Istapali

[Svetlana]

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Ever since war erupted following the double coups last year and the pushing of GNC forces from Namaji by NRJ regiments, the revolutionary opposition was more fractured than ever as many within the GNC questioned the efficiency of the junta who repeatedly dismissed the opinions of the civilian sector as irrelevant for the duration of the war. Yet the recent invasion from Nsanlosa seems to have not only united the revolutionary forces, but doomed the NRJ faction.

Representatives of multiple left-wing parties banned by the RNJ government, especially the Pan-Dovanian Association for Socialism, alongside members of the Young Officers Clique met in central city of Chila to determine the path forward for the Revolutionary Transitional Government of National Concord and the future of Istapali post war. The meeting was conducted in secret using underground tunnel networks in which negotiations were held from October 5th until October 29th, the discussions ended in the ratification of the Treaty for the Liberation and Dignification of Istapali, or the Treaty of Chila for short.

The Treaty of Chila was then broadcasted across the entire nation on November 1st, it announced that all political parties and organizations opposing both the RNJ and Nsanlosan occupation have united to form the National Liberation Front of Istapali alongside calling for the population to resist and fight both the RNJ and Nsanlosan forces with all of their capabilities. The second major point of the treaty proclaimed the formation of the Army of National Liberation and the creation of 8 military regions headed by different generals which will oversee the resistance and overthrow of the RNJ. The Treaty also outlines the temporary revolutionary institutions that will lead the GNC such as the President of the People, Premier of the National Concord, and the People's Free Congress all of which will also lead Istapali post war according to socialist ideals.

Immediately after the broadcast, bomb and terror attacks were carried out across every major city which targeted military and police posts alongside damaging Nsanlosan baraques in the occupied stretch of land. On top of that, coordinated air and naval bombardements were carried out across the south of the country while ANL forces retreated to the mountains located along the borders with Liore and Nsanlosa before launching major offensives on the cities of Lazi, Pamane, and Kaluna to try and take control of the extremely strategic Dam of Prosperity which controls the flaw of the Wedenga river. 

It is still unclear if the ANL will succeed in their attacks against both the RNJ and Nsanlosa, but it is clear that the popular momentum is undeniably in the side of the Revolutionaries and the National Liberation Front.

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Written by @TheShare

[Svetlana]

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Ever since the massive reorganization of the Government of National Concord back in November of last year, the Army of National Liberation alongside the Front for National Liberation have been making steady gains across the mountainous regions of Istapali but were handicapped because of the lack of guns, ammo, and supplies to keep the war effort going.

When the Navy of National Liberation heard the news of Xsampa throwing their full support behind the NLF and supporting them in their blockade of the RNJ, they immediately restarted their bombardements along the coast and especially in Lazi where the weakest regiments of the RNJ were located. After a series of bombing and successful sabotages of supply lines, the forces of the ALN were able to free the city and establish a secured supply route to the main camp in Chila which finally allowed for proper plans to be drafted.

Shortly after the liberation of Lazi and establishement of a command center in the south, the ANL announced through radio the start of operation Quicksand with the aim of liberating the North of Istapali and push the federalist forces to the south. What followed was a massive offensive toward the city of Pamane and RNJ supply routes from both the west and eastern borders of Istapali alongside the expansion and consolidation of the NLF's grip over Chila and the mountains as their forces crossed quickly the desert.

The city of Pamane fell quickly, local defense militias sided with the ANL and helped them free the city. Both forces then focused on taking the oil fields and refineries of the city before pushing east and stopping when it was obvious that if they moved further the line would collapse. While the ANL began setting up trenches, a few regiments led by general Edzai Matombo pushed along the border with Mina to established a solid access point to ward the Northern tip of the country where current both the Ekina and RNJ forces were fighting each other.

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Written by @TheShare

[Svetlana]

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The National Liberation Front has been the most vocal resistance agaisnt the Nsanlosa occupation zone ever since the war broke out, and they've been the most deadly and effective resistance organization in the zone with their continued terror bombings and sabotage operations that have forces already thousands of Nsanlosan soldiers to be swapped due to severe PTSD, and it seems that the terror will now expand into Nsanlosa proper.

