Mercenaries behind the assault were backed by French President Emmanuel Macron and his Benin and Ivory Coast counterparts, the Sahel state’s leader has said
Niger’s transitional leader, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, has accused France and neighboring Benin and Ivory Coast of sponsoring a “cowardly attack” on the main international airport in the Sahel state’s capital early on Thursday.
Gunfire and explosions were reported near Diori Hamani International Airport around midnight before officials said the situation had been brought under control.
Some aircraft were reportedly damaged, but no serious civilian injuries were reported. Niger’s national broadcaster said a French national was among the suspects killed in the clashes and aired footage showing several bodies on the ground.
Speaking on state television after visiting Air Base 101, next to the airport in Niamey, Gen. Tchiani named French President Emmanuel Macron, Benin’s Patrice Talon, and Ivory Coast’s Alassane Ouattara as the alleged sponsors of the assault and vowed retaliation.
“We remind the sponsors of these mercenaries, notably Emmanuel Macron, Patrice Talon, and Alassane Ouattara, that we have heard them bark long enough; they should now get ready, in turn, to hear us roar,” the military leader said.
He praised Nigerien defense and security forces, and Russian troops stationed at the base, for their “swift response” in repelling the attack. Russian forces have been deployed to the camp since 2024 after Niamey terminated a decade-old defense agreement with the US and demanded the withdrawal of roughly 1,000 American troops.
France, once the dominant external power in the Sahel, has steadily lost influence amid widespread frustration over insecurity, economic stagnation, and perceptions of foreign interference. Niger’s military leaders, along with their allies in Mali and Burkina Faso, have forced French troops to withdraw from their territories, where they had been deployed to combat jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda and Islamic State.
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The leaders of the Alliance of Sahel States have repeatedly accused Paris of failed counterinsurgency efforts and of seeking to undermine their governments by cooperating with rebel factions operating in border regions.
France, Benin, and Ivory Coast have yet to respond publicly to Tchiani’s latest accusations. Last June, Benin rejected similar claims that it was working with Western powers to harbor militants aimed at destabilizing Niger and the wider Sahel, calling the allegations “unfounded.”
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https://www.rt.com/africa/631749-niger-accuses-france-benin-ivory-coast-niamey-airport-attack/
The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has struck more than 100 targets in the city of Tel Aviv in retaliation for the martyrdom of Dr. Ali Larijani, Iran's former top security official, during unprovoked American-Israeli aggression against the country.
In a statement on Wednesday, the IRGC announced hitting the targets during the 61st wave of its ongoing retaliatory Operation True Promise 4 in the face of the aggression.
The hostile objects, it added, were targeted using multi-warhead Khorramshahr-4 and Qadr missiles as well as Emad and Kheibar Shekan projectiles as a means of avenging the martyrdom of Dr. Larijani, the former secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), the statement read.
"During these intense lightning strikes, the Khorramshahr-4 and Qadr missiles hit more than 100 military and security targets in the heart of the occupied territories without facing any obstruction," it added.
The IRGC put the facility characterizing this stage of the reprisal down to ...
Mohsen Rezaee, a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, has said preconditions include reparations and security guarantees
For the ongoing conflict between Iran and the US to conclude, the latter must withdraw its military forces from the Persian Gulf, according to a member of the advisory board of Iran’s supreme leader.
Mohsen Rezaee, a retired major general and former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), added that Tehran would also seek full restitution for the damage done and ironclad security guarantees from Washington.
In an interview with Iran’s SNN TV broadcaster published on Saturday, the member of the Expediency Discernment Council said that the “presence of the US in the Persian Gulf has been the main cause of insecurity over the past 50 years.”
“The end of the war is also in our hands,” Rezaee claimed, naming the “US withdrawal from the Persian Gulf” among the key prerequisites. Additionally, Iran expects to receive reparations from the ...
The spokesman for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters has accused the United States and Israel of deploying a rebranded copy of Iran’s Shahed-136 drone, designated “Lucas,” to carry out attacks on civilian infrastructure in regional countries as part of a deliberate false-flag operation aimed at framing the Islamic Republic.
In an official statement released today, the spokesman explained that after suffering military setbacks on the battlefield and failing to build political coalitions against Iran, the enemy has resorted to deception.
The statement specifically warned that the objective of these operations is to “create doubt and accuse the Islamic Republic of Iran” while sowing discord between Tehran and its neighbors, thereby undermining the legitimacy of Iran’s defensive actions.
The spokesman pointed to a series of “suspicious attacks” in recent days on facilities in friendly neighboring countries, including Turkey, Kuwait, and Iraq, which Western media outlets and hostile ...
