WEEKLY INTERNATIONAL NEWS REVIEW – Jul 18th – 24th 2026

ETHIOPIA

RALLY IN ADDIS ABABA AGAINST FORCED RECRUITMENT

On July 18, 2026, thousands of people rallied in Addis Ababa in support of Ethiopia’s federal government and against a forced recruitment drive led by authorities in the rebel Tigray region. In early July, Human Rights Watch found that local security forces loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which has governed the region for 35 years, are forcibly recruiting men, including minors. Banners at the protest called on the government to protect Tigrayans and demanded an end to “trafficking of fighters to Sudan.” Ethiopian officials and some local media allege the TPLF is forcibly sending Tigrayans to Sudan, though no independent verification could confirm it for the moment.

TOGO

RUSSIAN AND TURKISH FIGHTERS IN THE NORTH

On July 21, 2026, Togolese opposition parties and civil society groups expressed concern about the alleged presence of “foreign forces” in northern Togo, including Russian mercenaries from the Africa Corps paramilitary group and Turkish personnel from the private military company Sadat. Since late 2021, Togo’s far north has faced incursions by jihadist groups that have destabilized the Sahel for a decade and are spreading into coastal West African states. “The international press reveals the presence on the ground of foreign forces” said three coalitions of opposition parties and civil society organizations. The statement noted that authorities in Lomé, Ankara and Moscow have stayed silent on troop numbers and missions. 350 Russian personnel are suspected to be present in the area. The groups said they were “concerned about the opacity” surrounding these strategic decisions and about the “risk of abuses” against local populations, citing precedents on other African battlefields. They called for an “immediate public debate” on the presence of any foreign military or paramilitary force in Togo and demanded that no foreign force should be used for surveillance, intimidation, arrest or repression of the population. However, no official source confirmed the presence of these forces. Togo signed a military cooperation framework with Turkey in 2021 and with Russia in 2025.

BURKINA FASO

RSF ACCUSES BURKINA JUNTA OF RUNNING ‘DIGITAL MILITIA’ AGAINST JOURNALISTS

On July 23, 2026, Reporters Without Borders accused Burkina Faso’s junta of running a “digital militia” that conducts propaganda and intimidation campaigns against journalists on social media. RSF said the junta relies on an influential group of cyber-activists known as the Bataillons d’intervention rapide de la communication (BIR-C), describing them as a “motley militia” mixing activists, anonymous accounts, regime-friendly figures and even a sitting minister, Defense Minister General Célestin Simporé. RSF said it identified Simporé’s involvement by analyzing phone numbers from a WhatsApp group called “Aigle” attributed to the digital militia, excerpts of which leaked earlier this year. RSF accused the BIR-C of conducting online raids against critics of the military government while spreading disinformation favorable to the regime, targeting journalists in particular. Arnaud Froger, head of RSF’s investigations unit, said the militia deploys “the full arsenal of a propaganda and intimidation machine,” with journalists as its “primary victims,” citing harassment, doctored images, threats and slander. Since taking power, the junta has suspended foreign and local media, arrested or disappeared dozens of people, and dissolved about a thousand associations. Burkina Faso ranks 110th out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2026 press freedom index.

JIHADIST GROUPS FUND OPERATIONS THROUGH SAHEL MINING

On July 22, 2026, Acled said in a report that jihadist groups responsible for a decade of deadly violence in the Sahel are increasingly exploiting mining sites to fund their operations and expand their influence. Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali, all mineral-rich Sahelian states, face jihadist violence from groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State that has killed thousands across their territories. “Armed groups are increasingly exploiting mining economies to finance their activities and wage economic warfare against the states they are fighting,” stated Acled. The group analyzed more than 1,000 violent incidents recorded between January 2015 and June 2026 around industrial mines, artisanal gold-panning sites and other strategic extraction zones in the three countries. JNIM, linked to al-Qaeda, was involved in 42% of all mine-adjacent conflicts recorded, against 27% for the Islamic State in the Sahel (EIS). Mining-related violence accounts for 5% of all recorded attacks in the three countries since 2015.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

DISPLACED CENTRAL AFRICANS FACE DIRE CONDITIONS IN BIRAO

On June 30, 2026, fighting broke out in Am-Dafock, on the border between Sudan and the Central African Republic, between the Alliance du sursaut patriotique (ASP), an armed group made up of Central African rebels and foreign mercenaries, and the Central African Armed Forces. According to local media, the attack killed several dozen people in Am-Dafock, a town that had already suffered previous incursions by armed groups. Displaced residents described gunfire, burning houses and a chaotic flight. A resident from the nearby village of Agroumaye, fled to Birao, some 60 kilometers away, with his family, losing nearly all their possessions, and his eight-month-old son has since fallen ill with no access to medicine. No official casualty toll from the June 30 clashes has been released. On Tuesday, the Central African Republic’s Special Criminal Court announced it was conducting a preliminary assessment toward opening an investigation into the attack. The new arrivals compound an already dire humanitarian situation in Birao, which was already hosting nearly 22,000 Sudanese refugees before the violence. William Chemaly, the UNHCR representative in the Central African Republic, said displaced people urgently need shelter, food and medicine. Central African authorities have reinforced security around Birao with support from the UN peacekeeping mission (MINUSCA). According to regional governor Thierry Evariste Binguinendji, who visited Am-Dafock on July 20, the destruction from the fighting was extensive but the town is now secured, and the deployment of Central African troops along the border continues.

MALI

FORMER MALI INTELLIGENCE CHIEF SENTENCED TO 15 YEARS

On July 24, 2026, Bamako’s criminal court sentenced the country’s former intelligence chief to 15 years in prison for “plotting against the government,” at the end of a ten-day trial during which he openly accused the ruling junta of corruption. Colonel-Major Kassoum Goïta, former director of State Security, was accused of involvement in an attempted coup and a plan to destabilize state institutions. He was found guilty of criminal conspiracy and plotting against the government. Prosecutors had sought 20 years for Goïta and five co-defendants. During the trial, Goïta denied the charges and accused the ruling authorities of embezzlement and of having him tortured. He had been appointed intelligence chief after the 2020 overthrow of elected President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta. Retired colonel Bah N’Daw was later named transitional president under pressure from the Economic Community of West African States, before being ousted in a second coup in 2021 by Assimi Goïta and his allies. A subsequent purge saw Kassoum Goïta and others arrested, according to their lawyers of that time. Six people were tried in total, all denied the charges and received sentences ranging from 7 to 15 years. A defense lawyer declared the defense would try all domestic appeals before.

