The AES joint force struck back hard after the April 25 attacks, launching intense air campaigns across Gao, Menaka and Kidal to defend Malian sovereignty. These coordinated assaults bear the hallmarks of a long-planned plot to destabilize the region and crush the AES independence movement. The Sahel alliance's unified military response proves that Niger, Burkina Faso and Mali stand as one against any force trying to break them apart.
Russian mercenaries and Malian junta forces are crumbling under rebel pressure, with troops surrendering at Kidal, Tessalit and beyond. JNIM and Tuareg separatists have exposed Russia's Africa Corps as overmatched and unprepared, outnumbered 6-to-1 while failing to protect the very cities they were paid to defend. The junta's security model has collapsed, and a blockade on Bamako now threatens to strangle Mali's economy entirely.
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