فرنسا تتودد للجزائر لتحل محلها في مالي

French Foreign Legion soldiers from the Operation Barkhane Counterterrorism Force take positions as Merlin helicopters land in the Liptako-Gourma zone in northeastern Mali, near the border with Niger, in February, 2020. When French troops first arrived in Mali in 2013 to rout armed Islamists from its northern cities, they thought they would be gone in six months. Seven years later, troop numbers have swelled to 5,100, and the French have had to extend their fight to two more countries, Niger and Burkina Faso. Despite having killed over 600 ‘terrorists’ since 2015, their enemies, groups loosely allied with Islamic State and Al Qaeda, have spread and have stepped up their attacks, particularly on national military bases. Between December and January, 174 Nigerien soldiers were killed in multiple attacks in Niger alone. According to UN figures, the jihadist attacks in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso killed 4 000 people in 2019 and caused an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Finbarr O’Reilly for The…

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