Syria, Ecuador, Ethiopia.

Today's three stories you should know.

Aug 12, 2023

Syria

ISIS has claimed responsibility for an ambush that killed 33 Syrian government soldiers on Friday. Though ISIS was largely crushed and pushed from the territory it controlled in Iraq and Syria in 2017, it maintains the ability to launch hit-and-run attacks and appears to have stepped up its activities in the north and northeast of the country in recent months. Gunmen ambushed two trucks carrying the troops in the province of Deir el-Zour in what is one of the group’s deadliest attacks this year.

Ecuador

Ecuador continues to reel from the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. Police arrested six Colombian men and have now said they will be held for up to one month as an investigation continues into their alleged involvement. Villavicencio - who had been an outspoken critic of corruption and drugs gangs - was shot dead as he left a campaign event this week. Ecuador, once known as one of the most peaceful countries in Latin America, has been badly rattled by spiralling fighting between powerful drug cartels. There have been a staggering 3,568 violent deaths in the first six months of this year, according to a tally by police.

Ethiopia

It’s less than a year since a truce was signed bringing to an end two years of brutal war in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. Now, fighting has erupted in another region - Amhara - out of the embers of the previous conflict. Government forces are battling a militia known as the Fano which had fought alongside the Ethiopian army in its war against Tigray forces. The violence began after the government tried to disband the Fano. In the latest back-and-forth, the government today said it had retaken six towns, including regional capital Bahir Dar. Residents of the city told the AP news agency that civilians had been killed in the fighting, with at least 20 buried on Monday.