UKRAINE: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 marked a dramatic escalation of the eight-year-old conflict that began with Russia’s annexation of Crimea and signified a historic turning point for European security. A year after the fighting began, many defense and foreign policy analysts cast the war as a major strategic blunder by Russian President Vladimir Putin.  

IRAN: in Iraq (June 2021) and Syria (February 2021, June 2021, January 2022, and August 2022) in response to attacks by Iran-backed entities on U.S. forces,” a report by the Congressional Research Service states. “U.S. naval forces have interdicted or supported the interdiction of weapons shipments originating from Iran, including in December 2021 and February 2022.”

YEMEN: The war in Yemen is in uncomfortable limbo after a truce between the Huthi rebels and the internationally recognised government lapsed in October. Fighting is still mostly on hold, but with UN-brokered negotiations sputtering and both sides preparing for renewed war, the lull could end at any time.
ETHIOPIA: Two recent agreements have brought an end, for now, to a war in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region that has taken hundreds of thousands of lives.
CONGO: The M23 rebels have re-emerged to wreak havoc in the eastern DRC. Kinshasa blames neighbouring Rwanda, adding a dangerous dimension. An East African mission, led by Kenya, is trying to restore calm, but if it fails, the eastern DRC could again become the centre of a regional proxy war.