Our daily reconnaissance around the world

🇨🇦🇭🇹 The Canadian government agreed to send military aircraft to patrol the airspace above Haiti. Haitian authorities requested military support from Canada – a close ally and the only other French-speaking nation in the Americas – in order to help "disrupt the activities of gangs." Haiti was thrown into crisis following the July 2021 assassination of its president, with gangs violently assuming control of major infrastructure like roads, water, electricity, and even bus services. The country’s military was recently reestablished after disbanding in 1995, but it only contains ~500 soldiers. As of last month, every democratic institution in Haiti was no longer functioning.

🇷🇺 Russia is building a factory to make thousands of Iranian-designed drones for the Ukraine war, per the WSJ. Iran has already provided Moscow with hundreds of drones – most of them so-called ‘suicide drones’ – that were used to hit military and civilian targets in Ukraine over the past several months. Now, leaders from the two nations have agreed to build a joint drone-production line in Yelabuga, Russia, that can produce at least 6,000 drones in the coming years, multiple officials from a US-aligned country told the Journal.

🇮🇷 Iran’s supreme leader pardoned tens of thousands of prisoners, including many linked to ongoing anti-government protests, per state media. Though the mass amnesty doesn’t apply to those charged with serious offenses like espionage, murder, causing intentional injuries, vandalism, or arson, as well as those "affiliated with groups hostile to the Islamic Republic." In response, several human rights groups said Iran’s move was “propaganda” or a “PR stunt,” and called for the release of all ~20,000 protesters currently being detained.