AT LEAST 50 SOLDIERS KILLED IN THE NORTH

On July 19, 2026, a coalition of Tuareg separatists and jihadists ambushed a Malian army convoy leaving the strategic town of Anéfis, in northern Mali, for the city of Gao, killing more than 50 soldiers and capturing at least 24. Anéfis had been the site of fierce fighting for control in recent weeks. In early July, a major coordinated offensive by JNIM and the separatist of the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) had briefly seized the town, encircling a military camp defended by the Malian armed forces and Russian Africa Corps. A source within the Malian army said “some of our men were executed,” adding that an investigation was under way into the tactical failures behind the losses. Russian paramilitaries supporting the Malian army had already reached Gao when the attack occurred and suffered no casualties. A local community leader suggested that coordination problems between Malian troops and the Russians left Malian soldiers more exposed. JNIM and the FLA claimed responsibility for the ambush. The army acknowledged the convoy had fallen into an ambush.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

DRC REPATRIATES CITIZENS FLEEING XENOPHOBIC VIOLENCE IN SOUTH AFRICA

On July 18, 2026, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s foreign ministry announced the repatriation of a first group of 121 citizens from South Africa, where foreigners have been targeted by a wave of violence. South Africa has been shaken for weeks by demonstrations and unrest targeting undocumented migrants, prompting tens of thousands to flee. At least 150,000 foreigners from several African countries, including Ghana, Nigeria, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda and Zimbabwe, have left the country in recent weeks. “121 Congolese nationals, including women and children,” landed in Kinshasa aboard a “first voluntary repatriation flight,” the foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that the operation followed “xenophobic violence” that began in early May. South Africa, the continent’s largest economy, has long been a destination for African workers, both documented and undocumented, but has faced recurrent waves of xenophobic violence since 2008, when dozens of migrants were killed and thousands displaced. About 3 million foreigners, 5.1% of the population, live in the country, according to the national statistics agency. South African police arrested 69 people after an anti-migrant demonstration degenerated into looting and violence in the south of the country.

LEBANON

LEBANESE ARMY BEGINS SECURING VILLAGES IN PILOT ZONES

On July 20, 2026, the Lebanese army began securing three villages in southern Lebanon. The US State Department announced the “start of operations” in “pilot zones” in the villages of Froun, Srifa and Zaotar al-Gharbiya, “in line with the trilateral framework agreement and under the auspices of the Military Coordination Group for Lebanon,” calling it a “direct consequence” of talks held the previous week between Israel and Lebanon in Rome, the sixth session mediated by Washington since April.

LEBANESE ARMY ACCUSES ISRAEL OF FIRING NEAR ITS TROOPS

On July 21, 2026, the Lebanese army accused Israeli forces of firing “near its troops” as they deployed in an area of southern Lebanon under an agreement providing for a gradual Israeli withdrawal. In a statement, the army said the “aggression” against soldiers deploying at Zaoutar al-Gharbiya was “liable to hinder the implementation of the deployment stages” in the “pilot zones”, provided for under the agreement between the two countries.

JAPANESE MILITANT BEHIND 1972 AIRPORT MASSACRE DIES IN BEIRUT

On July 23, 2026, Kozo Okamoto, the Japanese militant who carried out a deadly 1972 attack in Israel on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), died in Beirut at 78. The PFLP said Okamoto, aka  “Ahmad al-Yabani,” died in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut. Okamoto was the sole survivor among three attackers who carried out the May 30 1972 massacre at Lod airport, now Ben Gurion Airport, arriving on an Air France flight before opening fire on passengers, killing 26 people. His two Japanese accomplices were killed. Wounded and captured, Okamoto was released by Israel in 1985 as part of a large prisoner exchange. He later went to Lebanon, where he was arrested and sentenced in 1997 to three years in prison. In 2000, Lebanese authorities granted him political asylum following a wave of pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

UNESCO PLACES JABAL AMEL CASTLE ON ENDANGERED HERITAGE LIST

On July 24, 2026, UNESCO announced it had placed, under an emergency procedure, the castle of Jabal Amel in southern Lebanon and the archaeological site of Sebastia in the occupied West Bank its list of world heritage in danger. The five 12th-century castles, strategically built on hills in the Jabal Amel region of southern Lebanon, an area repeatedly bombed by Israel since the start of the regional war, have “suffered damage” and face threats from the ongoing conflict “serious enough to warrant” emergency listing, UNESCO said. Lebanese Culture Minister Ghassan Salamé said three of the fortresses are “under Israeli occupation” and a fourth has been damaged, calling the UNESCO decision a “major step forward” for their protection.

PALESTINE

PRESUMED CIVILIANS/NON-COMBATANTS DEAD: at least 32

PRESUMED CIVILIANS/NON-COMBATANTS WOUNDED: Unknown, at least several dozen

LOOTING OR DESTRUCTION OF CIVILIAN PROPRIETIES: YES

LOCALITIES: Gaza City (Zeitoun, al-Masri home), Tell / Havat Gilad, Deir Jarir, At-Tuwani, Far’ata, Beit Fourik / Itamar

PERPETRATORS: Israeli army, Israeli settlers, Palestinians attackers

VICTIMS: Palestinian civilians, Israeli settler

ISRAEL CLASSIFIES NILE CROCODILES AS CAPTIVE WILDLIFE FOR USE IN PRISON SECURITY

On July 18, 2026, Israel’s environmental protection minister, Idit Silman, reclassified Nile crocodiles as “captive-bred wildlife,” opening the way for their use in prison security. National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a far-right figure, welcomed the move. He had proposed in December using crocodiles to deter Palestinian prisoners from attempting to escape, and posted an AI-generated image of himself holding a crocodile on a leash captioned as a warning to prisoners. According to Israel’s Channel 13, the nature and parks authority had opposed the plan, but the new regulation allows Nile crocodiles, previously classified as wild animals, to be kept by “a security body”. Israeli media reported that Ben Gvir intends to deploy crocodiles around Ketziot prison in southern Israel, which holds numerous Palestinian militants.

