Three US Aegis guided-missile destroyers have been dispatched to waters off the coast of Venezuela, as part of what the Trump administration calls an effort to counter threats from Latin American drug cartels. The mobilization follows Washington's decision to increase the bounty for the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, doubling it to an unprecedented $50 million. Last week, US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the seizure of assets worth $700 million from the Venezuelan head of state.

The US on Aug. 12 indicted Jimmy Chérizier AKA "Barbecue," leader of the gang coalition in control of most of the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, and offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest. Chérizier and an alleged stateside collaborator, Bazile Richardson, are charged with sanctions violations related to arms sales. Meanwhile, private military contractor and Trump ally Erik Prince told Reuters he has signed a 10-year deal with the Haitian government to fight armed groups and help collect taxes—a move some observers fear could further weaken the Haitian security forces and lead to rights violations. Prince's new security firm, Vectus Global, has been operating in Haiti since March. (TNH)

A coalition led by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has announced formation of a parallel government in Sudan, further cementing the country's territorial split between army-held and RSF-held regions. Paramilitary leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo ("Hemedti") will head a 15-person council with Abdel Aziz al-Hilu, head of the SPLM-N rebel group, as deputy. The African Union urged member states to not recognize the new administration. The RSF-led government wants to rival the Port Sudan-based army-led transitional government, which installed a prime minister in May, former UN official Kamil Idris.

At least 17 people were killed in an armed attack on a bar in El Empalme, a small town north of Ecuador's port city of Guayaquil July 28—three days before US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited the country and signed a deal to fight organized crime and illegal migration. The deal includes training for Ecuadoran security forces in the US and collaboration on border security.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on July 24 convicted two Anti-Balaka militia leaders, Alfred Yekatom and Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona, for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Central African Republic (CAR) between 2013 and 2014. Yekatom was sentenced to 15 years in prison, while Ngaissona received a 12-year sentence.

The ICC found that Yekatom and Ngaissona led a campaign of violence targeting Muslim civilians in retaliation for months of looting and violence carried out by the Muslim-led Séléka rebel coalition, which had seized power in 2013. The convictions include charges of murder, intentionally attacking civilian populations, forcible transfer, torture and other inhumane acts, and persecution.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) on July 22 reported that Mali's armed forces and allied Russian mercenaries have carried out numerous "summary executions and enforced disappearances of ethnic Fulani men." HRW documented that, since January, the Malian army and Wagner Group mercenaries have executed "at least a dozen Fulani men and forcibly disappeared at least 81 men" during joint operations targeting Islamist armed groups. The rights group said that the insurgents have focused their recruitment efforts on the Fulani, and that "successive Malian governments have conflated the Fulani community with Islamist fighters, putting them at grave risk."

The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) on July 20 called on the Syrian government to hold accountable those who attacked peaceful protesters in front of the country's legislature in Damascus two days earlier. The protest had been convened to oppose the escalating violence in the southern province of Suwayda, and to demand the protection of minorities and the promotion of civil peace in the country.

Three days of drone attacks on oil-fields in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region have brought operations at several facilities to a halt and slashed crude output. The targeted sites include fields at Zakho, operated by Norway's DNO; the Sarsang field, operated by US-based HKN Energy; and the Ain Sifni field, operated by Hunt Oil, all in Dohuk governorate. Kurdistan authorities also said a drone was downed near Erbil airport, which hosts US troops. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Kurdish authorities blamed the Hashd al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Units, a paramilitary network aligned with the Baghdad government and backed by Iran. The attacks come amid renewed dispute between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government over whether the KRG may enter into hydrocarbon contracts with foreign firms. In May, the central government filed a complaint against the KRG for signing gas contracts with two US companies, including HKN Energy, asserting that all oil and gas deals must go through Baghdad. (Daily Sabah, Arab Weekly)