France registered several major victories over the Islamist rebels in Mali this past weekend. Most importantly, French and French-led forces have all but retaken the key cities of Gao and Timbuktu. That leaves only the major city of Kidal still in Islamist hands along with a scattering of smaller towns and villages.
As my infographic below illustrates, the combined French–Malian force struck out from central Mali along two different axes of advance: one headed towards Gao and the other towards Timbuktu. The African forces of Niger and Chad are flanking the Islamists in and around Gao while other African forces are expected to establish patrols in the cities and towns retaken by the French–Malian force.
Click for the full-size image.
Had some trouble loading the page, but I kept trying for several days and finally got it. What is most surprising is my ignorance of this conflict. I’m impressed at the amount of work and purpose that had to involve you. Very detailed. I am a sucker for maps. By the way, what piqued your interest in this particular subject? Inquiring minds want to know.
John, sorry it took a little while to get back to you. I’ll look into the page not loading. I was interested in it because despite being a large internationally-flavoured military operation, the United States is not really participating. And because of that lack of participation there is a lack of media interest, and thus readily accessible information to US audiences. I was hoping to try and fill in the gap, at least to the best my time and abilities permitted.