PALESTINIAN TEEN FOOTBALLER KILLED BY SETTLERS

On July 18, 2026, Fadi Hamdallah al-Nassan, a 17-year-old Palestinian youth footballer for the al-Mughayyir club, died of wounds sustained several days earlier during a settler attack on his village in the occupied West Bank, according to his family and officials. The Palestine Football Association accused the Israeli army of shooting the teenager during the settler attack, saying he was hit by an “explosive bullet” and had to undergo an amputation before dying of his injuries. His father, Hamdallah al-Nassan, said the teenager ran to help as he heard women and girls screaming during the settler attack, and was shot. The Palestinian news agency Wafa gave similar details, adding that two other village residents were hit by rubber bullets fired by Israeli soldiers, and a 10-year-old boy was struck in the head by a stun grenade.

AT LEAST 11 PALESTINIANS KILLED IN GAZA STRIKES

On July 19, 2026, Gaza’s civil defense agency, which operates under Hamas authority, said 11 people, including a couple and three of their children, were killed by Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip despite the ceasefire. Five members of one family were killed when a missile struck an apartment in northwest Gaza City. Civil defense spokesman Mahmoud Bassal said the family’s only survivor was a child who had not been at home at the time. Al-Chifa hospital confirmed receiving the five bodies. An Israeli military spokeswoman said a strike had targeted “a Hamas terrorist” in Gaza City and that the army was assessing the results. Three more people were killed in a separate strike on a group of civilians in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighborhood, also confirmed by al-Chifa hospital. Hours later, Bassal reported a woman killed in the same neighborhood by Israeli artillery fire on a tent sheltering displaced people, with several people wounded and three reported missing. Health officials reported two further people killed elsewhere in the territory that day. The army did not respond to a request for comment on those strikes.

SETTLERS TORCH MOSQUE IN OCCUPIED WEST BANK

On July 19, 2026, Israeli settlers set fire overnight to a mosque in a village in the occupied West Bank. About twenty settlers, some masked, attacked the Al-Taqwa mosque in the village of At-Tuwani and set it ablaze, said Mohammed Rabie, head of the village council. The attackers also set fire to two homes and a dairy before fleeing as villagers emerged. Residents managed to extinguish the flames before they spread. Israeli police said they deployed forces to the village after being alerted and opened an investigation. According to Rabie, Israeli army, police and fire personnel arrived roughly half an hour after the attack. Palestinian activist Ossama Mahamra said the attack occurred in full view of the Israeli army, noting an army watchtower stands near the mosque. The Palestinian religious affairs ministry condemned a “full-fledged act of terrorism,” accusing Israel’s government of encouraging settler violence to displace Palestinians.

THOUSANDS OF ISRAELIS MARCH TOWARD GAZA TO DEMAND SETTLEMENTS

On July 19, 2026, thousands of Israelis, including settlers and right-wing activists, marched toward the border with the Gaza Strip to call on the government to re-establish settlements in the ravaged Palestinian land. Participant Daniel Sellem, who said he had lived in Gaza before being evacuated in 2005, said the march aimed to show the government “this land belongs to us” and that Gaza should be reclaimed. Another participant, Yechiel Greenblum, said the march marked the start of a broader campaign for the return of Israeli communities to the territory, more than two decades after all Israeli settlements there were dismantled. Israeli security forces deployed to prevent marchers from reaching the border fence overlooking northern Gaza. Similar marches have previously been organized to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, one of the most right-wing in Israel’s history, to allow settlement resettlement.

KHALIL AL-HAYYA IS HAMAS’ NEW LEADER

On July 20, 2026, Hamas announced that Khalil al-Hayya had been elected the new leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement, following months of collective leadership after the death of Yahya Sinwar. The movement said al-Hayya was elected by an overwhelming majority of the Shura Council, its consultative body responsible for electing leadership. Al-Hayya, Hamas’s chief negotiator, is expected to formally take office the following week. The political bureau was to meet shortly in Istanbul to form committees and restructure leadership, while the five-member collective leadership, set up after Sinwar’s death, would resign. Al-Hayya, born in 1960, spent three years in Israeli prisons and survived an assassination attempt in Doha in 2025 attributed to Israel. The Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, declared their “full support” for al-Hayya.

2 PALESTINIANS SHOT DEAD BY ISRAELI ARMY DURING SETTLER RAID ON WEST BANK VILLAGE

On July 20, 2026, the Palestinian health ministry said the Israeli army shot dead two Palestinians during a nighttime attack by a group of Israeli settlers on a village in the occupied West Bank. The ministry, based in Ramallah, identified the victims as Odeh Abdoul Rahim Odeh Farakhna and Ahmad Adel Rachid Abou Mkhou, saying they were “killed by occupation forces’ gunfire” in the town of Deir Jarir. The Palestinian Red Crescent said it evacuated another person wounded during an earlier settler attack on the same town the previous evening. The Israeli army said soldiers had deployed to Deir Jarir to protect and evacuate settlers who had entered the area to recover livestock, adding that a “violent clash” developed after “terrorists” threw stones at militaries, who “opened fire to remove the threat.” Deir Jarir’s mayor, Eid Hamad, said settlers came to seize sheep and cattle they did not own, escorted by the army and police, loading the animals onto a truck, when village youths confronted them. The army “began firing on the young people present, causing casualties,” he said at the men’s funeral.

NETHERLANDS BAN IMPORTS OF ISRAELI SETTLEMENT PRODUCTS

On July 21, 2026, the Dutch government announced that products from Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories will no longer be allowed into the Netherlands from September 22. The ban applies to “the import, purchase and sale of goods from illegal Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories,” the foreign ministry said, adding that circumventing the measures would also be prohibited. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967. More than 500,000 Israeli settlers live there, despite that all Israeli settlements are considered illegal under international law. “With the proposed measures, the Netherlands is reinforcing its commitment to its international legal obligation not to contribute to this illegal situation,” the ministry said. According to a 413-page report published in June by the legal NGO Global Echo, which brings legal action on behalf of Palestinians, the Netherlands alone accounts for a third of recorded exports of agricultural products grown in illegal Israeli settlements, and nearly half of such exports to the EU.

