SITUATION ROOM IN THE WORLD (WAR)

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27 Apr 2025

The series I'm starting ofWarFronts Weekly, is a rapid-fire breakdown of emerging stories, under-the-radar conflict news.

Whether you’re looking for a way to subtly signal to the people in your life that you know lots about the Chittagong Hill Tracts conflict, or you’ve been hoping somebody on the street would ask you your thoughts about Iran’s proxy militant networks, or perhaps you’d just like some swaggy merch, the WarFronts cap should be able to satisfy any and all of those needs at once. Plus, it looks real good.

WarFronts Weekly: Friday Blitz.
25.04.2025

Welcome to WarFronts Weekly, where we discuss the under-the-radar global conflicts news you might have missed.

Attack on Tourists Rocks India’s Kashmir:

The nation of India was stunned on Tuesday, April 23, by a brazen terror attack on tourists near the Himalayan resort town of Pahalgam, in the disputed Indian-controlled territory of Kashmir. Twenty-six tourists were killed in the attack, all of them men, who were rounded up by a group of at least four armed militants, separated from women and children, and executed. No fewer than three dozen people were wounded in the attack, some grievously, and the death toll may rise in the coming days.
The attack, which took place on a mountaintop meadow where tourists were ambushed en masse, was perpetrated by an organization called The Resistance Front. Founded in 2019, The Resistance Front is a splinter group with roots in the Pakistan-based organization Lashkar-e-Taiba, and goes by the alternate name Kashmir Resistance on social media.
The Resistance Front’s operational closeness to Lashkar-e-Taiba is in dispute, but the splinter organization had yet to engage in a major attack, until this week. Most of the men who The Resistance Front chose to kill in the attack were Hindu, although at least one was Muslim.
The assault represents a massive shift in the complexion of the Kashmir conflict, in which tourists, up until this point, have largely been kept separate from the violence. Now, dozens of tourists are dead in the largest single terror attack India has endured since the 2008 assault on the city of Mumbai.
In the wake of the attack, India downgraded its ties with Pakistan, suspending a critical water treaty and closing the two nations’ main border checkpoint. According to India, the militants responsible crossed the border from Pakistan prior to their attack.
The situation between the two nations has deteriorated rapidly since then, with both India and Pakistan taking major retaliatory measures against each other. The current state of affairs would suggest that the worst is yet to come.

Around the World:

Ronen Bar, the head of the Israeli domestic intelligence service Shin Bet, is fighting hard against the attempt by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to oust him. Bar has begun a legal battle to keep his post, arguing that Netanyahu is attempting to defuse investigations of leaks of sensitive documents, as well as secret associations between Netanyahu’s own aids and the nation of Qatar, and policy failures in advance of October 7, 2023.

Also in Israel, military leaders have admitted to “several professional failures” in the March 23 killing of fifteen paramedics and rescue workers in Gaza. The case has proven highly salient in Israel and abroad, as the Israel Defense Forces have drawn intense condemnation and accusations of war crimes for the killings.

Syrian officials arrested two senior leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a prominent organization fighting alongside Hamas, in a clear attempt to appease US and Israeli demands that Damascus prove itself an ally.

China engaged in the latest of a long line of intimidating maneuvers toward the Philippines on Thursday, sailing a carrier strike group of six combat vessels near the Philippines’ maritime boundary in advance of the smaller nation’s upcoming six-day-long maritime joint drills with the US.

Several European nations are considering a coordinated acquisition of infantry fighting vehicles: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Lithuania. Beyond just adding to those nations’ arsenals, the purchase provides a roadmap for other collective acquisitions in the future, responding to demands by European arms manufacturers that large orders be placed before expecting those manufacturers to actually procure equipment and re-arm the continent.

In Somalia, the al-Shabaab jihadist insurgency has engaged federal forces in a battle for a critical military base in the Middle Shabelle region. The base is a home for Somali special forces as well as allied clan fighters, and protects important supply and transit routes leading in and out of Mogadishu.

Southern African troops stationed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be allowed to evacuate through Rwanda, en route to the nation of Tanzania. African forces in the DRC terminated their mandate to intervene in the nation’s conflict back in March, but need safe passage out of the rebel-controlled city of Goma.

Bosnian officials failed on Wednesday in their effort to arrest Milorad Dodik, leader of a separatist region of the nation. Dodik remains under heavy armed guard by his faction’s own enforcers, and has continued to appear publicly in a direct challenge to Bosnian leaders.

According to his medical team, the health of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has worsened following bowel surgery, relating to injuries sustained years ago in a stabbing attack. Bolsonaro’s health is of great importance, at a time when he and several co-conspirators are expected to soon stand trial on charges of attempting a coup.

Seventeen-year-old Adam Kadyrov has been declared secretary of Chechnya’s security council, by command of his father, ailing Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov. Young Adam currently serves as a trustee at the region’s Special Forces University, a noncombatant member of an Army battalion, and his father’s lead bodyguard. Gen Z, making waves.

Peace and Progress:

Myanmar’s embattled military regime and a key opposition group, the shadow National Unity Government, have agreed to extend a ceasefire in order to enable humanitarian relief after a devastating earthquake hit the nation in late March. The Malaysia-brokered extension comes as the regime has continued some of its airstrikes, and the National Unity Government has struggled to rein in rebel groups that have looked to take advantage.

Iran is signaling openness to the United States’ request that it limit its future uranium enrichment, in the process of negotiating a new nuclear deal. Iran’s key sticking point, at this time, is a guarantee from the United States that the Trump administration will not abandon a second nuclear deal, as was done with the JCPOA in Trump’s first term.

Peace talks between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the rebel group M23 have stalled in Qatar, and both sides have left negotiations with no clear plan to return. Sticking points include demands by M23 that the Congo release hundreds of prisoners, and that Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi commits to a dialogue, something Tshisekedi has .