Badara

[BananaZebra]

Bier Qassem
25 January, 5406 (Backdated)

In the middle of the afternoon yesterday, as people bustled about the streets amidst protests and a vast homeless street population, ASiB launched an attack on the capital.

Emerging from homes, schools, hospitals, and airports terrorists seized large swathes of the city in just a few hours, taking hostages wherever they went - including children, pregnant women, and hospital patients. Mowing down every caught in the streets, they advanced to the presidential palace complex in the centre of the city.

Against the advice of the Secret Service, the President emerged onto the balcony of the palace, giving a speech broadcast over the cities emergency PA system. Below is a full transcription.

Patriots! This city is under siege by radicals who wish to undo this government's principles of liberty, democracy, justice. You may be angry at this government, you may despise me; but I ask you not to fight for me, fight for this city! Fight for your homes, fight for the nation's capital. Fight for the Republic, or for what you wish it could be. These monsters will try to destroy this city, this island, as they did Nashwa. They will not bring change, other than death and destruction. They will not bring prosperity, only poverty and suffering. They will not have peace under their government, pursuing the endless fight against sin.

So I ask you, all of you, fight for your city! Fight for your country! Do not let these dogs overrun your freedom. Fight!

(At this point a rocket was fired at the palace, striking a row of windows to the right of the president. As the Secret Service rushed to escort him to the bunker, he refused.)

I will not hide! No, not as my people die to defend the streets of this city, while their blood runs down the sidewalks and paints their homes. They do not have the privilege to hide, of a bunker built specifically for that purpose. They must fear, they must simply hope for their survival. It is not guaranteed. And so I will also stay... stay with the possibility of death. I am not above my people, I am not special or unique. I am a man, and a brave one. I will not abandon my people to this slaughter.

(At this point, the army, national guard, and national police managed to overwhelm the terrorists - aided by the citizens of Bier Qassem themselves.)

See! Look, patriots! Look and see the glory of this nation, of its people! The rebels flee like the roaches they are, awaiting our boot to squash them. Long live freedom! Long live democracy! Long live the Republic! Long live Badara!

As the president's speech concluded and the ASiB force retreated from the city or was captured, a massive crowd grew in the streets, encouraged by the president himself.

Cheering and waving flags of the Republic, the crowd converged on the palace and saluted the president. Today, many of the demonstrators hold huge portraits of the president and chant his name. A month ago, the president's approval rating was 35% (net of -21%), as of today it has soared to 65% (net of +39%).The president has truly proven his dedicated to the Republic today, and inspired millions across Mu'tasim to keep up the fight.

As the fighting stopped and the government began an investigation, it was revealed that many of the militants were active members of the Badara army, and one of the prisoners taken was none other than General Mundhir al-Iman of the Badaran Army. Having defected to ASiB, he began to work on plans for a coup shortly after the civil war began. Confident in his timing, he launched the coup at what he viewed as the government's "weakest point." It appears he gravely miscalculated.

He has also sent Hakam al-Naderi to the MSCO to plead for a coalition intervention.

[BananaZebra]

Bier Qassem
26 March, 5406 (Backdated)


The Emergency Economic Reform Act (EERA) has passed the Council of Representatives by a margin of 144 - 61, with many objecting to the slashing of welfare benefits. Supporters point out that the welfare cuts are necessary, and balanced by the simultaneous $1.1 stimulus investment in the Department of Welfare. Many who depend of the welfare system have gone hungry, though the rent and eviction moratorium has kept them housed for now.

Refugee camp expansions have raised the total capacity to 7 million, meaning nearly every refugee has a place to at least survive. Our reporters on the ground relay haunting images of children starving, wailing in their parent's lap, as around them people die of tuberculosis while coughing up blood. The terror attacks on refugee camps have left the refugees paranoid and the atmosphere of the camps has shifted to solemn and fearful. The Army is now actively patrolling and guarding all refugee camps, and the national police is allowing refugees to choose to have a police protection.

The EERA will entail a $9,000 (50%) decrease in welfare payments, affecting the budgets of millions of Badarans throughout Mu'tasim. This is balanced by an increase in the budget of the Department of Welfare with an increase in luxury taxes to attempt to compensate. Corporate tax will be frozen until the end of the conflict, with the government hoping this action will prevent mass bankruptcy and closure of business. Unemployment is still hovering around 60%, and the government fears that it will not fall for awhile. The government has also issued stimulus spending to the Department of Business and Commerce, to be used to provide loans to businesses to survive, as well as loans to former businesses to help them re-open.

[BananaZebra]

Bier Qassem
5 May, 5406 (Backdated)

After taking Misul, a coalition force including troops from Kundrati and Badara advanced further north, taking the city of Siwanyet and besieging al-Burqiyaa and Disuyana.

It seems possible that the forces may be able to cut the rebel force in half once more in a replication of the beginning of the civil war. If so, the government could greatly hinder the operations of ASiB. The government currently estimates ASiB's strength at about 100,000, split into 75,000 in the north and 25,000 in the south. If the south were cut off, it could easily be retaken. Combined with international efforts to prevent the arrival of foreign Jihadists, including aid from Beiteynu, Kundrati, and Deltaria, the strength of ASiB is finally shrinking, with more than 30,000 killed since January in air strikes, sieges, and battles.

The Jihadists are trained to fight to the death, so casualties have run high on the rebel side. It is currently estimated that approximately 185,000 rebels have died since 5402 though it is unknown how many of those were native Badarans. Despite this massive loss of strength, ASiB never wavered as it imported wave upon wave of foreign radicals. Now, the rebels appear to be in a weaker position than they've been in since 5402.

