Timbuktu Institute, Week 3, July 2026

 News from Mali is marked by a growing number of increasingly violent terrorist attacks carried out by JNIM and the FLA, highly organised operational allies that are giving Mali's army a run for its money, with the latter suffering significant losses in both soldiers and equipment. This reflects the impressive nuisance capacity of these attacks, large-scale and synchronised, carried out either by JNIM fighters or FLA rebels in the North. Even though military successes have been recorded here and there, they may not offset the losses suffered by the FAMa. This instability could have regional repercussions, particularly for Mali's close neighbours.

Ambush on the Anéfis-Gao road: Mali's army suffers heavy losses against the FLA-JNIM alliance

This July, Mali is facing one of its deadliest attacks since 2012. In a coordinated move, the FLA and JNIM dealt a heavy blow to the FAMa in an ambush on an army convoy leaving Anéfis for Gao on 18 July 2026. The toll for the Malian army is heavy: at least 50 soldiers killed and several men taken prisoner. Some point to tactical failures, while the Malian army itself has reported coordination shortcomings with its Russian partners from Africa Corps, who reportedly suffered no losses of their own. This attack follows a series of offensives by armed groups in northern Mali aimed at gaining control of Anéfis. Four years on, the regime of Assimi Goïta and its Russian partners are struggling to withstand attackscoordinated by the FLA and JNIM, notably including the capture of Kidal, even though the very objective of the takeover of power was to secure Malian territory against attacks by armed groups. A few days before this ambush, the Malian Armed Forces reportedly destroyed a terrorist hideout in the Kekoro forest, in the Bougouni region, in an airstrike. Fleeing terrorists were neutralised and their equipment confiscated. The FAMa continue this hunt for terrorists.

Despite the Malian army's claims regarding possible airstrikes and the neutralisation of hundreds of terrorists, several outlying areas and road axes remain under JNIM's grip. Several strategic routes, including in the Centre-North and the Centre, remain blocked, preventing the Malian army from conducting its operations properly. Added to this is the fact that FLA separatists claim control of Kidal, as well as the capture of Malian soldiers. This has given rise to a need to redraw strategic alliances in the Sahel, particularly for AES countries, whose cooperation with Russia is increasingly being called into question. For instance, the Russian paramilitaries at the head of the convoy reached Gao without losing a single man, while significant losses were recorded among the FAMa. “ There was a coordination problem between the Russians and the army,” a Malian elected official confided