countries are basically rural, and have a lot of men without steady 9-5 jobs that can keep them busy, or look forward to a settled life and raise a family.
2. Saudi Arabia sponsors so many mosques, preaching groups and madrasas. Young men go there and spend time listening to Salafi sheikhs and their "Make Shariah Great Again" agenda. The Sheikhs teach them how superiors Salafism is, how bad non-Salafis are, how the only way to solve all problems in society is through Shariah.
3. When they gain enough numbers, they start their struggle to create an "Islamic state" where they can live happily ever after under Shariah law.

 

[Vergennes]

France Said to Plan Cuts in Sahel Force​

France Said to Plan Cuts in Sahel Force

France is hoping to cut back its military presence in the restive Sahel region to make room for a stronger European commitment, army sources say.

www.thedefensepost.com

 

[mulj]

Turkey is ready to jump in if there is no commitment from european countries