Welcome to the World Situation Report For March 18th, 2022
The goal of this column is to present news from around the world that is not often – if ever – covered by more mainstream entities, using local sources wherever possible, but occasionally using news aggregators not used, again, by the mainstream media. Also, please note that we do use links to Wikipedia; while Wikipedia is well-known as a largely-useless site for any kind of serious research, it does serve as a launch-pad for further inquiry, in addition to being generally free of malicious ads. As with anything from Wikipedia, always verify their sources before making any conclusions based on their pages.
This column will cover the preceding week of news.
North America
Starting off in the United States, a wave of bomb threats were called in across the country, to everything from junior and high schools, to grocery stores, a YMCA, a comedy club and even to facilitate a back robbery. Just a short sample of stories are under the links below:
[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4] – [Source 5] – [Source 6] – [Source 7]
Meanwhile, 21 year/old Elvin Hunter Bgorn Williams pleaded guilty to attempting to join the Islamic State in May of 2021. Williams was arrested by FBI agents as he attempted to board a flight bound for Cairo, Egypt. Williams had come to the attention of Federal law enforcement some five years ago, when he was reportedly kicked off of social media for expressing his opinion that the 2017 suicide attack on the Manchester, England Arena following a concert headlined by singer Ariana Grande was justified because of how she dressed on stage. The Seattle-area mosque Williams attended attempted to de-radicalize him, even obtaining a laptop and cellphone for him, to help him find a job; however, after finding him using the devices to view extremist content online, the mosque demanded the devices be returned and contacted the FBI. The mosque was not named in court documents. Williams was arrested after contacting what he believed to be Islamic State recruiters.
[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3]
Finally, the US Consulate in Nueva Laredo, in Mexico’s Tamaulipas State, announced that it will be temporarily closed to the public, after being hit by gunfire from suspected gangs on the night of March 13-14, following the arrest of Juan Gerardo Trevino, or “El Huevo,” the purported leader of the Cartel of the Northeast, a breakaway group that calved off of the Los Zetas criminal syndicate.
There was no word on when full operations at the consulate might resume.
Europe
Turning to Europe, in a disturbing possible expansion of the current war in the Ukraine, a pair of drone aircraft, reported to be a Tu-141 dating from the Soviet era, in current use by Ukrainian forces, crashed near the outskirts of the capital city of Zagreb, Croatia, while a current-model Orlan-10 scouting drone, believed to be in exclusive use by Russian forces, was discovered crashed in a field northern Romania, signalling a possible spill-over in the on-going fighting.
Both vehicles were reported to have contained traces of explosive material, although investigations by local authorities continue.
NATO officials confirmed that NATO air defense units had tracked the Tu-141 as it flew through the airspace of member-states Hungary and Croatia, but made no effort to intercept the drone. Croatia and Hungary have both raised protests with NATO, as well as launching investigations within their own air defense forces as to why the six-ton, forty-seven foot long was not intercepted before crashing near a large dormitory of an unnamed university, reportedly damaging some 40 vehicles.
The Tu-141 was long ago replaced in the Russian inventory by newer designs, but numerous examples are known to be operated by Ukraine, leading to speculation that some may have been armed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces as long-range strike weapons
Although the Orlan-10 is normally unarmed, the small Russian drones are known to be capable of carrying small ordnance of c.15lbs.
In the southern port city of Marseilles, France, meanwhile one police officer was hospitalized and two others injured after a man attacked the officers with a knife, according to reports, on March 12. The reason for the attack remains unclear. The perpetrator, who apparently was unknown to police for any prior offenses, was killed by other offices after “warning shots” were fired. An investigation is underway in an attempt to determine if the attack has any terrorist connections.
Africa
Turning to Africa, Moroccan police arrested five suspects on the 16th, on suspicion of being affiliated with the Islamic State, and plotting attacks throughout Morocco.
Further south, the West Africa region, thirteen gendarmes were killed by unidentified gunmen in the northern region of Burkina Faso.
In northwestern Nigeria, meanwhile, a wave of kidnappings is sparking fears of a return to “forced recruitment” by terror groups such as Boko Haram, although the kidnappings could be related to “forced labor human-trafficking groups” (i.e., slavers).
In Central Africa, the so-called “Allied Democratic Forces”, an Islamist terror group operating in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) with ties to ISCAP, continued their offensive in the northeastern DRC province of Ituri, killing as many as fifty-two civilians in attacks on four villages. This comes as one of the ADF’s main leaders, Kabanda Abdulla Musa, was arrested by Ugandan authorities following a series of surprise raids in that country’s border region with the DRC.
In the nation of Sudan, at least 133 pro-democracy demonstrators were injured in crackdowns against protests against the October 25, 2021 coup d’état in the African nation that placed General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan at the head of a military junta.
[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4] – [Source 5] – [Source 6] – [Source 7] – [Source 8] – [Source 9]
Arabia
Moving to the Arabian Peninsula, the war in Yemen grinds on, with near-continuous air strikes by Saudi-led coalition jets being countered by Houthi strikes against oil refineries by bomb-carrying drones attacking the vulnerable facilities. The confusing, multi-sided conflict – part of the 40+ year-old Saudi-Iranian Proxy War – is now in its seventh year, with no end in sight.
[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4] – [Source 5] – [Source 6]
Middle East
In the Middle East, proper, Israeli government websites were targeted in a large-scale cyber attack on the 14th, as Palestinian confrontations with Israeli security forces in the West Bank killed two, with three more being arrested.
Throughout Iraq and Syria, sporadic, low-level fighting continues, including attacks on US logistics convoys rolling north into Iraq from Kuwait, as well as attacks on Iraqi Army commanders by numerous groups.
This comes as Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) fired a series of twelve ballistic missiles into the Kurdish city of Erbil on the 13th. The IRGC claimed the attacks were in response to purported attacks on an Iranian drone factory by Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, in February and March of this year.
[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4] – [Source 5] – [Source 6] -[Source 7] – [Source 8] – [Source 9] – [Source 10]
South Asia
In South Asia, Pakistani security forces reportedly killed one of the architects of the March 4th attack on a Peshawar mosque that killed 64 and wounded 190.
To the south, in Balochistan, 4 gendarmes of the Frontier Corps (FC) were killed and eight wounded in an IED attack on an FC convoy on the 15th. Elsewhere, in North Waziristan, security forces killed four suspected terrorists in a pair of gun battles, after acting on tips.
[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3]
Turning to India, Indian security forces have reportedly killed 39 terrorists in Jammu & Kashmir, so far this year, although continual skirmishing with Islamic terror groups continues.
Meanwhile, four terrorists from Bangladesh, from the Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) group, were captured in the northern city of Bhopal, along with laptops and explosives.
Finally, in Central India’s “Red Corridor”, several Communist guerilla’s were killed in encounters with various security forces, while others planted a crude IED at a train station in the northern city of Bihar. The device was discovered and disarmed by police, disrupting rail operations for over three hours.
[Source 1] – [Source 2] – [Source 3] – [Source 4] – [Source 5] – [Source 6] – [Source 7] – [Source 8] – [Source 9]
