Algeria is sending troops to Niger in what L’Opinione describes as its first military deployment abroad since 1973. Algeria’s parliament approved the mission on Oct. 25. The stated job: protect Sonatrach’s oil facilities at the Niger junta’s request. No troop count, timeline or rules of engagement were disclosed. Algiers had already donated 2 Mi-24 attack helicopters and 2 Mi-171 transports. After the Aug. 28 mutiny, Algerian Su-30s landed in Niamey. Russia’s Africa Corps, Wagner’s successor, operates from Air Base 101, where roughly 300 Italian troops are also stationed. Then there’s the gas. Sonatrach was tasked with building the 841 km Niger section of the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline, designed to carry up to 30 bcm/year from Nigeria through Niger and Algeria toward Europe. Russian firms are reportedly in talks to join. There’s no public evidence of a troops-for-gas deal. But if Russian firms get in, Europe could get a new gas route with Moscow still in the picture.

ALGERIA WILL CLOSE ITS AIRSPACE TO ALL UAE-REGISTERED CIVILIAN AND MILITARY AIRCRAFT FROM MIDNIGHT FRIDAY, A DAY AFTER SEVERING DIPLOMATIC TIES AND ORDERING THE UAE AMBASSADOR TO LEAVE WITHIN 48 HOURS. THE UAE HAS DESCRIBED THE DIPLOMATIC RUPTURE AS HOPEFULLY “TEMPORARY,” WHILE THE MOVE MARKS ALGERIA’S SECOND BREAK WITH AN ARAB STATE AFTER SEVERING TIES WITH MOROCCO IN 2021.