AAN World News: Sahrani Civil War - A Summary

[J. Hill]

AAN: Sahrani Civil War - A Summary

 

Sahrani has been in its second civil war for nearly three months, with a concerning similarity to the previous civil war that spanned fifteen years from  1999 to 2014. Due to the sporadic nature of the conflict and the lack of media coverage due to the severity of the fighting; the AAN have organized a chain of events listing Sahrani's history, relation to internal conflict - both modern and old.

Early History

Sahrani is an Atlantic-based island nation that hosts a majority Spanish-speaking population, with a religious split between Islam and Catholicism, the island was founded in the late 1800s by Spanish sailors outbound to the Americas. With the indigenous population integrated into Spanish culture during colonization. Sahrani saw peace and development during its early years, despite minor sputters between the two largest religions nothing came of it. Sahrani remained neutral despite the Spanish civil war that took place between 1936 - 1939. However by the time of the Cold War, Soviet Russian connections were established in efforts to spread Communism and align Sahrani under Russia's influence to use against the United States. With allegations of Russian troops aiding them, the Northern Sahrani Divisionists (NSD) and American-backed Sahrani Conservative Party (SCP) erupted into a proxy war, with propaganda and minor incidents such as shootings/hit & runs the minor conflict spanned from 1988 - 1991, when the USSR collapsed the NSD, now without direct support, quickly fell off the radar and SCP re-established civil order.

The Sahrani Liberation Army

The Sahrani Liberation Army (SLA), is an extremist-socialist organization with history dating back to the NSD fall-off. The SLA originally started as a small scale political party, however quickly drew into extremism in 1993 when a member of the NSD, Jorge Ingrid, was arrested by Sahrani National Police for his ties to the proxy conflict. Ingrid, despite having no links to the SLA was freed by the group when they stormed the police station where he was held, the attack resulted in a police vehicle getting firebombed, engulfing the officer inside after the doors were kept shut by SLA members. Ingrid commented on the affair in subtle support to the SLA when he made a statement over pirate radio. In 1999, President-Elect Jose Alamos III was assassinated while on a walk-around for public support during his preparation to be made figurehead of the country, he was shot at gunpoint by a passerby. The attack was claimed by the SLA. In response, the Sahrani National Guard (SNG) was activated to enforce an island-wide curfew and establish civil order after the affair. Widespread rioting occurred and the following week a teenager, participating in the riots, was killed by riot control accidentally. Support for the SLA spiked, with this sudden support the extremist group jumped on the opportunity to hit Government positions in efforts to take over.

Sahrani Liberation Army Flag (Founding - Current)

The Civil war, despite spanning fifteen years, was notably rather unremarkable despite its long spanning conflict, the SLA utilized equipment and weapon systems bought by the Sahrani government from the USSR after raiding surplus facilities. These raids resulted in an expanded arsenal of equipment which put the SLA at a near-peer level to the Royal Armed Corps of Sahrani (RACS) at the time. In 2014, the SLA and RACS agreed upon a ceasefire to host negotiations to de-escalate the conflict. The negotiations resulted in the majority disarming of local and national police forces around Sahrani with the National Guard being halved. Using the Civil war and the perceived victory over the government, the SLA's alleged political connection; the Sahrani Workers Party (SWP) to gain backing as an official political party and runner up to challenge the successor to the Sahrani Conservative Party; the Sahrani Democratic Party (SDP). During the political firestorm that cropped up as a result, the SLA fell off the radar similar to the NSD, however sporadic attacks by wannabe groups / imitators have been noted. 

Sahrani's Modern Crisis

In early May of 2023, the SWP has made strides in the northern territory of Sahrani, with the current government helmed by the SDP sloping in terms of favourability, concern of the SLA striking again has been in the air since the civil war ended however with election turning the corner it was at an all time high. With the rising threat of an attack spreading across local media, RACS increased their training to intimidate any aspiring SLA attacks. With now-public intelligence from the Sahrani Intelligence Group (SIG) that the SLA have been slowly re-arming since the ceasefire, alertness was raised to an alltime high since the civil war. Due to the lack of armaments and the slow disappearance of supplies; the Sahrani Government called upon the United States for surplus and support. The United States responded with the deployment of Peacekeepers to back up the lacking numbers within the National Guard, as well as additional surplus to potentially rapidly arm police forces in the event of an attack.

On the 5th of May, 2023 extremists took control of the Sahrani General Hospital, taking guests, staff and patients hostage. The Sahrani National Guard and National Police mobilized and initiated negotiations, the extremists now identified as members of the SLA demanded equipment and prisoners in exchange for the release of the hostages. Hostage rescue was conducted and the hostage takers were killed or detained. The SLA once again stepped in to claim the attack, making themselves known to the public once more. As the mobilization of troops foreign and local furthered sporadic conflict between the SLA and U.S/Sahrani Forces became more frequent.

On the 22nd of May, National Guardsmen detained U.S Peacekeepers, with the suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder the Marines were held in the National Guard Garrison within Corazol East. When U.S Command called for the release of the personnel they were immediately denied, sparking suspicion by the SIG and U.S Command Staff overseeing the operation, a discussion was offered however was once again quickly refused. The hasty refusal and lack of transparency commonly known between the National Guard and Sahrani Interior sparked an investigation. Uncovering that since the drawdown in 2014-2020 members of the SLA acquired membership despite background checks as well as filtered surplus to cache locations across Sahrani. Once discovered, Sahrani Marines accompanied by the SIG and U.S Command Staff were mobilized to the Garrison. An argument ensued and allegedly a National Guardsman engaged, the firefight resulted in a chain of attacks across Sahrani by the SLA. It has been theorized that the SLA planned the takeover of the Sahrani Government by infiltrating the National Guard and organizing enough supplies to conduct a successful coup to force the Sahrani Workers Party into power. With the spring of attacks and contingents of the National Guard assisting SLA takeover operations across North Sahrani the Royal Armed Corps of Sahrani mobilized forces to combat the sudden conflict they were brought into. U.S Peacekeepers have largely held a neutral stance, assisting in humanitarian aid and protection of U.S infrastructure. The Spanish Embassy evacuated in mid-June of this year after attacks grew closer to Paraiso, the capital of Sahrani.

Sahrani Liberation Army Fighters Taking A Picture With A Captured Member Of The Sahrani Local Police

Since July, the SLA have entrenched in North Sahrani, using equipment they seized from Surplus depots, the National Guard and from attacks on RACS emplacements to further arm themselves. RACS have attempted a harsh air campaign however were vetoed by the SDP to prevent civilian casualties. The largely ground-focused operation by RACS has been enhanced by use of the Sahrani Navy, using Marines and Navy vessels to target SLA infrastructure from a safe distance. The end of the conflict shows no sign of being in sight however civilian support is largely split, the Sahrani Workers Party despite being a major factor in the civil war have publicly denounced the SLA, however behind closed doors SWP members have been noted to support the ongoing coup attempt. The SDP have called for the SWP to order the National Guard to disarm and surrender however the SWP have never responded to their demands, the National Guard; now technically under the SWP due to the coup has led to controversy and conspiracy regarding how long the National Guard was under the influence of the party.

The ongoing situation is largely developing to nobody's favour, as targeted attacks by both RACS and the SLA have led to civilian casualties across the country. The AAN have been closely monitoring the situation despite the media blackout ordered by the SDP to conceal RACS Operations, while the SLA utilized social media sources such as Twitter, Telegram, Instagram and Truth Social to spread their message. Despite no ending in sight the Sahrani Democratic Party have promised that civil order will be established soon.