General Waseem's forces preparing to attack
Things have reached a boiling point in Northwestern Khataiy, in the self-proclaimed Republic of West Khataiy. The chairman of the Transitional Council of the self-declared republic born out of what was the alternative government established by General Waseem in early 2018. However tensions have risen between the opposition factions over a variety of issues including the very existence of West Khataiy, General Waseem has stated that West Khataiy is the only solution to no longer deal with President Omar Khairallah, while Waseem's allies claim West Khataiy does not need to exist but rather Khairallah himself needs to be overthrown and Khataiy remain united.
President Khairallah has announced an ultimatum to General Waseem and the fellow leadership of West Khataiy after a partially successful offensive in south western Khataiy against Hezbollah that has announced support for West Khataiy, Abdullah Jawaf who has since become General Waseem's biggest rival has denounced West Khataiy and wishes to revive the alternative government and reengage the Khataiyi government in open war until Khairallah is removed from power. Along with General Waseem and Jawaf, a third leader named Nouri Abbas a former colleague of Omar Khairallah has said he wishes for a power sharing agreement with Khairallah and negotiations with the government.
General Waseem has now declared war on his rival Jawaf, and has begun seizing villages and areas considered his strongholds, militias loyal to Jawaf composed of ex-Muslim Brotherhood members has responded with mortar attacks and armed clashes with General Waseem's forces made up of Khataiyi army defectors, Nouri Abbas has announced support for General Waseem against Jawaf's militias.
Jawaf has accused both General Waseem and Nouri Abbas of collaborating with the Khataiyi government to eliminate his movement, the Khataiyi interior ministry issued a statement saying if any combat spills over outside of the area known as "West Khataiy" the Khataiyi military will respond, additionally multiple units of the Khataiyi army have been mobilized near the supposed "border" to monitor the situation, several Khataiyi helicopters have been spotted overhead as well.