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African Union Calls for Urgent Action in Insurgency-hit Mali

A woman prepares food on the road side, amid ongoing fuel shortages caused by a blockade imposed by al Qaeda-linked insurgents in early September, in Bamako, Mali, October 31, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
A woman prepares food on the road side, amid ongoing fuel shortages caused by a blockade imposed by al Qaeda-linked insurgents in early September, in Bamako, Mali, October 31, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
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African Union Calls for Urgent Action in Insurgency-hit Mali

A woman prepares food on the road side, amid ongoing fuel shortages caused by a blockade imposed by al Qaeda-linked insurgents in early September, in Bamako, Mali, October 31, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer
A woman prepares food on the road side, amid ongoing fuel shortages caused by a blockade imposed by al Qaeda-linked insurgents in early September, in Bamako, Mali, October 31, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer

The African Union has called for an urgent international response, including intelligence-sharing, to address worsening security conditions in Mali, where insurgents are imposing a fuel blockade and kidnapping foreigners.

An Al Qaeda-linked group active in West Africa's Sahel region has blocked fuel imports since September, attacking convoys of tankers and creating a shortage that forced schools and businesses to shut.

The latest show of force by the group, Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, has raised concern that it might eventually try to impose its rule over the landlocked country. Western countries including the US, France, Britain and Italy are urging their citizens to leave, Reuters reported.

ATTACKS ON MILITARY POSTS

In a statement on Sunday, Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, chairperson of the African Union Commission, expressed "deep concern over the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Mali, where terrorist groups have imposed blockades, disrupted access to essential supplies, and severely worsened humanitarian conditions for civilian populations".

He said there should be "enhanced cooperation, intelligence-sharing and sustained support" for countries in the Sahel affected by violent extremism.

The African Union suspended Mali after the 2021 coup that brought the country's current leader, Assimi Goita, to power. The military-led governments of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have withdrawn from the West African regional bloc ECOWAS, distanced themselves from Western allies and turned to Russia for military support.

JNIM claims to have killed hundreds of soldiers in attacks on military installations in those three countries this year. Their governments have not commented on the toll.

On Monday, a media unit for JNIM said its fighters had killed 48 soldiers and wounded more than 100 others in an attack on a military post in Soumpi in the northern Timbuktu region.

A Malian military spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

THREE EGYPTIANS KIDNAPPED

JNIM has targeted foreign nationals for kidnapping to finance its operations in West Africa.

Youssouf of the African Union also called in his statement on Sunday for the immediate release of three Egyptians he said were recently seized.

Reuters reported in October that a deal was reached to free two citizens of the United Arab Emirates in exchange for a ransom payment of roughly $50 million.

Schools reopened in the capital Bamako on Monday, a Reuters witness said, after being suspended for two weeks because of the fuel shortage.

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Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Media Accuse Rouhani of ‘Serving Israel’

03 December 2025, Iran, Teheran: View of the smog-ridden metropolis of Tehran. Photo: Aref Taherkenareh/dpa
03 December 2025, Iran, Teheran: View of the smog-ridden metropolis of Tehran. Photo: Aref Taherkenareh/dpa
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Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Media Accuse Rouhani of ‘Serving Israel’

03 December 2025, Iran, Teheran: View of the smog-ridden metropolis of Tehran. Photo: Aref Taherkenareh/dpa
03 December 2025, Iran, Teheran: View of the smog-ridden metropolis of Tehran. Photo: Aref Taherkenareh/dpa

Media outlets aligned with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have accused former president Hassan Rouhani and his associates of “doing Israel a service,” escalating a political backlash triggered by Rouhani’s recent criticism of Iran’s ability to defend its airspace if last June’s 12-day war with Israel were to resume.

Tasnim, the Guards’ main media arm, protested sharply against Rouhani’s latest speech and the recommendations he offered to prevent a repeat of the conflict.

The media attack coincided with rising political tensions inside Iran as Rouhani’s name resurfaced in the debate over who might succeed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, a succession file that has deepened domestic polarization.

Tasnim opened its weekly analytical supplement with the headline “Working for Israel,” placing Rouhani’s photograph on the cover. It accused him of offering “narcissistic, arrogance-filled interpretations” about his claims that he prevented a war on Iran through diplomacy during his past government roles.