[Drax]

JAYSH RECRUITING INTERDICTED BY MSCO OPERATION

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=4398&p=190730#p190508

[Drax]

Deltaria Sends Reinforcements to Nashwa

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=4398&p=190887#p190887

[Drax]

Deltaria Joins Siege of al-Burqiyaa

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=4398&p=190887#p190914

[BananaZebra]

Bier Qassem
9 January, 5407 (Backdated)

With the rising cost of living and increased amounts of welfare payments needed from the Department of Welfare, the Badaran economy has experienced the greatest squeeze in recent economic history. As inflation soars to nearly 200%, the central has decided to increase the interest rate from 5.8% to 12.5% and decided to devalue the currency while issuing a policy of quantitative easing to try to simultaneously decrease spending and thus inflation, while also keeping afloat the companies which are vital to society.

With the closure of nearly a third of businesses in Mu’tasim, the government now reports an unemployment rate of nearly 70%. The president has devised a plan with the Minister of Finance, Samir el-Mansour, to seek foreign aid and loans to rebuild the most critical parts of Nashwa’s infrastructure, and begin the daunting task of rebuilding nearly every city on the island. The national debt is already massive and still climbing, and many fear the taking on of loans the size the government has planned would collapse the economy with impossible interest payments.

Representative Jumail el-Sabir of Marakesh’s 1st district, which represents the capital itself, has denounced the plan as financial tyranny.


el-Sabir

The government has decided to punish its people for the actions of terrorists. Why should the people of Mu’tasim - good, loyal citizens who never turned themselves against this Republic - why should we pay the price? Let the government and the people of Nashwa figure out Nashwa’s mess, is what I say.

Boos echoed throughout the chamber, and Representative Muammar al-Matin of Samarya’s 15th stood to make an impassioned response.


al-Matin

The government is not deciding to punish Mu’tasim. It is seeking to ensure it does not collapse. Should the people of Nashwa suffer for the actions of terrorists then? This is not a matter of punishment, it is a matter of unity - we are one nation, we are one people. We must help one another, we must lift each other up.

At the conclusion of a long night of heated debate, the Council voted not to condemn the policy by a margin of 98 - 104, with an absentee and two abstentions.

[BananaZebra]

Bier Qassem
22 June, 5407 (Backdated)

After an intense campaign in the mountains and hills of the central region of Nashwa, the government has finally liberated the cities of Broumeir and Bab al-Mira - the latter for the second time in this conflict.

Using advanced explosive teams to detect landmines, the coalition forces made slow and arduous progress in the region. The demining efforts are going far better than expected, helped by the fact that ASiB did not have many mines to plant and tended to cluster them together instead of spreading them out, making them easy to identify and denote via air strike with no casualties.

These recent liberations mark a consistent beat-down of the rebels from coast to coast. Having lost control of the southern coast after amphibious assaults aided by Kundrati and the Beiteynuese navy, which were able to recapture the cities of Haqih and Khamra to allow for the siege of Ras al-Ulima, the rebels are now isolated in three pockets: the Southern pocket stretching from Ras al-Ulima to just south of Bab al-Mira, the northern pocket between Disuyana to just south of the recently liberated Medaft, and the eastern pocket which occupies the city of Espirdi.

The capture of former Representative and traitor Talha al-Mostafa has been apprehended following the liberation of al-Burqiyaa trying to flee south. He is currently being held in a military prison in Nashwa, though President al-Ghanem hopes to send him and other surviving terrorists and terrorist leaders to the ICC for trial and imprisonment. In a statement, the president said he hopes for “nothing but the harshest punishment, life imprisonment” for the terrorists and their leaders. The president went further, calling extremism a “cancer” which must be removed in its entirety lest the nation go into “remission just to have a recurrence.”

The most intense fighting still in progress is the attempt to retake Sutan and Espirdi, where al-Hashim is rumored to be hiding.

[BananaZebra]

Bier Qassem
5 September, 5407 (Backdated)

The siege of Ras al-Ulima has been lifted, with rebels retreating to their strongholds in Sutan and Espirdi. These two cities will be the hardest to re-take, due to the intensity of rebel force concentration in the region. Hundreds of rebel encampments dot the hills and plains around the city, with trenches and tunnels connecting each one. Rows on rows of artillery fire non-stop at approaching troops while anti-air installments down any plane that attempts to fly overhead.

Dug in so much, the rebels pose a significant threat, even though this is their last stand. The government is estimated that a direct assault would result in unimaginable casualties, and is working with coalition forces to decide on a strategy that would minimize casualties as much as possible.

[BananaZebra]

Bier Qassem
22 November, 5407 (Backdated)

As government forces sweep the countryside, they have confirmed earlier disturbing reports of a possible genocide. Mass graves containing hundreds of thousands of Abadis, as well as thousands of Yeudis and Hosians, have been discovered in the countryside.

The government is doing all it can to identify the deceased, return them to the next of kin, and arrange funerary services for them all.

This revelation signifies and even darker turn for the civil war, with the government now racing to stop the genocide where it is still ongoing. Realizing now that lifting rebel occupation is not only a matter of reclaiming the Republic’s territory but a mission to save hundreds of thousands of people from genocide, the government is moving quickly to seize all territory still held by ASiB.

The President has issued a statement condemning the genocide and promising to bring those who planned and participated to justice.