DefenceTalkIsraeli air strikes hammered the Gaza Strip pre-dawn Monday, after a week of violence between the Jewish state and Islamist militants left more than 200 people dead as international calls for de-escalation went unheeded. Overnight Sunday to Monday, Israel launched dozens of strikes in the space of a few minutes across the crowded coastal Palestinian […]

DefenceTalkFrench forces “tortured and murdered” Algerian freedom fighter Ali Boumendjel during his country’s war for independence, President Emmanuel Macron admitted Tuesday, officially reappraising a death that was covered up as a suicide. Macron made the admission “in the name of France” during a meeting with Boumendjel’s grandchildren. The move comes after Macron stoked outrage in […]

DefenceTalkDefenceTalkFrance must “shoulder its historic responsibilities” for 1960s nuclear test sites in Algeria, a senior Algerian military official said in the influential army monthly El Djeich, published Sunday. France carried out 17 nuclear explosions in the Algerian part of the Sahara Desert between 1960 and 1966. Eleven of the tests came after the 1962 Evian […]https://www.defencetalk.com/algerian-general-says-france-must-take-responsibility-for-nuke-sites-76776/

DefenceTalkDefenceTalkThe Taliban on Friday rejected Washington’s accusations that it had not lived up to its promises in Afghanistan, in turn claiming the US was ‘bombarding civilians’. The US signed a landmark deal with the insurgents last year, agreeing to withdraw all of its troops from the country in return for security guarantees after a stalemate […]https://www.defencetalk.com/taliban-says-us-bombarding-civilians-houses-in-violation-of-afghan-deal-76713/

DefenceTalkDefenceTalkAfghan authorities said Monday they are investigating an air strike at the weekend which local officials say killed more than a dozen civilians, including children. Provincial officials said 15 people died on Saturday night when a rocket struck a house in Khashrod district of Nimroz province. “We are aware of claims of civilian casualties in […]https://www.defencetalk.com/afghanistan-probes-air-strike-that-killed-civilians-76662/

DefenceTalkDefenceTalkA “champion of peace” doesn’t normally threaten to show no mercy before carrying out an attack that sparks a humanitarian crisis. Yet Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is not the first Nobel Peace Prize laureate to go to war. Officially, the guns in Tigray have been silenced: On November 28, Abiy, who won the 2019 […]https://www.defencetalk.com/drones-wars-genocide-tainted-legacy-of-nobel-peace-laureates-76598/

DefenceTalkOne hundred thirty-two civilians were killed last year in US global military operations, the army said Wednesday, a number far lower than those published by NGOs. The Department of Defense “assesses that there were approximately 132 civilians killed and approximately 91 civilians injured during 2019 as a result of US military operations in Iraq, Syria, […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-military-killed-132-civilians-globally-in-2019-pentagon-75452/

DefenceTalkInternational war crimes judges will rule on Thursday whether a probe into wartime abuses in Afghanistan will go ahead, including possible atrocities committed by US forces. The International Criminal Court last year rejected a demand by its chief prosecutor to look into crimes committed in the war-torn nation — an investigation also bitterly opposed by […]https://www.defencetalk.com/war-crimes-judges-to-rule-on-icc-probe-in-afghanistan-74661/

At least 30 civilians were killed and 40 injured in an air strike conducted by the Afghan security forces, backed by US air support, in eastern Afghanistan, officials said on Thursday. The attack on Wednesday night was aimed at destroying a hideout used by Islamic State (IS) militants, but it accidentally targeted farmers near a […]

The soldiers came after midnight, Abid Khan says, his hands trembling, one of around two dozen young men in just one part of occupied Kashmir who say they have been tortured by the Indian army. The alleged abuse, residents say, is aimed at creating a climate of fear after India stripped the long-restive, blood-soaked Himalayan […]