In addition to weapons, the offensive carried out by the rebels against the junta in Mali is also found in the words. The jihadists of the Support Group for Islam and Muslims (GSIM) encouraged, Thursday, April 30, a union to overthrow the military in power.

“We call on all sincere patriots, without distinction of any kind, to stand up and unite our forces in a common front” including “political parties, the national armed forces, religious authorities, traditional leaders and all components of Malian society,” the group declares in French on its Az-Zallaqa platform. “It is imperative to put an end” to the junta, for “a peaceful and inclusive transition” for a “new Mali” of which “one of the essential priorities [sera] the establishment of Sharia”, Islamic law, he adds

The GSIM statement was published five days after the coordinated and unprecedented attacks that this jihadist organization, allied with Al-Qaeda, carried out with rebels from the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) – a predominantly Tuareg rebellion – against strategic positions of the military, in power since 2020, in several cities, including the capital, Bamako, and its neighbor and stronghold of the junta, Kati, as well as Kidal, Gao, both in the north of the country, and Sévaré, in the center.

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National tribute to the minister killed during the attacks

The statement also comes on the same day that GSIM began imposing a road blockade in Bamako, after announcing it on Tuesday. Air traffic to neighboring countries remains maintained.

This blockade is in place in the capital where, in the morning, a national tribute was paid to the Minister of Defense Sadio Camara, in the presence of the head of the Malian junta, Assimi Goïta, and in front of thousands of people, before his burial in Kati in the afternoon. General Camara was killed on Saturday in Kati by a “vehicle bomb driven by a suicide bomber” that targeted his residence, according to the Malian government.

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The tribute paid to him, at the military engineering battalion located in the center of Bamako, took place under very high security, noted Agence France-Presse (AFP). With closed faces, thousands of people, parents, relatives, friends, official figures from Mali and officials from neighboring countries participated in the ceremony. Posters bearing the image of Sadio Camara, 47, were put up all over the brigade compound.

Mr. Camara was a key figure in the junta and considered the architect of the rapprochement in recent years with Russia. The funeral took place in the presence of the defense ministers of Niger and Burkina Faso, also led by juntas, and which form, with Mali, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).

In combat gear and wearing dark glasses, Assimi Goïta paid tribute to General Camara by bowing in front of his coffin, covered with the green-yellow-red flag of Mali and on which his military cap was placed.

“He helped define Mali’s defense priorities. It represented unwavering loyalty to the general interest. Despite the weight of responsibilities, he never deviated from his missions,” testified the Prime Minister, Abdoulaye Maïga, referring to Mr. Camara. “You have fallen as a martyr. You left as a hero,” he said. The testimonies were followed by a military parade in tribute to General Camara who was posthumously elevated to the rank of army general.

Russia rejects call to withdraw from country

His death is a hard blow for the junta, more weakened than ever, which finds itself in a very difficult situation, while the strategic town of Kidal, in the north of the country, is now under the control of armed groups who seem to continue to advance in the North.

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This death, the large-scale attacks and the loss of Kidal also cast doubt on the junta’s abilities to face threats from armed groups and undermine its rhetoric, which until now affirmed that its strategy of rupture, its new partnerships with foreigners and its increased military effort had made it possible to reverse the trend against Islamist fighters.

Mali faces a critical security situation and is prey to uncertainty and excitement after the coordinated and simultaneous attacks by these armed groups across its territory, which left at least 23 civilian and military dead, according to a hospital source.

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On Tuesday, Mr. Goïta affirmed that the situation was now “under control”, while recognizing a moment of “extreme seriousness”. “The situation is far from being under control,” retorted FLA spokesperson Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane on Wednesday in an interview with AFP, affirming that the military regime “will fall, sooner or later.”

Moscow, for its part, affirmed on Thursday that its forces would remain in Mali, thus rejecting the rebels’ call for a Russian withdrawal from the country.

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The World with AFP

According to the Constitution, only Congress has the power to “declare” war. A law passed in 1973, however, allows the president to trigger a limited military intervention to respond to an emergency situation created by an attack against the United States.

The same text requires that the president, if he commits American troops for more than sixty days, obtain authorization from the legislative branch, different from a declaration of war.

The conflict with Iran began on February 28, but official notification from the White House to Congress regarding the start of hostilities did not come until two days later.

Friday therefore represents the sixty-day deadline to obtain authorization from parliamentarians to continue the conflict, otherwise Donald Trump would be obliged to withdraw American forces.

But his government argues the opposite. “We are in a ceasefire right now, which means – from our perspective – that the sixty-day clock is suspended,” Defense Minister Pete Hegseth said during a Senate hearing on Thursday.

An argument rejected by the Democratic opposition. For Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, “Pete Hegseth cannot simply pause the countdown when American troops are still exposed to danger.”