UN DENOUNCES ‘INTENSIFICATION’ OF ISRAELI ATTACKS IN GAZA, 57 DEAD IN A WEEK

On July 21, 2026, the UN human rights office denounced a recent “intensification” of Israeli military attacks in the Gaza Strip, which it said killed at least 57 people between July 13 and 20. Nine months after the ceasefire was announced, “no place is yet safe for Palestinians in Gaza,” spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan told reporters in Geneva, saying the Israeli army had “intensified” its attacks in recent days, striking residential buildings, tents sheltering displaced people, and other densely populated areas. Of the 57 people killed, including six children and eight women, 34 died far from the “yellow line” that marks the boundary between Hamas and Israeli army-controlled areas, Al-Kheetan said. Al-Kheetan said the deaths of civilians raised “concerns about continuing violations of international humanitarian law,” recalling that deliberately attacking civilians constitutes a war crime, and said the shifting “yellow line” posed a “permanent threat” to civilians. At least 1,144 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect in October 2025.

12 PALESTINIANS, INCLUDING 6 FROM ONE FAMILY, KILLED IN GAZA

On July 21, 2026, 12 Palestinians, including 6 members of one family, among them children, were killed in the Gaza Strip, rescuers and witnesses said. Gaza’s civil defense agency said a pre-dawn strike hit the al-Masri family’s home in Gaza City. Al-Chifa hospital confirmed receiving the bodies and more wounded people. An Israeli military source said the strike had “targeted a Hamas terrorist” in the area without further detail. At al-Chifa hospital, a young girl’s body was placed in a white body bag alongside others wrapped in blankets as relatives wept. A survivor said he could hear children calling for help but could not save them, and that his “brother entire family was wiped from the civil registry: him, his wife and their four children.” Civil defense recorded 6 more people killed elsewhere in Gaza that day.

NEW YORK MAYOR SAYS CITY LACKS LEGAL POWER TO ARREST NETANYAHU

On July 22, 2026, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said his administration did not have the legal authority to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he had previously suggested, and called on US federal authorities to act instead. Mamdani had said he was exploring the legal possibility of executing the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against the Israeli leader should he attend the UN General Assembly in September. “My administration has reviewed all available avenues” and “it is clear we do not have the independent legal authority necessary to enforce this warrant,” Mamdani said in a brief video statement, urging the federal government, which he said does have that authority, to join the ICC in enforcing it. “Anyone with eyes, a heart and a conscience should recognize the devastation he has caused and understand that he must appear before a court,” Mamdani added. US President Donald Trump said Monday that Netanyahu, his ally in the war against Iran, would not be arrested in the United States, in response to Mamdani’s earlier remarks, which Trump has strongly criticized. The ICC, based in The Hague, issued arrest warrants in 2024 against Netanyahu for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza over the Israeli offensive launched in retaliation for Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack.

ISRAELI BANKS MOVE TO CUT VITAL TIES WITH PALESTINIAN BANKS

On July 23, 2026, Israeli banks notified their Palestinian counterparts of their intention to soon end essential services, Israeli and Palestinian officials said, raising fears of an economic crisis in the occupied West Bank. The banks cite growing risk of exposure to lawsuits over their dealings with Palestinian counterparts, though several industry officials said the main driver was the increasing instability of an arrangement originally designed to be temporary. These services are essential to financing imports, including electricity and food, from Israel into the Palestinian territory. Israel’s finance ministry said Israeli banks had “recently announced their intention to stop providing correspondent banking services,” citing overall risk levels and concerns about possible civil lawsuits. Palestinian banking officials said some Palestinian banks could lose this access as early as mid-August, with others following by September. Experts warned a rupture could increase cash transactions and the informal economy. The Palestinian Authority is already in a severe financial crisis after Israel suspended, for more than a year, the transfer of tax revenues it collects on its behalf, representing about two-thirds of its income.

ISRAELI MINISTER ENTER FLASHPOINT AL AQSA MOSQUE COMPOUND

On July 23, 2026, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a far-right figure, visited the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem with hundreds of Jewish visitors. The visit coincided with Tisha B’Av, a Jewish day of fasting and mourning commemorating the destruction of the ancient Temples in Jerusalem. Ben Gvir and hundreds of other Jewish visitors, including settlers, enter the site and some pray there despite this being barred under the decades-old status quo governing access to the compound. “Look at what’s happening here: Jews are praying and feel this place belongs to them by right,” Ben Gvir said in a video posted on Telegram. The compound, home to Islam’s third-holiest site and Judaism’s most sacred site, is governed by a long-standing arrangement between Israel and Jordan. The arrangement allows Jews to visit but not pray there. Ben Gvir, an anti-Arab far-right figure, has visited the compound more than a dozen times since joining government and has previously used Tisha B’Av gatherings to call for tougher Israeli policy in Gaza and the West Bank.

ISRAELI CIVILIAN KILLS 2 PALESTINIANS AFTER SETTLER STABBED

On July 23, 2026, an Israeli civilian killed two Palestinians after they stabbed another Israeli in the northern occupied West Bank, the Israeli army said. “Two terrorists stabbed an Israeli civilian” taking part in efforts to extinguish a fire that broke out near the Itamar settlement, Israeli forces said, adding that another “Israeli civilian present at the scene eliminated the two terrorists.” Israeli police said the knife attack occurred while Israelis “were trying to put out a fire that appeared to have been deliberately set.” The wounded Israeli, hit in the chest, was taken to hospital in serious condition, the Magen David Adom emergency service said. Israeli soldiers searched the area of Beit Fourik, the Palestinian village near the settlement, and set up a temporary security cordon. Yossi Dagan, head of the regional council representing northern West Bank settlements, visited the site and denounced a “grave terrorist incident,” calling for a firm government response. The regional council blamed the fire on Palestinians from Beit Fourik, though Israeli authorities said an investigation was ongoing.

2 ISRAELIS & 4 PALESTINIANS KILLED IN WEST BANK SETTLER VIOLENCE, ISRAEL PREPARES ‘LARGE OPERATION’

On July 24, 2026, the Israeli army said it was preparing a “large-scale operation” in the northern occupied West Bank after settler-related violence left 2 Israelis and 4 Palestinians dead. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, vowing to act “with a firm hand”, announced the “acceleration of the legalization of outposts,” which are settlements considered illegal even under Israeli law. The clashes occurred in Tel, near the Havat Gilad settlement, after around twenty settlers entered the village, according to village council head Walid Zidan, who said soldiers opened fire alongside settlers intent on killing, looting and burning property. Several witnesses gave similar accounts. The army initially described an attack on Israeli hikers before citing a “violent clash” involving dozens of Palestinians and Israelis. Officials said a Palestinian seized a settler’s weapon and killed him. A second Israeli was killed too. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right figure, called for the army to act “with an iron fist.” Separately, the Palestinian Red Crescent said 7 people were wounded, several by gunfire, in a settler attack on olive groves and homes in Far’ata, near Qalqilya. Local officials accused settlers accompanied by Israeli forces.

