From our Daily Report:

Africa
Somalia

Somali piracy surges again

Piracy off the coast of Somalia is back, underlined by the dramatic rescue of a hijacked Iranian fishing vessel and its crew by Indian naval forces. There have been at least 15 pirate attacks off Somalia since the start of the year, compared to five last year and the handful recorded annually since 2013. Piracy was kept in check for over a decade by a combination of private security forces, naval patrols, and land-based development initiatives. But it has historically thrived during periods of domestic political instability—and Somalia is in deep crisis. International naval attention is now on the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea, while the insecurity has re-routed maritime traffic closer to Somalia’s coastline, creating more opportunities for the hijack-for-ransom business model. (Map: GeoRank.org)

The Andes
ELN

US strike on ELN in Venezuela?

Days after a strike on a camp within Venezuelan territory allegedly used by the ELN—Colombia’s largest active rebel group—information emerged that US drones and intelligence had played a crucial role. But the extent of US involvement in the operation remains unclear. The New York Times reported that the US “assisted” the Venezuelan military in the attack in the border state of Apure, which killed at least 23 people. While the Times quoted unnamed US officials saying the drone was likely piloted by US forces, it characterized the attack as a “joint operation” and cast it as the second since June, when the Tren de Aragua leader was killed. However, local NGO FundaRedes, which first reported the attack, contended the strike was carried out by US forces alone. The strike comes as the Trump administration pushes the Venezuelan government to sign a status of forces agreement to enable US forces to stay in the country more permanently. (Photo: Colombia Reports)

Iran
Capitol

Impeachment effort against Hegseth over war powers

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky introduced eight articles of impeachment against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, charging that he violated constitutional and statutory limits on military action, including by directing unauthorized hostilities against Iran. Three articles alleged violations of the War Powers Resolution arising from the Iran conflict. The remaining articles accused Hegseth of disregarding civilian-protection laws, overseeing extrajudicial killings in strikes on suspected drug-trafficking boats, directing the unauthorized seizure of Nicolás Maduro and his wife in Venezuela, and conducting unauthorized military operations in Yemen. However, House Republicans banded together to block the effort. (Photo: bones64/Pixabay)

Southeast Asia
burma

Burma’s internal war spills into Thailand

The Burmese junta’s relentless aerial terror continues to target critical civilian infrastructure. But the aerial campaign is increasingly spilling over into neighboring Thailand. Recent air-strikes have damaged homes and injured residents in Thailand’s Mae Hong Son province, across the line from Burma’s conflicted Kayin state. Monitoring group ACLED (Armed Conflict Location & Event Data) has recorded more than 50 such “spillover” incidents from Burma since 2021, including 13 along Thailand’s border. The Royal Thai Air Force is now patrolling the shared border with fighter jets. Burma’s military is waging an intense counter-insurgency on the borderlands against ethnic Karen rebels. Thousands of Karen refugees have fled across the border to seek precarious refuge in Thai territory. (Map: PCL)

Greater Middle East
Barbour

Lebanon: French investigation of Israeli ‘war crime’

Amnesty International welcomed the French War Crimes Unit’s opening of a judicial investigation into a deadly Israeli strike on a civilian building in central Beirut in November 2024 as a critical step toward justice and reparation. France launched the investigation after the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and Ali Cherri, a French-Lebanese artist and filmmaker who lost his parents in the attack, jointly filed a legal complaint. (Photo: Forensic Architecture)

Watching the Shadows
Verizon

Podcast: Verizon delenda est III

In Episode 351 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg, facing imminent cut-off of his landline and home internet access as Verizon finally abandons the century-old copper wire service, exposes this as an illegal betrayal of the public trust designed as part of a transition to counter-democratic corporate rule. Far from being driven by public demand, the ubiquity of wireless has been imposed on the populace as an artifice to finally extinguish the public entitlement of telephone service. Verizon is the most recent inheritor of this public trust responsibility that goes back to the establishment of the New York Telephone Company as a state utility in 1896. But the trust responsibilities go with the old copper wires—once they are gone, Verizon no longer has legal obligations as a “carrier of last resort.” Weinberg calls for a public expropriation of Verizon, its dissolution as a corporate entity, and seizure of its assets to provide net access and phone service as a public entitlement. (Photo: IBEW)

