“The administrator of the Grey Zone channel, whom everybody calls Bělyj, was a very good acquaintance of mine, possibly even a good friend. He spent a while within the Central African Republic after which went to Mali to do a sequence of studies on the work of the Malian military. Sadly, it is not anymore,” he quoted TASS a widely known 29-year-old man from Feda. His Grey Zone channel reported on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the deployment of Russian mercenaries in Africa. He usually criticized the management of the Russian military.
The Fedian died on July 26 in northeastern Mali when armed fighters ambushed a patrol of the Malian military and Russian troops. On social networks footage of his physique surfaced.
CSP-PSD motion spokesman Elmaouloud Ramadan introduced in accordance with AP, that the motion’s fighters “chased a whole convoy of Malian military and Russian mercenaries”, after the Malian military admitted on Friday that the two-day battle had left two troopers lifeless and 10 wounded, with the rebels knocking out two armored automobiles and two pick-ups. “The enemy suffered heavy losses in each lives and tools. There are dozens of lifeless and wounded,” Ramadan introduced. And he added: “Malian troopers and mercenaries from Wagner’s group have surrendered to Tuareg fighters.”
A botched operation and an underestimation of the Tuareg
The Russian Rybar channel reported that Malian troops, supported by the Wagnerites, have stepped up patrols on the border with Algeria since July 20. Their objective was to search out out the positions of fighters of the Coordination Motion (Tuareg) Azawad, al-Qaeda and Jabhat Nasr al-Islam al-Muslimin.
On Monday, July 22, troops raided the village of In-Afarak, the place solely gasoline shops had been discovered. A column of twenty automobiles then proceeded to Tin Zautin, however was stopped by IEDs on 23 July. On July 25, authorities forces, supported by the Wagnerites, clashed with Tuareg fighters 20 km from town. The military and the Wagners pushed them to a distance of seven kilometers from town and reached a small Tuareg camp two kilometers from the Algerian border.
The next day, nonetheless, the Tuaregs, along with different teams, launched a counterattack and destroyed a number of armored automobiles of the military. Mi-24 assault helicopters had been referred to as in, however as a consequence of unhealthy climate situations, their intervention was ineffective. One helicopter was fired upon and ultimately made a tough touchdown close to Kidali. About seventy authorities troopers and Russian mercenaries confronted a number of hundred opponents.
“After the explosion and assault by al-Qaeda fighters, the Tuaregs arrived and held off the remainder of the federal government and Russian forces. The battle ended with the defeat and seize of the survivors,” stated Rybar, mentioning the ransom negotiation, wherein representatives of the Russian Ministry of Protection performed a significant position.
Rybar severely criticized the administration of the operation: “In slim circles, they’re attempting to justify the destruction of the column by saying that the Individuals, French, English, aliens had been concerned within the planning of the operation… Actually, we see one other case of significant underestimation of the adversary.” Regardless of preliminary successes and injury inflicted on the separatists, the weak forces made it inconceivable to safe success. The native command apparently got here to the conclusion that they had been combating ‘dumb monkeys’ who could possibly be defeated by the ‘left rear’. The truth that the Tuaregs have been combating for 12 years of their native desert was left apart… Sadly, not solely Africans pay for such errors with their status, but in addition the ability of Russian weapons.”
In accordance with a Russian supply aware of the assault, 33 Wagnerians had been killed and 18 others wounded. Some Russian sources like channel Earthling they speculate that the Wagner commander Anton Jelizarov, often called Lotos, was amongst a number of captured. Channel Butusov Pljus they declare he perished as a result of he’s not among the many captives whose launch was negotiated.