The agency questioned whether Rouhani was suggesting that Iran had no deterrent other than his negotiations, and whether the United States and Israel were at full strength at the time while Iran lacked defensive capability.

It further asked why Rouhani’s diplomacy failed to prevent the US withdrawal from the nuclear agreement under Donald Trump or avert the assassinations of General Qassem Soleimani and Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the senior nuclear official killed in late 2020 in an attack attributed to Israel.

Rouhani last week criticized the country’s tightened security climate, saying Iran needed “an atmosphere of safety, not an atmosphere of securitization.”

He warned that Iran could not remain in a state of “no war and no peace,” citing Khamenei’s own remarks, and urged efforts to rebuild deterrence across multiple fields to confront what he called “the conspiracies of enemies.”

He argued that Iran today lacks “broad regional deterrence,” noting that the airspace of neighboring countries, including Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, had fallen under US and Israeli influence, making hostile aerial movement near Iran “safe and free of obstacles.”

Rouhani insisted continuation of the nuclear deal would have prevented the 12-day conflict, calling the nuclear file a pretext for the attacks and blaming subsequent governments for failing to revive the accord.

Tasnim said Rouhani’s positions “practically serve Israel” because they place responsibility on internal actors while removing Israel from the circle of blame. It portrayed his comments as a political act against “sacred unity,” adding that presenting such views “even within a realistic and careful framework” ultimately benefits Israel.

Tasnim also revived long-standing criticism that Rouhani’s government did not sufficiently support Iran’s intervention in Syria in 2013 and 2014, arguing that such reluctance approached “the level of treason.” It claimed one of General Soleimani’s biggest grievances was the administration’s lack of cooperation on the Syrian front.

Responding to Rouhani’s remarks on “securitization,” Tasnim said his own administration had been among the most security-dominated of the Islamic Republic era. The agency pointed to Rouhani’s intelligence background and argued that his current counsel contradicted his record in office.

Rouhani’s comments were also interpreted as an indirect response to Khamenei’s November 27 televised speech, in which the Supreme Leader warned against internal division, repeated his narrative that the US and Israel had “failed” to achieve their war aims and urged Iranians to maintain “national alignment.”

The renewed criticism comes as Rouhani has faced months of attacks from rivals, including parliamentarians, who accuse him of positioning himself to assume the role of Supreme Leader should Khamenei become unable to carry out his duties, including in the event of an Israeli assassination attempt.

Last month, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf accused Rouhani and former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif of damaging Iran’s strategic ties with Russia.

Hardline lawmakers revived the chant “Death to Fereydoun,” using Rouhani’s birth family name. One conservative MP said the judiciary should address Rouhani’s “misconduct” so that anyone aspiring to senior posts would “return to his rightful place behind bars.”

After Rouhani’s latest remarks circulated, discussion of his possible leadership prospects reemerged, this time in reformist media.

Reformist theorist Sadegh Zibakalam said Rouhani believes he lacks nothing compared to other succession candidates, including Mojtaba Khamenei, arguing that Rouhani’s executive experience makes him “more qualified than others.”

At the same time, businessman Babak Zanjani, who was sentenced to death for corruption during Rouhani’s presidency but released last year, made a harsh post on X rejecting any future political role for Rouhani.

Iran, he wrote, needed a “young, educated and effective” force, “not holders of fake degrees,” warning that “we will cleanse Iran of incompetence.”

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Iran Holds Massive Drills in Gulf

A handout photo made available on 05 December 2025 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shows a missile being launched during a military drill in the waters off southern Iran coast. EPA/IRGC HANDOUT
A handout photo made available on 05 December 2025 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shows a missile being launched during a military drill in the waters off southern Iran coast. EPA/IRGC HANDOUT
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Iran Holds Massive Drills in Gulf

A handout photo made available on 05 December 2025 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shows a missile being launched during a military drill in the waters off southern Iran coast. EPA/IRGC HANDOUT
A handout photo made available on 05 December 2025 by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shows a missile being launched during a military drill in the waters off southern Iran coast. EPA/IRGC HANDOUT

Iran launched massive missiles in the Sea of Oman and near the strategic Strait of Hormuz during the second day of a naval drill, state TV reported Friday.