Greater Middle East
syria

Contestation over Jordanian air-strike on Syria

Jordan’s air force bombed what it called “dens of terrorist organizations in southern Syria,” in an attack Syrian state media said killed five. Jordan said it was retaliation for a mass shootingat a Greek Orthodox Christian funeral in Hamoud, Karak governorate, that left nine dead and was claimed by the so-called Islamic State. Amman said that it had coordinated the strike with the Syrian government; Syrian officials said they had not been notified and closed a border crossing with Jordan. (Image: Pixabay)

The Caribbean
Haiti

Salvadoran troops to Haiti

El Salvador has sent at least 1,000 soldiers to Haiti as part of a mission to rescue four Salvadoran members of the UN-authorized Gang Suppression Force (GSF) who went missing after being ambushed by gunmen. Days after the attack, El Salvador’s strongman President Nayib Bukele posted a message to social media in Haitian Creole, demanding their release and announcing a military operation; he also threatened the gangs with further escalation, vowing that “today’s attack is nothing compared to what is coming” if the hostages are not released alive. (Map: CIA World Factbook via Wikimedia Commons)

Africa
ethiopia

Southern front opens in Ethiopia conflict

A new conflict erupted in Ethiopia’s south, compounding a nationwide crisis that has seen federal forces capture and occupy the northern Tigrayan capital of Mekelle. Sparked by an internal border dispute, the fighting in the south has forced up to 50,000 to flee across the border into Kenya. The clashes were triggered when a Somali regional flag was raised in Moyale, a town on the Kenyan border that is jointly administered by Somali and Oromia regions. Amid fighting between Somali and Oromia security forces, more than 60 people were killed in attacks on Orthodox Christians in Oromia. These were blamed by the central government on the rebel Oromo Liberation Army (OLA). (Map: Political Geography Now)

Southern Cone
Malvinas

Argentina challenges UK oil exploitation in Malvinas

Argentina submitted a request to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, seeking provisional measures against the United Kingdom to halt British exploitation of hydrocarbon resources on the continental shelf to the north of the disputed archipelago known to the UK as the Falkland Islands and to Argentina as the Malvinas. The request also seeks to bar the UK from using information obtained during any such exploration to the detriment of Argentina’s rights, and to prohibit actions that might aggravate the pending arbitral disputeover the waters initiated by Argentina. (Map: CIA World Factbook via Wikimedia Commons)

The Andes
Barrancabermeja

Colombia: state oil company named in war crimes

UN experts welcomed a ruling by Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) relating to Macro-Case 08, recognizing the responsibility of a director of parastatal oil company Ecopetrol and several state agents for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and serious human rights violations. The ruling concerns abuses committed during the armed conflict in and around the refinery city of Barrancabermeja in the late 1990s that saw several people abducted and presumably killed by right-wing paramilitaries. “The JEP’s decision represents a significant step forward for truth, justice and accountability regarding the impacts of corporate activities in conflict-affected contexts,” the experts stated. (Photo: Crystalarts via Wikimedia Commons)

The Andes
Colombia

US troops to Colombia

More than 300 US troops arrived in Colombia to take part in a series of joint military operations known as “Southern Vanguard.” The exercises, to focus on tackling drug trafficking and illegal mining, have stirred controversy in the country given the possibility that US troops could conduct joint strikes on Colombian soil, after the new right-wing government of President Abelardo de la Espriella agreed to such an arrangement. The left opposition argues that the presence of foreign troops needs congressional approval. (Map: PCL)

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