2024: Friday, August 16

THE WAR NEWSLETTER — AUGUST 16 2024

Good morning. This is the last update for this week - you’ll see us again on Monday.

Welcome to your daily international conflict update.

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1. 🇨🇩 Congo’s military continues to fight powerful militant group M23 alongside corrupt militias

2. 🇮🇱 A look at casualties in the Israel-Hamas war

3. 🇲🇲 Myanmar’s civil war continues

1 - CONGO

The Congolese military has been supporting a collection of militias known as the Wazalendo, using them as proxies to fight M23 - a militant group established in 2012 - because of dysfunction within the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) army.

Despite their fighting against M23, the Wazalendo are also committing human rights abuses, including rampant use of child soldiers, robberies, rape, and shootings.

Rawanda has also been suspected of aiding M23, and due to recent evidence such as drone images and the apparent organization of the rebel group, is now believed to be actively involved.

Read more on The New Humanitarian here or here.

2- ISRAEL

As Israel’s war against Hamas progresses in Gaza, negotiation talks continue in Qatar.

Throughout the conflict, casualties have been high, with total enemy fatalities estimated to be anywhere between 30,000 and 40,000 total. Numbers published by the IDF list 17,000 terrorists killed in Gaza, which would leave 23,000 as civilian casualties, with 2.3 civilians killed for each terrorist killed.

Read more on Newsweek or Times Of Israel

3 - MYANMAR

As the civil war in Myanmar continues, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Myanmar’s ruling military junta. The increasing conflict in Myanmar has been raising concerns in China, which shares a border with Myanmar.

Fighting in Myanmar has been ongoing since October last year, when fragmented rebel militias — the Arakan Army, the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army — formed an alliance, the Three Brotherhood Alliance, and launched a joint offensive against Myanmar’s ruling junta.

Read more on CNA or AP here or here.

THE REST OF THE WORLD…

• Officials claim over half of Hamas forces killed in Gaza [New York Post]

• Egyptian president meets with Somali president in Cairo to discuss Somali security [Africa News]

P.S. If you have a source, tip, or piece of information we missed, please reply to this email and tell us about it. Thank you!