In the month following the military’s Feb. 1 coup, many of Myanmar’s ethnic armed organizations (EAOs), which have been warring with the central government for decades, said they opposed the junta’s overthrowing of the democratically-elected civilian government.

When the Myanmar military killed anti-regime protesters, people in urban areas longed for help from the EAOs in their fight against junta, believing that an armed response is the best hope of stopping the military’s atrocities against unarmed civilians.

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The US military withdrawal from Afghanistan is now formally underway, according to the White House and several US defense officials.

“A drawdown is underway,” White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One Thursday. “While these actions will initially result in increased forces levels, we remain committed to having all of US military personnel out of Afghanistan by September 11, 2020.”

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The Yemeni army and allied tribesmen have pushed back Houthi assaults on Marib city, an army spokesman said Tuesday as he denied media reports that the rebels were getting close to their target.

Maj. Gen. Abdu Abdullah Majili said the rebels had failed to make major gains in their continuing offensive and had lost hundreds of fighters, including many military leaders.

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Two Spanish journalists and the Irish director of a wildlife foundation were killed Monday in an ambush in eastern Burkina Faso, the Spanish government and officials in the African country said Tuesday.

The two journalists were working with the wildlife campaigner on a documentary about poachers in a national park bordering Benin when they were attacked by gunmen, Spain’s Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya said Tuesday in a press conference in Madrid.

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Militants overrun an army base in northeastern Nigeria, killing more than 30 soldiers before pulling back in the face of air strikes, sources said.

The attackers were believed to belong to the regional offshoot of Islamic State. They hit the base in Mainok town in northeast Borno state on Sunday afternoon, three soldiers and a local resident told Reuters.

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Rebels in northern Chad are ready to observe a ceasefire and to discuss a political settlement after the battlefield death of President Idriss Deby last week, a rebel spokesman said on Sunday.

The rebels, known as the Front for Change and Concord in Chad (FACT), came over the northern border from Libya on April 11 calling for an end to Deby’s 30-year rule. They reached as close as 200-300 km (125-185 miles) from the capital N’Djamena, before the rebels were pushed back by the army.

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Israel launched air strikes on the Gaza Strip late Friday in response to rocket attacks by Palestinian militants, as tensions in Jerusalem spilled over into the worst round of cross-border violence in months.

The barrage of rocket fire came as hundreds of Palestinians clashed with Israeli police in east Jerusalem in which at least 4 police and 6 protesters were injured. The clashes have become a nightly occurrence during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

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