Following the outbreak of an open rebellion in Northern Nsanlosa, the NLF were able to take advantage of the moment to sneak hundreds of their operatives across the border using the mountainous regions alongside secretly recruiting thousands of Istapalians to their cause by tapping onto their nationalist hatred of the RNJ and current Nsanlosan occupation. What followed was a series of hundred of terrorist attacks targeting both civilian and military infrastructure across all of Nsanlosa's major cities with most of the efforts being concentrated in the capital where for last month the city has been rocked by attacks every day and at night it was even worse because carried out both political and military assassinations to weaken the country's institutions.

Writer and philosopher, Munopa Samkange summarized the Revolutionaries strategy in an excellent way by saying,

"Both the National Liberation Front and the National Liberation Army know that they cannot drive out Nsanlosa out of Istapali with conventual methods, those being a military offensive, since the National Reconciliation Junta still holds a tight grip over the areas surrounding the zone with the dacit support of Nsanlosa. So their only solution is to make the life of the average Nsanlosan hell, rock their zones of comfort and force them to confront their army's intrusion as nothing more than parasitical move that has backfired spectacularly.

We can already seeing the ripple waves of the NLF's actions in the outbreak of the rebellion in the north of the country, Nsanlosa was already an unstable country prone to rebellions, coups, and civil wars unlike Istapali which is more used to stable governance and democratic transitions, but both countries were held together by duck tape and prayers and a social contract that was being strained everyday. Istapali's social contract just broke down faster and in a more horrifying way while Nsanlosa's runs on Juntas and dictators with brief periods of democracy shattered by rebellions. 

It is also clear how it is necessary for the National Liberation Front to radicalize both the Istapalian and Nsanlosan societies, while they do have the support of the population in Nsanlosa most coward out from taking up arms against the RNJ and Ekina kingdom, and that's an issue that could kill off the NLF and the Revolutionaries if they do not address it. All sectors of society must take up arms, from the illiterate desertic nomads to the intellectual urbanites, from the widow with a family of 4 to the corporate president, all of these must have the courage to contact their underground NLF networks and help radicalize their surroundings as well."

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Written by @FreeIstapali (my bad it's January 5736 not 35, fyi)

[Svetlana]

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Since the retreat of Nsanlosan forces from Istapali following an extremely successful terror campaign launched by the operatives of the National Liberation Front, the Government of National Concord has seen its power and influence bolstered while the National Reconciliation Junta goes through an existential crisis since their main backer, Nsanlosa seems to not only have pulled out but turned agaisnt them entirely.

Seeing the weakened federalists, the forces of the Army of National Liberation began a major offensive toward the city of Dosape where the strategic Dam of Rebirth is located and the critical lakes Kuberekwazve and Kusingaperi with those being the crown jewels of Istapali that allow for the populous urban south to be supplied with fresh water on a daily basis. 

The offensive, officially called Operation Drought, took the RNJ by suprise as the western flank of the city was facing waves of soldiers while the eastern side was being bombard using artillery canons that targeted critical military infrastructure, coupled with the orchestration of a pro-NLF revolt, the city quickly fell and the Dam of Rebirth alongside it even tho it suffered some structural damages from artillery bombings. On the eastern flank of the Wedenga river, ANL also managed to take control of the area surrounding the Kuberekwazve lake and link up with their allies on the western flank while a northern expedition came in contact with the ALN regiments along the border with Mina and effectively made more than 73% of the Istapalese desert all under their control.

In response to their humiliating defeats in the north and the oil refineries being threatened by a potential joint GNC-BKE offensive, a military coup overthrew the military-civilian government in Namaji and installed general Tapologo Letsogile as president of the NRJ. It was long suspected that Letsogile was the one running the show behind the shadows instead of the puppeted political parties, the pillage of Istapali's resources such as oil and gold in exchange of guns and aids have long been attributed to him and many suspect that he's more there to enrich himself than actually help the RNJ defeat the revolutionaries.

