The platform\u2019s users flagged the house of criminal warlord Wilson Joseph for destruction by Nayib Buklele\u2019s forces<\/p>\n
Salvadoran forces have destroyed the alleged headquarters of Haiti\u2019s largest criminal gang, after a social media user shared its location with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. He has vowed to eradicate the gangs if they refuse to return four hostages.
\nIn a post on Friday, a Haitian X user shared a picture of a palatial compound, which she alleged that the notorious \u2018400 Mawozo\u2019 (\u2018400 Simpletons\u2019) gang had built on the eastern outskirts of Port-au-Prince. Led by Wilson \u2018Lanmo San Jou\u2019 Joseph, 400 Mawozo is the largest of Haiti\u2019s criminal gangs.
\n\u201cGive us the exact address, and we\u2019ll destroy it,\u201d Bukele responded in Haitian Creole. Multiple users shared GPS coordinates with Bukele, but the original post was deleted over the weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, Bukele kept his word. A fleet of Salvadoran light attack helicopters blitzed the compound, firing rockets and partially destroying its main structure and outbuildings as its occupants fled the scene. Bukele posted a video of the attack on X on Tuesday, calling the gang members \u201ccowards\u201d for running away \u201cwithout even trying to fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome guy on X called in a killstreak on a gang\u2019s HQ and Bukele went through with it. Insane timeline,\u201d one X user responded, summing up the online reaction to the strike.
\nHaitian police and private security contractors stormed the compound after the rocket barrage, the Miami Herald reported.\u00a0
\nWhat is El Salvador doing in Haiti?<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
Haitian Defense Ministry chief abducted amid gang violence \u2013 media<\/p>\n
Bukele deployed around 2,500 troops to Haiti late last month, after four Salvadoran military aircraft technicians were kidnapped while assisting the UN-authorized Gang Suppression Force (GSF) mission. The technicians were reportedly kidnapped by Chen Mechan, a smaller member of the broad confederation of gangs that has de facto ruled Haiti since 2021.
\nThe hostages have not yet been returned, despite an attempt by a Chen Mechan-linked NGO to pass four unrelated corpses to Salvadoran forces last week. Bukele has claimed that El Salvador has \u201cno interest in coming to dominate the Haitian people, nor in laying hands on Haiti\u2019s wealth,\u201d but has promised to wage war against the \u201cSatanic\u201d gangs until the captives are handed over. Bukele has also suggested that Salvadoran forces could remain longer in Haiti to assist the anti-gang mission.
\nJoseph initially vowed to drive the Salvadoran troops out of Haiti, but has since requested mediation from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, according to AP. Haitian Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime will reportedly travel to El Salvador next week to meet with Bukele\u2019s government, the news agency reported on Tuesday.
\nCrowdsourced airstrikes\u00a0
\nBukele may be the first national leader to solicit targeting data from social media, but the concept of crowdsourced airstrikes is not a new one. During the height of the Syrian Civil War in 2016, a group of 4chan users geolocated videos posted by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) and other jihadist fighters and fed their locations to a Russian military blogger who went by the alias \u2018Ivan Sidorenko\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n
4chan users find coordinates of terrorists in Syria and call in Russian airstrikes.<\/p>\n
5-30-2016 https:\/\/t.co\/wsfomyxONT\u2014 Middle East Observer (@ME_Observer_) November 29, 2020<\/p>\n
At least one jihadist training camp was subsequently destroyed by Russian airstrikes, although it remains unclear whether \u2018Ivan Sidorenko\u2019 supplied the coordinates to the Russian Defense Ministry, as he claimed.
\nThroughout the Russia-Ukraine conflict, both sides have used information gleaned from social media videos to locate and strike military deployment points, arms factories, and critical infrastructure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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