The report said the Revolutionary Guard launched the missiles from the depth of Iran's mainland, hitting targets in the Oman Sea and neighboring area near Strait of Hormuz in a drill that began on Thursday.

It identified the missiles as cruise Qadr-110, Qadr-380 and Ghadir that have a range of up to 2,000 kilometers. It said the Guard also launched a ballistic missile identified as 303, without elaborating.

The drill is the second one following the Israel-Iran war in June that killed nearly 1,100 people in Iran, including military commanders and nuclear scientists. Missile attacks by Iran killed 28 in Israel.

Earlier, Iran hosted an anti-terrorism drill in its northwestern province of East Azerbaijan with members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which, according to state Press TV, was intended to signal both “peace and friendship” to neighboring states and warn enemies that “any miscalculation would meet a decisive response.”

The SCO, a Eurasian security and economic bloc founded in 2001 to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism, often conducts joint military exercises among its members.

The organization includes China, Russia, India, Pakistan, and several Central Asian countries, with observer and dialogue partners such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and others participating in selected operations.

World

Taiwan Says China Deploys Warships in ‘Military Operations’

A Chinese PLA navy ship monitors an area during a maritime cooperative activity between the Philippines, Australia and Canadian navy near Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea on Sep 3, 2025. (AFP)
A Chinese PLA navy ship monitors an area during a maritime cooperative activity between the Philippines, Australia and Canadian navy near Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea on Sep 3, 2025. (AFP)
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Taiwan Says China Deploys Warships in ‘Military Operations’

A Chinese PLA navy ship monitors an area during a maritime cooperative activity between the Philippines, Australia and Canadian navy near Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea on Sep 3, 2025. (AFP)
A Chinese PLA navy ship monitors an area during a maritime cooperative activity between the Philippines, Australia and Canadian navy near Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea on Sep 3, 2025. (AFP)

Taiwan said Friday that China had deployed warships for “military operations” stretching hundreds of kilometers from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea, posing a “threat” to the region.

Beijing, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory, neither confirmed nor denied the maneuvers.

Taiwan’s defense ministry and other security agencies were monitoring China’s activities and had a “complete grasp of the situation,” presidential office spokeswoman Karen Kuo told reporters.

She did not say how many Chinese ships were involved in the deployment, but a security source told AFP the number was “significant.” The source spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The operations were not limited to the Taiwan Strait, but extended from the southern Yellow Sea, to the East China Sea near the disputed Diaoyu Islands and on into the South China Sea and even the Western Pacific, Kuo said.

“This indeed poses a threat and impact on the Indo-Pacific and the entire region,” she said.

Taiwan urged China to “exercise restraint,” Kuo said, adding: “We are also confident that we can handle this matter well.”

Neither China’s armed forces nor state media have announced any increased military activity in the region where Taiwan said Chinese ships had been detected.

Beijing’s defense ministry spokesman Jiang Bin said Friday that the navy’s training on the high seas complies with international law and “is not directed at any specific country or target.”

He was responding to a question about a Chinese naval flotilla that reportedly may be heading toward Australia.

A spokesman for China’s foreign ministry said Beijing “has consistently followed a defensive policy” and urged “relevant parties” not to “overreact or... engage in groundless hype.”

China has refused to rule out using force to take Taiwan, and also contentiously claims sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea.

Taiwan’s intelligence chief Tsai Ming-yen said Wednesday that October to December was the “peak season” for China’s “annual evaluation exercises.”

There was a possibility that China’s ruling Communist Party could turn seemingly routine military activities into drills targeting Taiwan, Tsai warned.

Last December, Taiwan said about 90 Chinese warships and coast guard vessels took part in vast exercises including simulating attacks on foreign ships and practicing blockading sea routes in Beijing’s biggest maritime drills in years.

Beijing did not confirm the drills at that time.

The United States has historically been Taiwan’s main security backer.

But President Donald Trump’s administration signaled a potential shift in that policy on Friday, saying in a strategy document that its Asian allies Japan and South Korea should take on more of the burden of defending the region.