BLACKWATER USA | DAILY BRIEF - Blackwater Worldwide

Posted by BW Actual on Dec 9th 2025

Gaza

Former senior Shin Bet official Shalom Ben Hanan told the NYT that Hamas is "still standing" despite its two-year war with Israel.
Ben Hanan cited official estimates that Hamas still has around 20,000 active fighters after quickly replacing its casualties.
Hamas also appears to be reasserting its role in policing Gaza - though its senior officials insist they'll be willing and ready to cede power to an appointed transitional government once one is formed.

DRC

Just days after signing a document reaffirming a U.S.-brokered peace deal with Rwanda's Pres. Kagame in Washington, DRC's Pres. Tshisekedi accused Rwanda of violating their freshly-reaffirmed truce.
Tshisekedi's complaints appear to refer to advances Rwanda-backed M23 rebels made in eastern DRC over the weekend. Local reports suggest the M23 captured the village of Luvungi near the Burundian border.
Burundi - which is receiving thousands of fleeing civilians - blamed Rwanda for the chaos. Its Foreign Minister accused Kigali of "playing a double game. It claims to be negotiating and signing agreements, but in the meantime, it is intensifying attacks on the civilian population with kamikaze drones that kill instinctively.”
There are separate reports of clashes between the Congolese army and Wazalendo - an armed group that had previously sided with the army - in the area, too.

Yemen

The UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) separatist coalition announced that it had captured not only Hadramout, but all eight of Yemen's southern governates - including the port of Aden.
The STC's claim is credible but unconfirmed, and Saudi Arabia may still mount some resistance in defense of the government it was backing in Aden.
STC control of the south would mark a major change in the course of Yemen's long-running civil war. It would also increase the likelihood of Yemen ultimately re-fracturing into the two countries that comprised it before unification.