CounterVortex weekly headlines

Jan 05, 2026

Next week: Trump’s attack on Venezuela (of course). Meanwhile….

World leaders reject Israeli recognition of Somaliland

A group of 21 Arab, African and Islamic nations issued a joint statement formally rejecting Israel’s recognition of Somaliland as an independent state. The statement asserted that recognizing Somaliland as a nation independent of Somalia constitutes a grave violation of international law, emphasizing the “serious repercussions of such [an] unprecedented measure on peace and security in the Horn of Africa, the Red Sea, and its serious effects on international peace and security as a whole.” This statement followed a declaration signed by Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu and Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, making Israel the first country on earth to recognize Somaliland. As part of the deal, Somaliland is expected to recognize Israel under the Abraham Accords. President Donald Trump brokered the Abraham Accords in his first term, seeking to establish diplomatic ties between Israel and Arab nations. However, despite the Trump administration’s failed proposition earlier this year for Somaliland to take in Palestinians from Gaza, the US State Department announced that Washington will continue to recognize the territorial integrity of Somalia, “which includes the territory of Somaliland.”

https://countervortex.org/blog/world-leaders-reject-israeli-recognition-of-somaliland/

Sahel states launch new joint counter-insurgency force

At an air base in Bamako, Mali’s military ruler Gen. Assimi Goita presided over a ceremony marking the launch of a unified force for three Sahel states to fight the rising tide of jihadist insurgency across their borders. The move comes after the three countries—Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, all now ruled by military juntas—collectively withdrew from the West African regional bloc ECOWAS to form their own Alliance of Sahel States (AES). This new body has deepening ties to Russia, which has maintained paramilitary forces in the AES countries under the rubric of the Wagner Group or Africa Corps. These forces are increasingly accused of atrocities, with Malian refugees in Mauritania reporting rapes, beheadings and mutilation of civilians at the hands of Russian mercenaries.

https://countervortex.org/blog/sahel-states-launch-new-counterinsurgency-force/

UN condemns deadly mosque bombing in Syria

UN Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the 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 city 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. A group calling itself Ansar al-Sunna, said to be a splinter of the Islamic State (ISIS), claimed responsibility for the attack. The group previously claimed responsibility for the June suicide bombing at Mar Elias church in Damascus that left 25 people dead, raising concerns about a pattern of attacks on religious sites. The bombing in Homs sparked angry protests and street clashes in the Alawite heartland of Latakia and Tartous provinces on Syria’s coast.

https://countervortex.org/blog/un-condemns-deadly-mosque-bombing-in-syria/

Turkey detains ISIS suspects in nationwide raids

Turkish police detained 357 people in large-scale, coordinated operations targeting the Islamic State group one day after a deadly clash between police and ISIS militants in Yalova, a small city south of Istanbul on the Sea of Marmara, amid heightened security ahead of New Year’s celebrations. Three police officers and six presumed ISIS militants, all Turkish nationals, were killed in the shoot-out in Yalova, sparked by a raid on suspected safe-house. The subsequent nationwide raids were carried out simultaneously by provincial police units, working with the national counterterrorism and intelligence departments. The raids took place in major cities including Istanbul and Ankara, as well as in Yalova and several border and interior provinces.

https://countervortex.org/blog/turkey-detains-isis-suspects-in-nationwide-raids/

Protest wave spreads across Iran

On the third day of protests by Tehran bazaar merchants in response to the dire economic situation in Iran, the strike started to spread across the country. Shopkeepers in Isfahan, Ahvaz, Shiraz, Kermanshah and Najafabad closed their stalls and held protest gatherings, where they were joined by students who walked off university campuses. Security forces responded with mass arrests and use of live fire and tear-gas. Protest slogans escalated beyond economic grievances, openly targeting clerical rule and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A photo of a lone protester blocking a column of police motorcycles on a Tehran freeway has gone viral, drawing comparisons to the iconic “tank man” photo from Tiananmen Square in June 1989.

https://countervortex.org/blog/protest-wave-spreads-throughout-iran/

Finland seizes ‘shadow’ vessel in cable caper

Finnish authorities announced that they are investigating damage to an undersea telecommunications cable in the Gulf of Finland after seizing a vessel suspected of sabotage in the incident. After telecommunications authorities detected a fault in the undersea cable linking Helsinki and Tallinn, Estonia’s capital, Finland’s Border Guard was mobilized, and located a suspicious vessel within the country’s exclusive economic zone. After taking control of the vessel, Border Guard officials told reporters that the cargo ship had been sailing from the Russian port of St. Petersburg to Israel. Officials linked it to Russia’s “shadow fleet” allegedly used to circumvent Western sanctions, describing the incident as part of a broader pattern of “hybrid threats” targeting critical infrastructure in the Baltic Sea.

https://countervortex.org/blog/finland-seizes-shadow-vessel-in-cable-caper/

Audio:

Somaliland and Western Sahara: forbidden symmetry

Israel has become the first country on Earth to recognize the de facto independent Republic of Somaliland, in exchange for a commitment from Somaliland to join the Abraham Accords and recognize Israel. However, not three years ago, Israel joined the US as the only two countries on Earth to recognize Morocco’s claim to sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara—a betrayal of the occupied Sahrawi Arab people who seek an independent state. And of course both these deals constitute a betrayal of the Palestinians. Somaliland and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic should be natural allies, and instead they are being pitted against each other in the Great Power game. Yet another example of how a global divide-and-rule racket is the essence of the state system. In Episode 311 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg breaks it down.

https://countervortex.org/blog/somaliland-and-western-sahara-forbidden-symmetry/

From Global Ganja Report:

Trump’s strikes on ‘drug boats’: marijuana not fentanyl

US air-strikes on so-called “drug boats” have now destroyed 30 vessels and killed more than 100 people in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. In addition to the dubious legality of the strikes under the laws of war, it has been pointed out that fentanyl—by far the most deadly drug of abuse in the US—is not coming in from South America. It’s also been pointed out that most of the cocaine is exported from Colombia and Ecuador—not Venezuela, the country that is the focus of Trump’s campaign. Now evidence emerges that at least some of the targeted vessels were carrying the comparatively harmless cannabis.

https://globalganjareport.com/node/1992

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