IRAN–GULF–ISRAEL–US

PRESUMED CIVILIANS/NON-COMBATANTS DEAD: at least 7

PRESUMED CIVILIANS/NON-COMBATANTS WOUNDED: Unknown, at least several dozen

LOOTING OR DESTRUCTION OF CIVILIAN PROPRIETIES: YES

LOCALITIES: Hormozgan province, Tabriz, Ahvaz, Bandar Abbas, Qeshm, Lar, Darab, Yazd, Markazi, Isfahan (Iran); Isa Air Base (Bahrain); Al-Azraq (Jordan); Camp Udairi, Camp Arifjan, Ali al-Salem (Kuwait); Red Sea / Bab al-Mandeb

PERPETRATORS: US military, Iranian armed forces, Iranian judicial authority, Houthis

VICTIMS: Iranian civilians, Iranian protesters

US STRIKES ON HORMOZGAN AND TABRIZ KILL AT LEAST 4, TANKERS HIT MINES

On July 18, 2026, authorities in Iran’s southern Hormozgan province said overnight US strikes killed at least 3 people and wounded 8, according to the official Irna news agency, as Iran’s Revolutionary Guards separately announced that 2 oil tankers had “exploded and caught fire” after entering a minefield south of the Strait of Hormuz. An official in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, Majid Farshi, added that 1 person was killed and several wounded in nighttime US strikes near Tabriz, in Iran’s northwest. The US military carried out its seventh consecutive night of strikes on Iran that night, hitting the cities of Ahvaz, Bandar Abbas, Qeshm, Lar, Darab and Yazd, according to Irna.

2 MEN EXECUTED FOR KILLING SECURITY OFFICER DURING WINTER PROTESTS

On July 19, 2026, Iran’s judiciary announced the hanging at dawn of 2 men, Erfan Esfandiari and Gol-Mohammad Mohammadi, convicted over the killing of police officers during anti-government protests. According to the judiciary, the two men “tied officers to a road sign with ropes, injured them by throwing stones, doused them with fuel and set them on fire” in Isfahan, and had filmed the killing and sent the footage to foreign television channels. The two were executed after the Supreme Court upheld their sentences. The judiciary did not disclose the date of their arrest or trial.

HOUTHIS CLAIM ATTACKS ON SAUDI TANKERS, ANNOUNCE BLOCKADE

On July 20, 2026, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen announced a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia, threatening the kingdom’s ability to bypass the closed Strait of Hormuz to export oil. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group was announcing the blockade “with immediate effect”, following the first exchange of fire in years between the Houthis and Saudi-led forces, which jeopardized a 2022-negotiated truce. Two days later, the Houthis claimed strikes on “two Saudi tankers,” named as the Encelia and the Layla, saying they had “violated the blockade”. Britain’s UKMTO maritime agency separately reported a tanker hit by an unidentified projectile off Al Shuqaiq, causing a fire but no casualties. At least nine ships had turned back in the Red Sea or near the Bab al-Mandeb strait since the Houthi threats began.

FRANCE SUMMONS IRANIAN ENVOY OVER ‘INTIMIDATION’ OF DIPLOMATS

On July 21, 2026, France summoned Iran after two French diplomats posted in Tehran were assaulted on July 19, demanding that Iranian authorities “shed light” on the incident and punish those responsible. At the request of French Foreign Minister, Iran’s diplomat in Paris was summoned “following the extremely serious act of intimidation” targeting the two diplomats. The two diplomats, who support French programs backing Iranian civil society, including artists and scientists, had been “detained without cause for several hours, questioned and, in one case, assaulted” by Iranian security services before reaching the French embassy, in “flagrant violation” of their diplomatic immunity, Barrot said.

IRAN EXECUTES MAN OVER DECEMBER-JANUARY PROTESTS

On July 22, 2026, Iran’s judiciary announced the execution of Mehdi Khanaki, convicted over his involvement in the anti-government protests of December and January, according to the judiciary’s Mizan Online news outlet, which said Khanaki was an “active member of a terrorist group” during the unrest. He had been arrested on February 10 in Karaj, west of Tehran, in possession of a weapons cache that the judiciary said had been used in January shootings. Mizan said Khanaki was sentenced to death and asset confiscation for “acting in favor of the Zionist and American regimes.”

US HOUSE VOTES AGAIN TO END THE WAR

On July 23, 2026, the US House of Representatives approved a new resolution ordering the withdrawal of US troops from the war against Iran, a measure that cannot bind President Donald Trump. Four Republicans joined Democrats to back the measure, which came after the deaths of four more US service members in recent days from Iranian strikes, bringing the US military death toll to 18 since hostilities began on February 28. “Americans are dying because of Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth’s reckless and illegal war,” Democratic Representative Seth Moulton said. The Pentagon has put the war’s cost to the United States at $37.5 billion, according to Hegseth.

IRAN STRIKES US-LINKED BASES IN BAHRAIN, JORDAN AND KUWAIT

On July 24, 2026, Iran carried out fresh strikes across the Gulf region after another night of US bombardment of its territory, claiming attacks on facilities used by the US military in Bahrain, Jordan and Kuwait. Iran’s military said “kamikaze drones” struck fuel tanks, equipment warehouses and barracks at Bahrain’s Isa Air Base, while the Revolutionary Guards said they destroyed an Amazon data center in Bahrain and caused “significant damage” to a US Fifth Fleet surveillance tower. Bahrain’s military said it had “thwarted several Iranian aerial attacks.” Iran also claimed drone strikes on Jordan’s Al-Azraq base, hitting aircraft and maintenance hangars and barracks, though Jordan’s military said it downed seven missiles and six drones. In Kuwait, Iran said it destroyed US equipment depots at Camp Udairi and hit installations at Camp Arifjan and the Ali al-Salem air base.