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Written by @FreeIstapali (the date is supposed to say July 5736)

[Svetlana]

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The integration of previously held NRJ strongholds has been tricky for the GNC to say the least, from counter insurgencies to try and push away the forces of the ALN to collaborationist cells sabotaging the pacification of the regions and their disarmament, the People's Ministry for the Reintegration of Occupied Territories by the Unholy Junta has been a headache for the Government of National Concord and the National Liberation Front in general. Yet the recent uncovering of multiple mass graveyards hostings the remains of more than 1230 people near the old village of Moyo has revealed a much sinister secret previously hidden by the NRJ.

The excavation of the mass burial grounds occured during a routine inspection of seemingly abandoned villages to ensure that there wasn't NRJ affiliated cells hiding there, the routine consists of checking homes, warehouses and using canine units to detect any potential weapon or drug stash hidden underground. At first when the first grave was discovered, it only has 40 people in it and it was assumed that they were simply villagers that refused to collaborate with the NRJ and had to be punished, but when 4 other graves were discovered by another 8 it alarmed the Revolutionary government in Chila which sees this discovery as clear signs of ethnic cleansing since the old village of Moyo was recorded to be a Psiku village in censuses.

Immediately after the discovering of the 1230 bodies, the People's Ministry for Warfare, Resistance, and National Vengeance hurriedly set up research teams and ordered the organization of an emergency nationwide search of all remote villages and cities previously held by the RNJ across the now liberated territories for clues of where the mass burial sites were located. Quickly, forces of the ANL captured NRJ general Mbira Sithole who quickly spilled the beans about the locations of most of the sites. The discoveries by the GNC were horrific to say the least, from hundreds of communal graves to hundreds of dead bodies being left to rot in abandoned ware houses, the tally kept skyrocketing with each new excavation and report. The cities of Kabala, Nzadi, and Nkala were among the ones with the highest number of victims as more than 30% of their Psiku populations missing and found across both the graves and pile of bodies and officially qualified it as a genocide.

Shortly after, the President of the Government of National Concord, general Rungano Mangwende, held a furious speech on the radio in which he denounced "The horrific, inhumane, and barbarian genocide" perpetrated by the forces of the NRJ against the Psiku people and promised to "avenge the hundreds of thousands of victims of this crime agaisnt humanity." The announcement was quickly followed by the proclamation of a cease-fire between the GNC and Blessed Kingdom of Ekidonia and the formation of a united front agaisnt the NRJ to overthrow the government in Namaji.

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Written by @FreeIstapali (backdated)

[Svetlana]

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It has been 6 years since war broke out in Istapali following a double coup led by the Young Officers Clique which kickstarted the Istapalese Revolution and plunged the country into bloody infighting which even an invasion from foreign powers under the pretext of "stability and peace", yet as the forces of the National Reconciliation Junta retreated and were forced into corners by GNC, the junta has been growing more erratic and tyrannical for last year or so.

The news about the ratification of the GNC-BKE treaty of Tahaba which formally dissolved the kingdom and integrated it as province of the Istapalese Virtuous Federation of Labour. The peaceful dismantlement of the BKE fed the paranoia of the NRJ because now instead of the GNC having to fight both the BKE in the north and NRJ in the south, they could fully focus on retaking Namaji and ending the rule of the Junta swiftly.

Immediately after the news broke, the NRJ's army raided NLF hideouts in the south and managed to capture important NLF figures such as Muchero Olonga, nicknamed Black Widow who led and operated a massive spy network across Namaji that helped orchestrate sabotage operations against the Junta, General Terereai Rusere, leader of the ANL's V region in charge of burning down the NRJ's agricultural and narco traffic operations they use to fund their military effort, Commander Nhambo Mutasa, leader of ANL's VI military district and was initially the one running the strategic port of Lazi after its liberation but resigned to let civilians run the city, Marshal Muzukuru Manyika, leader of the VIII military region and helped launch a series of popular revolts and raids that weakened the grip of the Junta over the capital, and Doctor Matiroya Kabweza leader of the VI region and responsible for the treatment of prisoners of war and defense against Nsanlosan incursion.