Despite the ceasefire, the American Navy is still blockading the Strait of Hormuz. “For sixty days, Republicans have been twiddling their thumbs,” accused Chuck Schumer. “Well I say to my colleagues: time is up,” he added, calling on Republican senators to start speaking out against the war in Iran.

Since the outbreak of the conflict, Democrats have tried several times to pass a text providing for limiting Donald Trump’s military powers against Iran, in vain.

وجاء في الرسالة، التي نشرتها السفارة الأميركية في بيروت ليل الخميس، أن « لبنان يقف اليوم على مفترق طرق »، معتبرة أن « أمام شعبه فرصة تاريخية لاستعادة وطنه ورسم مستقبله كدولة واستقلال حقيقيين”.

وتابعت السفارة: “الحوار المباشر بين لبنان وإسرائيل، وهما دولتان متجاورتان ما كان ينبغي لهما أن تكونا في حالة حرب، يمكن أن يشكل بداية نهضة وطنية”.

وأضافت: “The water is in the water من الرئيس (الأميركي دونالد) ترامب، للبنان المساحة والفرصة لعرض جميع المفاوضات، مع إيلاء حكومة الولايات المتحدة الاهتمام الكامل لها”.

وقالت الرسالة إن « اجتماعا مباشرا بين الرئيس عون ورئيس الوزراء نتنياهو، من الرئيس ترامب، سيتيح للبنان فرصة الحصول على ضمانات water supply الحدود والدعم الإنساني سلطة الدولة اللبنانية الكاملة على كل شبر من أراضيها، بضمانة من الولايات المتحدة”.

وتابعت: « هذه هي لحظة لبنان ليقرر مصيره، وهو مصير يخص جميع أبنائه، والولايات المتحدة على أتم الاستعداد للوقوف إلى جانب لبنان وهو يغتنم هذه الفرصة بثقة وحكمة. لقد ولى زمن التردد”.

ودخل اتفاق لوقف إطلاق النار في لبنان حيز التنفيذ منذ 17 days Remove the water from the water.

إلا أن الجيش الإسرائيلي يواصل تنفيذ هجمات في جنوب لبنان، حيث 20 minutes of cooking time.

وأفاد مراسل “سكاي نيوز عربية” ، أن 62 بلدة جنوبي لبنان تعرضت لقصف إسرائيلي بالطيران الحربي والمسيّرات والقذائف المدفعية، الخميس، الذي يعد أعنف يوم منذ وقف إطلاق النار.

في المقابل، يشن حزب الله اللبناني هجمات على القوات الإسرائيلية، بصواريخ وطائرات مسيّرة.

وبموجب نص اتفاق وقف النار الذي نشرته وزارة الخارجية الأميركية، وقالت إن الحكومتين اللبنانية والإسرائيلية وافقتا عليه، تحتفظ إسرائيل بـ »حرية اتخاذ كافة التدابير الضرورية للدفاع عن نفسها في أي وقت بمواجهة الهجمات المخطط لها والوشيكة والمتواصلة”.

The Roca Team, already defeated in the first match, suffered another heavy defeat in the second, Thursday, in the Euroleague quarter-finals.

The semi-finals are moving away. AS Monaco Basket was slapped by Olympiakos in Piraeus (94-64), Thursday April 30, for its second match of the Euroleague quarter-finals. With this defeat, the Roca Team finds itself on the verge of elimination before the third match.

The finalists of the last edition, already severely beaten 91-70 in the first match in Greece, completely lost track in the second quarter of the match, and will have no other choice but to win at home on Tuesday if they want to stay alive in their best-of-five series.

A return to Athens at the end of May, for a second Final Four in a row, now seems almost impossible for the men of the Principality, who completely gave up before the break against the best team of the regular season, led by the Bulgarian Sasha Vezenkov.

Thursday, Alpha Diallo’s teammates (10 points) held out for the first ten minutes, before a catastrophic second quarter: 31-8 in 10 minutes, a defense at bay and solutions found with formidable ease for the Greek club, like Evan Fournier, excellent (16 points, five rebounds, seven assists) and very lonely when attempting his three-point shots.

Under the eyes of Novak Djokovic and Giannis Antetokounmpo, sitting side by side to enjoy the spectacle, the Greeks played in front of ineffective Monegasques. The exclusion of Mike James, who did not really weigh (seven points), for two technical fouls concluded this end of the first period to forget.

Returning from the locker room, the locals took a break for a few minutes when the Monegasques did better offensively. But Sasha Vezenkov was still there to maintain a gap largely favorable to the three-time winners of the event, who finished with a final quarter victory 22-11. Tuesday, for match 3 (7:45 p.m.), Monaco will be at home but will have to find great resources to worry Olympiakos.