EXECUTED IRANIAN TEACHER’S FAMILY SPEAKS OUT

On July 24, 2026, relatives described the execution of Vahid Baniamerian, a 34-year-old physics teacher hanged as part of what rights groups say has been a wave of executions of political prisoners in Iran since the war with the United States began. His family learned of the impending execution from the media. He had been sentenced on appeal in late December 2025 and was awaiting a Supreme Court ruling for membership of the banned opposition group Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) when he was executed alongside five co-defendants, all hanged. Since the war began, 24 people linked to the protests have been hanged, alongside 13 more over alleged ties to banned groups and 10 for espionage. About 400 people have been executed overall this year, according to Iran Human Rights.

AFGHANISTAN–PAKISTAN

CAR BOMB KILLS AT LEAST 15 AT CHECKPOINT

On July 24, 2026, a suicide car bombing targeting a checkpoint in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, bordering Afghanistan, killed at least 15 people, the army said. “Twelve soldiers, two policemen and one official were killed” when a vehicle with explosives “detonated against the outer wall”, the army said in a statement, adding that twelve gunmen were also killed in the attack. No group immediately claimed responsibility, though the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is active in the area. Islamabad has blamed a rise in attacks in its border regions on groups based in Afghanistan, allegations the Afghan authorities have repeatedly denied.

EASTERN EUROPE

PRESUMED CIVILIANS/NON-COMBATANTS DEAD: at least 66

PRESUMED CIVILIANS/NON-COMBATANTS WOUNDED: at least 341

LOOTING OR DESTRUCTION OF CIVILIAN PROPRIETIES: YES

LOCALITIES: Kyiv, Odesa, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk / Pavlograd, Kramatorsk, Sloviansk / Crimea (Ukraine); Belgorod / Chebekino, Voronezh, Moscow region / Elektrostal / Noginsk, Tambov / Kotovsk, Krasnodar / Nevinnomyssk, Kirov region, St Petersburg, Novorossiysk (Russia),

PERPETRATORS: Russian armed forces; Ukrainian armed forces

VICTIMS: Ukrainian and Russian civilians, foreign sailors and workers

BOTSWANA WARNS OF RISING NUMBER OF CITIZENS DECEIVED INTO FIGHTING FOR RUSSIA

On July 18, 2026, Botswana’s government said an “alarming” number of its citizens are being forced to fight for Russia in the war against Ukraine after falling victim to deceptive recruitment schemes. “Recent reports indicate that the number of Batswana lured into such arrangements through deception is increasing at an alarming rate,” the international relations ministry said in a statement, adding that once in Russia, recruits “are compelled to participate in active combat” and that the ministry continues to receive “heart-wrenching calls” from citizens describing perilous frontline conditions.

PROMINENT RUSSIAN OPPOSITION FIGURE WITHDRAWS FROM ELECTIONS, CITING REPRESSION

On July 19, 2026, Russian opposition figure Boris Nadezhdin, fined for displaying “extremist symbols,” announced he was withdrawing from September’s parliamentary elections, saying he had been “silenced” and “pushed out of politics.” Nadezhdin is among the few people in Russia who publicly criticize President Vladimir Putin and the war in Ukraine without being imprisoned. “My ability to legally engage in opposition politics in Russia is exhausted. I hope this is only temporary,” he wrote on Telegram, explaining that his status as a “foreign agent” and his conviction bar him under electoral law from running for the State Duma. The 63-year-old’s campaign had been jeopardized since he was designated a “foreign agent” the previous week, briefly arrested, and fined 1,000 rubles for having shared, on Telegram in 2023, an announcement featuring a brief image of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, whom authorities have declared “extremist.”

RUSSIA-UKRAINE STRIKES OVER WEEKEND, NUMEROUS CASULATIES ON BOTH SIDE 

On the weekend of July 18-19, 2026, a Ukrainian drone attack on two logistics hubs of the Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries killed at least 8 people and wounded dozens, regional authorities said. 7 night-shift workers died and 24 were wounded at Kotovsk, in the Tambov region, while one person died and 37 were wounded at Elektrostal, in the Moscow region, where a nearby oil depot fire forced the evacuation of a maternity ward. Moscow region was also hit by more than 370 Ukrainian drones overnight, wounding 10 people, including 3 Chinese nationals, with no fatalities reported there. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the targeted facilities supplied the Russian army with drone components and navigation equipment. Overnight into Sunday, Russia fired around 40 missiles, including 25 ballistic missiles, at Kyiv, killing one person and wounding 16. 7 more people were killed in strikes on Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions. Ukraine’s navy said a Turkish-owned, Guinea-Bissau-flagged grain ship was hit by Russian cruise missiles after leaving Odesa, killing 6 of its crew, Syrian and Indian nationals and a Ukrainian captain, with 4 still missing. A separate Black Sea strike on an Antigua-and-Barbuda-flagged vessel killed one and wounded three.

AT LEAST 14 KILLED IN CROSS-BORDER STRIKES, UKRAINIAN DRONE HITS a BUS

On July 20, 2026, a Ukrainian drone attack on a civilian bus in Chebekino, in Russia’s Belgorod region near the Ukrainian border, killed 5 people, 4 women and a boy, and wounded 23, regional governor Alexander Chumaiev said, accusing Ukrainian forces of “deliberately” targeting the vehicle. A separate strike on a car wash in Belgorod killed one more person later that day. In Ukraine, Russian bombardments killed at least 8 people and wounded around forty across several regions: 3 died and six were wounded when a “civilian enterprise” was hit in Odesa region, 2 died and 15 were wounded in Pavlograd, one died and 9 were wounded in Zaporizhzhia, 2 died and four were wounded in Kramatorsk, one of the last major Ukrainian-held towns in Donetsk region. 7 more people were wounded in a strike on Kherson.

ROMANIAN SAILOR KILLED

On July 21, 2026, a Liberian-flagged LPG tanker, the Gas Lisbon, was struck outside Romanian territorial waters while carrying propane to the Ukrainian port of Reni, sparking a major fire and forcing the evacuation of its 17-strong crew, three of whom needed urgent medical care, Romanian authorities said. One of the injured sailors, a 46-year-old man reported by Romanian media to be a Philippine national, later died in a Romanian hospital from burns covering 10% of his body and respiratory injuries, the health ministry said.

