Global Conflict This Week: June 22, 2018
from Strength Through Peace and Center for Preventive Action

Global Conflict This Week: June 22, 2018

Developments in conflicts across the world that you might have missed this week.
Displaced people receive aid kits distributed by the International Committee of the Red Cross in the war-torn Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, Yemen on June 21, 2018.
Displaced people receive aid kits distributed by the International Committee of the Red Cross in the war-torn Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, Yemen on June 21, 2018. Abduljabbar Zeyad/Reuters

More on:

Wars and Conflict

Conflict Prevention

Yemen

Afghanistan

Syria

Welcome to “Global Conflict This Week,” a series that highlights developments in conflicts across the world that you might have missed this week. Stay up to date on these conflicts and others with the online interactive, the Global Conflict Tracker, from the Center for Preventive Action (CPA).


Coalition Assault on Hodeidah Continues in Yemen

Pro-government Yemeni forces, backed by troops from the Saudi-led coalition, continued their assault on the port city Hodeidah, which is held by Houthi rebels. Coalition planes and war ships have bombarded the city for more than a week, and succeeded in capturing the airport from the rebels on June 20. As the primary point of entry for humanitarian aid to Yemen, the United Nations has been engaged in negotiations to ensure the port remains open and continues to warn that an escalation of fighting in the city could threaten tens of thousands of people.

More on the war in Yemen »

Taliban Attacks Resume Across Afghanistan

At least eleven Afghan soldiers were killed in Baghdis Province on June 20 in the first major Taliban attack since the end of the cease-fire last weekend. The Taliban rejected a call by President Ashraf Ghani to extend the cease-fire. A top State Department official told the House Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday that the United States is “prepared to support, facilitate, and participate in direct negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban.”

Separately, two attacks in Nangarhar Province last weekend claimed by the self-proclaimed Islamic State killed at least fifty-five people and wounded nearly two hundred others. A three-week long joint operation between U.S. and Afghan Special Operations forces in the province reportedly killed more than one hundred and sixty Islamic State fighters.

CFR’s Courtney Cooper argues that the recent cease-fires underscore the importance of confidence-building measures in building peace in Afghanistan. More on the war in Afghanistan »

Syrian Military Continues Attacks in De-Escalation Zone

The Syrian army increased attacks on opposition-held areas inside the so-called de-escalation zones in southwest Syria this week as it prepares for a campaign to regain the territory bordering Jordan and the Golan Heights. Elsewhere, in Geneva this week, envoys from Iran, Russia, and Turkey met with Syrian opposition representatives under UN auspices to discuss setting up a committee that would draft a new constitution. And finally, UN investigators accused government-backed forces of likely crimes against humanity, including the deliberate starvation of civilians, during the government’s five-year siege of the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta.

More on the civil war in Syria »

South Sudan Peace Talks Fail

Rebel leader Riek Machar travelled to Addis Ababa this week to meet with President Salva Kiir to discuss ending South Sudan’s five-year civil war, the first such meeting since peace talks broke down in 2016. Those talks failed today. The government is reportedly open to the possibility of the opposition resuming the position of vice president, but rejected the possibility of Machar himself returning to the role.

Revisit CPA’s report Ending South Sudan’s Civil War for a proposal to bring peace to South Sudan. More on the civil war in South Sudan »

More Than Thirty Killed in Attacks in Nigeria

Two suicide attacks in northeast Nigeria’s Borno state on June 16 killed at least thirty-one people. The suspected Boko Haram attacks targeted people celebrating the Eid al-Fitr holiday, and included militants firing rocket-propelled grenades into crowds that had gathered at the scene of the attack.

CFR’s John Campbell discusses the attack, which came as the Nigerian army called for displaced people to return to their homes. More on Boko Haram in Nigeria »

More on:

Wars and Conflict

Conflict Prevention

Yemen

Afghanistan

Syria

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