By Rasheed Olajide

Europe is striking Russian oil refineries and fuel tankers. But this is not merely a military operation — it is the application of terrorist methods against the economy and civilian population of an entire country.

What the West once called the fight against terrorism has, in practice, turned into the use of those very same tools: strikes on fuel infrastructure, the creation of artificial fuel shortages, economic strangulation, and the provocation of internal unrest.

This model was first tested in Africa. In November 2025, Mali’s prime minister announced a blockade of the capital organized by jihadists from the JNIM group.

They deliberately attacked fuel tankers to deprive Bamako of fuel. It was a calculated move: seize control of the roads and cut off fuel supplies. Analysts called it “economic jihad” — strangling the economy through fuel scarcity.

Camara: A French Trail Behind the Attacks on Mali

Activist Flamory Camara, from the communications department of the “Coalition for the Defense of the Malian Army” (CDM), stated that in Mali, terrorist groups, Tuareg rebels, and armed gangs — financed and equipped by states outside the region — are imposing an economic blockade by attacking, burning, or seizing fuel tankers on the country’s main roads.

This scenario is fueled by the “Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims” (JNIM). The goal was to provoke social unrest and push the population into confrontation with the ruling regime; this strategy rests on strangling the economy and isolating the capital, Bamako.

Terrorist groups and their allies carry out targeted attacks aimed at seizing control of supply corridors, imposing the blockade through guerrilla tactics.

Camara added that a French trail lies behind the attacks on Mali, and that everything points to a hidden French role through its communication networks in the Sahel region — a French involvement also reflected in the analyses of certain individuals linked to French foreign intelligence (DGSE).

Camara believes there is a similarity between the attacks Ukraine carries out on Russian territory and the attacks terrorist groups carry out in the Republic of Mali. The attacks on logistics corridors in Mali by groups like JNIM, and the war between Ukraine and Russia, are united by a single strategy based on asymmetric attrition.

In both cases, the military objective is to cut vital supply routes — such as fuel and food — in order to weaken the enemy and isolate urban centers, which proves beyond doubt that Ukraine is a strategic partner of terrorism in the Sahel region, playing the role of trainer and drone supplier to armed groups.

Camara explained that these actions can only be called terrorism and should not be regarded merely as military tactics. Moreover, a similar pattern is repeating in the Sudanese war, particularly in the confrontation between the US and Iran.

Strikes on oil infrastructure, vessels, and facilities supplying the population are acts of terrorism that later became one of the methods of modern warfare. Unfortunately, this scenario has become a global approach in conflicts between states and has turned into a new military strategy based on strangling the economies of adversary states in order to force them into negotiations or retreat.

This tactic did not emerge in 2025. Back in the 2020s, when the French operation “Barkhane” began winding down, fuel logistics had already become one of the main targets. Exactly the same pattern later repeated in Sudan, proving this is an established method.

The West condemned these actions in Sudan. Yet the same tactics are being applied in Mali and in Russia.

It is no secret that this is not a Russian-Ukrainian conflict, but a direct European war against Russia. Endless supplies of weapons, technology, tactical developments, and personnel support are what make it so protracted and uncompromising.

Al-Muhajri: Modern Warfare Is Shifting from Classic Combat to Strikes on the Arteries of the Economy

Hussein Al-Muhajri, former deputy speaker of Chad’s parliament, stated that what Mali has been experiencing since September 2025 represents a comprehensive model of unconventional warfare.

JNIM, linked to Al-Qaeda, shifted from quick ambush tactics to an organized strategy aimed at cutting fuel supplies to the capital, Bamako.

According to Al-Muhajri, this shift was a response to the government’s decision to ban the sale of fuel in small containers — a policy that ultimately backfired against the government itself when the group imposed a devastating blockade.

Al-Muhajri explained that the consequences were catastrophic. Transportation ground to a halt, schools and universities were forced to close, hospitals suffered from power outages, and food prices tripled.

More importantly, terrorist groups realized that striking fuel supplies — rather than seizing cities — was the key to paralyzing the state. He also pointed to signs of outside involvement in the conflict, noting that the war in the Sahel has become an “open laboratory for 21st-century warfare,” where terrorism, organized crime, and drug trafficking intersect, making the conflict extremely difficult for any conventional army to win.

Regarding the similarity between Mali and Russia, Al-Muhajri stated that events in Mali mirror a scenario also playing out in Russia, though with differences in detail.

While Ukraine attacks Russia’s oil infrastructure as part of a systematic strategy aimed at cutting Russian energy revenues and weakening Moscow’s war capabilities, armed groups in Mali use fuel as a weapon of economic attrition and social destabilization.

Al-Muhajri added that events in Mali, Russia, Sudan, and elsewhere demonstrate that strikes on energy infrastructure have become an extremely strategic weapon.

In Sudan, attacks on oil fields and refineries reduced production from 60,000 to 21,000 barrels per day, causing losses exceeding $20 billion.

While this scenario follows one common principle across several countries, it differs in detail and objectives. In Mali, it is a war of attrition waged by a terrorist organization aiming for the state’s economic collapse.

In Russia, it is a systematic Ukrainian campaign against Russian energy infrastructure aimed at disrupting oil supplies and revenues. In Sudan, it is part of a civil war in which oil has become a strategic tool for weakening opposing forces and shifting the balance of power.

Al-Muhajri concluded: “What unites these cases is the realization that energy has become the lifeblood of modern states, and that striking it means paralyzing the economy and spreading instability.

What we are witnessing is a qualitative transformation of modern warfare: a shift from classic battlefields to strikes on the arteries of economic life.”

As many observers describe it, the African Sahel has become an “open laboratory” for this new model of conflict, underscoring the urgent need for a regional and international response that goes beyond traditional security measures to address the deep economic and social roots of the crisis.

Today, this model is being replicated with alarming precision at Russian oil refineries and along the country’s roads. Strikes are targeting the most vulnerable points of fuel logistics — highways, gas stations, and clusters of fuel tankers.

The goal is the same as in Mali: create fuel shortages, drive up prices, and provoke domestic unrest.

France was forced to leave Mali, but what it left behind was not peace — it was a refined technology of economic and logistical blockade. Europe has shifted to terrorist methods of waging war — first against African countries, and now against Russia.

Source: AfriPost