Shortly after their arrest, the NRJ's puppet supreme court led by Supreme Justice Onke Ntini held a mock trial of the captured leaders accusing them of treason, "insulting the founding institutions of the Republic", "Implosion of the social contract", and "Anarchist and communist terrorism" before sentencing them to be decapitated live and broadcasted across the nation as a form of psychological and moral death for the GNC and their supporters. Furthermore, Istapali's Aurorian Archbishop Tapiwa Malianga was present during the executions to perform prayers during each decapitation to guarantee "the salvation of those innocent people that strayed from God's light", his presence didn't land well with the population at all since the GNC alongside smaller organizations have accused the Aurorian church of facilitating the Junta's crimes under the guise of divine punishment.

The reactions to the executions were both immediate and radical, Interim People's President Nduma Takawira vowed to "rain hell, purgatory, and judgement day on both the mad junta and the spineless clerics of the Aurorian church", already the GNC had disagreements about the status of religion in a post war Istapali, many wanted it gone and replaced by an atheistic society while others wanted the government to weaponize the religious zealism produced by both Hosianism and Ahmadism to solidify the standing of the Federation. Yet with the involvement of the APC in the executions, the GNC has officially declared war against that religious institution while other clerical classes such as the Ahmadists and pagans have been spared and even elevated due to their successfully fueling of Revolutionary fervor within their followers and the fact that there isn't a unified clerical authority in Ahdmadism that could stop the GNC from puppetting their imams and uleymas.

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Written by @FreeIstapali

[Svetlana]

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The Istapalese civil war has been going on for a grewling 8 years, tens of millions have been displaced, hundred of thousands killed across the country, and the social fabric holding together Istapali has been forever altered. Yet a conflict who many thought was going to be a resounding and crushing victory for the National Reconciliation Junta in Namaji is now predicted to become a grand victory for the Revolutionaries of the Government of National Concord and the National Liberation Front.

Ever since the fall of Dosape and reintegration of Ekidonia into the GNC, the government has turned from a war of offensives into a war of trenches as both sides entrenched themselves further and further each day and resorted to border skirmishes, raids, and propaganda campaigns from the NRJ to try and persuade the population that the GNC is the faction that's clearly losing the war.

However the once powerful and mighty forces of the Istapalese Federal Army have been both outnumbered and out equiped by the forces of the Army of National Liberation which could be seen during the siege of the city of Mpopa host to the country's last functioning oil and gas refineries. The ANL switched from their traditional asymmetric warfare tactics which consisted of orchestrating sabotages and guerilla tactics to a more frontal and direct offensive in the form of artillery bombardements, constant psychological torture of NRJ soldiers by blasting propaganda chants all day long, and the use of the sand dunes to dug tunnels and plant detonation charges underneath critical military infrastructure. The siege only last 8 months and the city was actually liberated by its own citizens who had already launched an insurgency of their own against the NRJ.

Seeing the resounding success of frontal warfare, the leadership of the GNC then announced the start of Operation Four Horsemen, named after the four horsemen of Apocalypse described by ancient pagan beliefs in Istapali, those being the Horseman of Pestilence symbolizing the GNC closure of the dams supplying the southern regions with water and effectively puts the entire south under siege since Istapali's water have been dominated by the GNC for a while with the help of Xsampa, the Horseman of Hysteria representing the ANL's new tactic of constant psychological warfare consisting of blasting music and speeches while carrying out suprise bombing campaigns, the Horseman of Decay representing the GNC's orchestration of political assassinations, terror attacks, and ghetto revolts across major cities in the south to rock the institutions maintaining the NRJ alive, and finally the Horseman of War representing the forces of the ANL crossing the trenches and attacking the NRJ from all directions while carrying out amphibian invasions in the south.

Realistically speaking, even tho the Revolutionaries have sworn up and down that the government in Namaji will fall within a year, it is more than likely that the whole operations actually lasts two instead of one mainly due to the ANL is still a bunch of militias and poorly trained soldiers used to ambush and not attack in broad daylight. Anywho, this operations will certainly bring about the end of the war, but wether or not the partisans of the NRJ actually drop their guns once the GNC rises victorious is yet to be determined.

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written by @TheShare (backdated)