UN rights experts on June 8 condemned Nigerian authorities in response to ongoing reports that mass killings, kidnappings, forced conversion, sexual violence, and enforced disappearances are disproportionately targeting women and girls in Christian and minority religious communities.

The UN Independent Expert on the human rights situation in the Central African Republic (CAR), Aristide Nononsi, expressed concern June 1 about the persistent violence in the country, and its impacts on rights and humanitarian needs.

Clashes broke out May 4 in Syria's southern as-Suwayda (Suweida) province between the central government's Internal Security Forces and Druze armed groups affiliated with the region's self-declared "National Guard." Fighters from the Guard's "501 Knights of Hamza" battalion attempted to advance toward government lines in the governorate's western countryside under heavy cover fire, including from truck-mounted machine-guns and rocket-launchers. Government forces responded with mortar fire. (TNA)

Amnesty International on March 6 condemned the recently adopted "Criminal Procedure Regulation for the Courts" (De Mahakumu Jazaai Osulnama) in Afghanistan, saying that the legislation violates the rights of women, girls and minority groups in the country.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Dec. 26 condemned that day's deadly mosque bombing in Syria, urging that those responsible be swiftly identified and brought to justice. The explosion tore through the Ali Bin Abi Talib mosque in the Wadi al-Dahab neighborhood of Homs during Friday prayers, killing at least eight people and injuring around 20, according to Syrian authorities. The mosque serves members of the Alawite minority, which has faced violent reprisals since the fall of the Bashar Assad dictatorship last December.

With his Christmas air-strikes on Nigeria, Trump is blundering into a conflict fundamentally driven by desertification related to the very climate change that he denies, and which now threatens democratic rule throughout the West African region. And while the Muslim-Christian sectarian strife that Trump hypes is a large element of the situation, the violence has gone both ways—and also targeted Muslim minorities such as Shi'ites, and even indigenous Jews. Furthermore, making Christians the perceived beneficiaries of imperialist intervention is only likely to exacerbate the tensions and make Christians more of a target. In Episode 310 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg takes an in-depth and unsparing look. 

Following through on threats made last month, President Donald Trump announced Dec. 25 that he had ordered air-strikes against Islamic State targets in Nigeria, ostensibly in retaliation for the group's targeting of Christian communities.

Yemen's separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC), which is said to be backed by the United Arab Emirates, has been rapidly advancing through large parts of the country's south and east, in Hadramawt, al-Mahra and Shabwa provinces. They are taking over control from groups backed by Saudi Arabia, including the Hadramawt Tribal Alliance (HTA). While all forces involved are supposed to be on the same side in a broader anti-Houthi alliance, the move is yet another reminder that Yemen's war is not over, and that it involves a variety of actors and local grievances. (TNH)