UN SAYS CIVILIAN CASUALTIES IN RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR JUMPED 37%

On July 21, 2026, the UN human rights office said the number of civilians killed or wounded in the war between Russia and Ukraine rose 37% in the first six months of the year. “We have recorded 1,396 civilians killed and 7,978 wounded” in Ukraine, “a 37% increase compared with the same period last year, and nearly double the level seen in 2024,” Danielle Bell, head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, told reporters in Geneva from Kyiv. In Russia, the mission recorded 250 civilians killed and 1,596 wounded over the same period, based on credible open-source information, a 121% increase year-on-year, Bell said, adding that civilian casualties from short-range drone strikes in both countries rose 65%.

ZELENSKY NAMES NEW ARMY CHIEF AFTER CRISIS OVER DEFENSE MINISTER’S DISMISSAL

On July 22, 2026, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appointed General Mykhailo Drapaty as commander-in-chief of the armed forces, replacing General Oleksandr Syrsky, following a political crisis triggered by the dismissal of popular Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. Drapaty, 43, made his name fighting Russian-backed separatists in Donbas from 2014. Analysts said Drapaty, seen as a consensus figure popular within the army, faces expectations amid scandals over unpopular mobilization practices, treatment of conscripts and reports of equipment shortages in some units.

AT LEAST 17 KILLED ON BOTH SIDE

On July 23, 2026, at least 7 people were killed in a wave of strikes in Russia and annexed Crimea, while 3 more died in Pavlograd, eastern Ukraine, regional authorities said. In Russia’s Belgorod region, a Ukrainian drone strike on a vehicle killed one person in the Chebekino district. In a Voronezh suburb, a three-year-old boy was killed when a falling drone sparked a house fire, his parents suffering injuries, governor Alexander Gusev said. In annexed Crimea, 2 people were killed and five wounded, including children, in a Ukrainian strike, according to Moscow-installed governor Sergei Aksyonov. In Pavlograd, Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, 3 people died and 19 were wounded, including a two-year-old, when a Russian strike hit a food industry company, regional administration head Oleksandr Ganja said.

AT LEAST 21 KILLED IN RUSSIAN STRIKE NEAR KYIV

On July 24, 2026, Russian missiles struck an event held by Ukrainian defense industry figures near Kyiv, killing at least 10 people and wounding nearly a hundred, according to industry sources. Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Ruslan Kravchenko, opened a “negligence” investigation after several industry figures criticized inadequate security at the gathering. The same day, 5 people were killed and 9 wounded when Russia dropped two guided bombs on Sloviansk, one of the last Ukrainian-held towns in Donetsk region, prompting local authorities to urge residents to evacuate. In Russia’s Kirov region, a Ukrainian strike on a company killed 6 people and wounded 26, according to governor Alexander Sokolov. Wildberries logistics centers near St Petersburg and in annexed Crimea were also struck for the third time in under a week, wounding 3.

GEORGIAN BLACK SEA PORTS EXPLOITED SANCTIONS LOOPHOLE TO SHIP RUSSIAN FUEL

On July 24, 2026, a report by the Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) found that the Georgian Black Sea ports of Kulevi and Batumi exploited loopholes in Western sanctions on Moscow to channel refined fuels containing Russian oil into Europe. It exported an estimated 1.2 billion euros worth of such fuel to the EU and the UK between February 2023 and February 2026. CREA also found 79% of diesel imports by sea to Batumi came from Russia over the period studied, with the port re-exporting 508,000 tonnes of diesel worth 339 million euros to the EU and UK, mainly to Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium and Italy. CREA member Isaac Levi called for an immediate halt to Kulevi-linked imports and an EU investigation into Batumi.

MYANMAR

AUNG SAN STATUES REMOVED ACROSS MYANMAR IN BATTLE OVER INDEPENDENCE HERO’S LEGACY

On July 18, 2026, statues of independence hero General Aung San, father of the nation and of ousted democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, are being removed across Myanmar, as the anniversary of his July 19, 1947 assassination approached. Many statues were installed while his daughter’s party was in power before being toppled in a 2021 coup led by Min Aung Hlaing; several have since been quietly taken down, including a decade-old statue in Yangon’s Thu Mingalar park, replaced by a patch of freshly planted grass. Myanmar analyst Moe Thuzar said the military, which triggered a civil war with its 2021 coup, is seeking to politically discredit Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) by removing symbols tied to her father.

HATEFUL DISINFORMATION FUELS ANTI-ROHINGYA HOSTILITY

On July 21, 2026, rights groups warned that Rohingya refugees in Malaysia are being targeted by waves of disinformation fuelling xenophobia ahead of elections next year. Malaysia hosts more than 215,000 refugees and asylum seekers registered with UNHCR, over 126,000 of them Rohingya, who fled a bloody crackdown by Myanmar’s military and Buddhist militias. The Malaysian Advisory Group on Myanmar stated that refugees have become “convenient scapegoats” for broader anxieties over the economy, migration and national identity, expressed in “violent and hateful language.” Hostility intensified in May after a video falsely accused Rohingya of dumping waste from Eid al-Adha livestock slaughter. A subsequent online petition demanding Rohingya to be sent to “another country” gathered nearly 500,000 signatures before being withdrawn. Malaysia’s human rights commission voiced “deep concern” in June over the “growing hostility” and “discriminatory discourse” targeting the community. According to the UN refugee agency, more than 6,500 Rohingya attempted the crossing of the Indian Ocean in 2025, with nearly 900 killed or missing, the deadliest year on record. UNHCR official Astrid Castelein said departures from the camps rose from 1,180 in January-May last year to 2,300 over the same period this year, attributing the surge to overcrowding, restrictions on movement and work, and shrinking aid

THAILAND

INSURGENT ATTACK IN THE SOUTH

On July 23, 2026, gunmen opened fire and threw homemade bombs at a checkpoint in Thailand’s Narathiwat province, killing 5 soldiers and wounding 6 civilians, including a 10-year-old boy, in one of the deadliest attacks in years in a decades-long separatist insurgency in South. No group immediately claimed the attack, though the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) is active in the region. Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul condemned “a blatant act of terrorism” posing “a serious threat to national security” and an “obstacle” to regional peace talks. Surveillance footage showed six men dressed in black in a pickup truck and two more on a motorbike before opening fire. Suspects fled toward a neighboring district and the getaway vehicle was later found burned. The insurgency in Thailand’s three southern provinces, bordering Malaysia, has killed more than 7,000 people since 2004. Thailand began peace talks with the BRN in 2013 under Malaysian mediation, with the latest round held in December. Government spokeswoman Ratchada Thanadirek said the past two to three months had seen “a series of violent incidents” by a “terrorist network.”

INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE AND RELATIONS

FRENCH COURT UPHOLDS 27-YEAR SENTENCE OF A RWANDAN FOR GENOCIDE

On July 20, 2026, a Paris appeals court confirmed a 27-year prison sentence against former Rwandan doctor Eugène Rwamucyo, retried over his role in the 1994 genocide of Tutsi in Rwanda. As at his first trial in October 2024, Rwamucyo, 67, was found guilty of complicity in genocide and participation in a conspiracy to prepare genocide, and of complicity in crimes against humanity. The former lecturer at the University of Butare had been accused of relaying Hutu authorities’ calls to attack the Tutsi minority, including in a May 14, 1994 speech attended by interim Prime Minister Jean Kambanda, and of helping bury victims in mass graves to erase evidence of the genocide.”

2 RUSSIANS SENTENCED IN ANGOLA FOR ESPIONAGE AND TERRORISM 

On July 22, 2026, an Angolan court sentenced two Russian nationals, Lev Lakshtanov and Igor Ratchin, to 8 and 11 years in prison respectively. They were convicted of espionage and terrorism-related charges linked to deadly riots that followed a strike in July 2025. The three days of unrest, from July 28 to 30, 2025, killed 22 people according to Angola’s interior ministry, which at the time reported 200 injuries and 1,200 arrests. Prosecutors accused the defendants of planning to destabilize Angola by “preparing a coup” and seeking to “capture national economic assets”. Both denied links to terrorist organizations, describing their activities as cultural and commercial. A joint investigation by the collective All Eyes on Wagner and French broadcaster RFI reported the men were believed by Angolan authorities to belong to Africa Politology, described as a “nebulous Russian network” combining consultants, influence operatives, lobbyists and agents serving Russian influence operations. Prosecutors alleged they intended to funnel financial support to the opposition Unita party ahead of 2027 elections.

FRENCH NGO SUE GOVERNMENT OVER TRADE WITH ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS

On July 22, 2026, five NGOs, including the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Human Rights League (LDH), filed suit seeking an order compelling the French government to prevent French companies and financial institutions from doing business in Israeli settlements. The case relies on a July 2024 advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which found Israel’s continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territories unlawful and said UN member States must “take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in maintaining” the situation. The NGOs said France “has not translated these obligations” into concrete regulatory measures and asked the court to declare the State’s inaction illegal, order trade and investment restrictions, safeguards for companies, and monitoring mechanisms. The plaintiffs identified several French companies allegedly operating in settlements, including Egis and its subsidiary Egis Rail, cited in a UN human rights office database over their role in a Jerusalem tramway linking West Jerusalem to East Jerusalem settlements.

RUSSIAN WARSHIP LIVE-FIRE DRILL IN THE CHANNEL SEA

On July 21, 2026, British Defence Secretary Wes Streeting called “irresponsible” a live-fire exercise conducted by a Russian warship in the English Channel the previous day, 64 kilometers south of Plymouth, England. The Royal Navy monitored the roughly 30-minute exercise and continues tracking the vessel, the ministry said, adding that the Russian ship had warned the patrol vessel HMS Tyne, present in the area, of its intent to fire and asked it to move to a safer distance.

FRENCH PROSECUTORS OPEN TORTURE PROBE INTO ISRAEL’S TREATMENT OF ACTIVISTS

On July 21, 2026, France’s national anti-terrorism prosecutor’s office said it had opened an investigation into torture allegations concerning the treatment by Israeli authorities of two French citizens, aboard a humanitarian “Gaza flotilla” intercepted in October 2025. The preliminary investigation, opened July 1 following complaints from two flotilla participants, was assigned to the gendarmerie nationale. A separate investigation was opened in early June into the treatment of French nationals from another flotilla intercepted in May, after Israeli Minister Itamar Ben Gvir published a video of kneeling, handcuffed activists that sparked international outrage. A victim said she suffered a fractured rib and bruising, from beatings by Israeli guards while trying to “protect” another detainee. Italy and Australia have opened similar inquiries.

TURKISH COURT ORDERS COMPENSATION FOR FAMILIES OF 1993 SIVAS MASSACRE

On July 23, 2026, Turkey’s Constitutional Court ruled that families of 33 people, killed in 1993 by radical Islamists in Sivas would be compensated. “The court ruled that the right to life was violated” and that “the State failed in its obligation to conduct an effective investigation”. On July 2, 1993, 33 intellectuals, including writer Aziz Nesin, were killed when a mob of radical Islamists set fire to the Madimak Hotel in Sivas during a cultural festival. While some people were sentenced to life in prison over the massacre, some responsible were never tried and benefited from the statute of limitations, rights defenders say. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pardoned two life-sentenced convicts in 2020 and 2023.

NATO TO INVEST 27 BILLION EUROS IN STRATEGIC PIPELINE 

On July 23, 2026, NATO ambassadors approved a plan to invest 27 billion euros modernizing and expanding fuel storage and distribution infrastructure to supply the alliance’s forces in Europe, which Romania called “essential” for security. The investment, cleared by the 32 member states at a Brussels meeting, will fund “new facilities”, and ensure that “NATO forces have the energy resources they need to remain combat-ready”. Alliance officials said the project is expected to take around 25 years to complete.

IRISH REFINERY LINKED TO RUSSIAN ARMS SUPPLY

On July 24, 2026, Ireland faced renewed calls to suspend exports to Russia from the Aughinish Alumina refinery, Europe’s largest, in County Limerick. It is owned by Russian aluminum giant Rusal and is suspected of being used to make aluminum for weapons used against Ukraine war.

IRISH POLICE SEIZE CAR BOMB NEAR NORTHERN IRELAND BORDER

On July 24, 2026, Irish police said they had discovered an explosive device in a car near the border with Northern Ireland, as part of an operation targeting “dissident republican activity.” Police intercepted the vehicle earlier in the week and arrested a woman in her twenties driving it. A man in his forties was later also arrested in connection with the investigation. Irish broadcaster RTE, citing police sources, reported the device was destined for Northern Ireland, for use in a bomb attack. Northern Ireland was torn by three decades of conflict between Republicans independentists and unionists supporting UK membership, until a 1998 agreement, which provided for the disarmament of paramilitary groups on both sides, though dissident factions persist.