Mirage 2000D briefing take-off for air strikes against Islamist rebels Mali operations

The first armoured vehicles of the French Army ready for Operation Serval in MaliMore than 800 French soldiers with armoured vehicles are deployed near Bamako airport

The first armoured vehicles of the French Army ready for Operation Serval in Mali

Since the night of January 13, 2013, the French Armed Forces in Mali continued its bombing raids with a total of 20 air missions with Mirage 2000D and Rafale fighter aircraft stationed in N'Djamena, Chad. These operations have enabled the attack of a dozen targets primarily on the cities of Diabali and Douenza.

Al Qaeda Islamic fighters carve out own country in Mali, prepare to defend it

Deep inside caves, in remote desert bases, in the escarpments and cliff faces of northern Mali, Islamic extremist fighters have been burrowing into the earth, erecting a formidable set of defenses to protect what has essentially become Al Qaeda's new country. They have used the bulldozers, earth movers and Caterpillar machines left behind by fleeing construction crews to dig what residents and local officials describe as an elaborate network of tunnels, trenches, shafts and ramparts. In just one case, inside a cave large enough to drive trucks into, they have stored up to 100 drums of gasoline, guaranteeing their fuel supply in the face of a foreign intervention, according to experts.
Now that intervention is here. On Friday, France deployed 550 troops and launched air strikes against the Islamists in northern Mali, starting battle in what is currently the biggest territory in the world held by Al Qaeda and its allies. But the fighting has been harder than expected, and the extremists boast it will be worse than the decade-old struggle in Afghanistan.

Al Qaeda never owned Afghanistan," said former United Nations diplomat Robert Fowler, a Canadian kidnapped and held for 130 days by Al Qaeda's local chapter, whose fighters now control the main cities in the north. "They do own northern Mali." Al Qaeda's affiliate in Africa — Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM — has been a shadowy presence for years in the forests and deserts of Mali, a country hobbled by poverty and a relentless cycle of hunger. Last year the terror syndicate and its allies took advantage of political instability in Mali to push out of their hiding place and into the towns, taking over an enormous territory larger than France or Texas — and almost exactly the size of Afghanistan.
The catalyst for the Islamic fighters was a military coup nine months ago by disgruntled soldiers, which transformed Mali from a once-stable nation to the failed state it is today. The fall of the nation's democratically elected government at the hands of junior officers destroyed the military's command-and-control structure, creating the vacuum which allowed a mix of rebel groups to move in.
After the international community debated for months over what to do, the United Nations Security Council called for a military intervention on condition that an exhaustive list of pre-emptive measures be taken, starting with training the Malian military. All that changed in a matter of hours last week, when French intelligence services spotted two rebel convoys heading south toward the towns of Segou and Mopti. Had either town fallen, many feared the Islamists would advance toward the capital, Bamako.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/01/14/al-qaida-carves-out-own-country-in-mali-prepares-to-defend-it/#ixzz2I6gurAjZ

French army starts military operations to support Mali troops countering Islamist rebels offensive

European military aircraft with weapons and soldiers on board arrives in Mali to fight Islamic militants/jihadis/rebels

Mali extremist and terrorist groups are advancing further into government-held territories after they captured the key nothern city of Konna on Thursday. Meanwhile Mali's President Dioncounda Traore has sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and a similar letter to French President Francois Hollande seeking assistance against the offensive.

According to witnesses cited by news agencies a military aircraft carrying weapons and foreign soldiers has arrived at an army base in Sevare in central Mali, not far from the captured town of Konna.

One witness at the airport reported seeing weapons and soldiers leaving a C-160 military transport aircraft.

The Malian defense ministry said it would hold a news conference on the situation on Friday.

One unnamed Malian official confirmed the arrival of the military aircraft and said the aircraft arrived from a European country.

On Thursday al Qaeda-linked rebels drove the Malian army out of the strategic northern town of Konna. It became a major setback to government forces trying to dislodge the Islamists from the northern territory of Mali which they captured in April 2012.

The UN Security Council held emergency talks on Mali on Thursday amid growing international concerns Islamist forces may use the country as a launch pad to stage attacks. The Council called on U.N. member states "to provide assistance to the Malian Defense and Security Forces in order to reduce the threat posed by terrorist organizations and associated groups."

After the meeting France's U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud told reporters the groups who captured the city of Konna Thursday are now threatening the city of Mopti, which has 100,000 inhabitants. He also declined to say how his country would respond to Mali President's request, telling reporters a decision would be announced in Paris on Friday.

On December 22, 2012 the UN Security Council authorized an African-led force to support Malian forces in recovering the north but set no timeline for military action. Instead it set out benchmarks to be met before the start of offensive operations.

Mali was plunged into crisis by a March 2012 coup which allowed Tuareg rebels, who have long felt marginalized by Mali's government, to seize the north. But months later, the rebels were kicked out by Islamist groups allied with al-Qaida, which have imposed strict Shariah law throughout the north.