- 7/8/2025
From decades-old tensions to centuries of conflict, these ongoing wars continue to shape our world today. Join us as we explore the longest-running international conflicts that remain active, from regional disputes to global concerns. Which of these historical conflicts do you think will be resolved first?
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00:00The bulk of this country today, it's secure.
00:03Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we'll be discussing the longest-running international conflicts
00:08that are still ongoing at the time of this writing.
00:16Jamaican political conflict.
00:18The background and activities behind any conflict are likely to have multiple players with their own agendas and motivations.
00:24The violence was beginning to break the confidence of the Jamaican people in their own society,
00:31and therefore having a very bad effect on the economy.
00:33The history of conservative and liberal clashes within Jamaican political parties dates back to 1943,
00:39with both sides still occasionally rising up with violence against their opposition.
00:43There have also been accusations of major world economies clandestinely funding the two major Jamaican parties.
00:50They were treating government money as if it was their personal money.
00:53Specifically, it's been surmised that America's CIA organization is somehow involved with the conservative Jamaican Labour Party,
01:01while the democratic socialist beliefs of the People's National Party have been said to have been backed by the government of Cuba,
01:06as well as the former Soviet Union.
01:08We have to know that it's not only the victims that are hurting, but also the offenders as well.
01:14The Somali Civil War.
01:16It's not entirely rare that a major military conflict ebbs and flows over the years,
01:20with certain phases waxing and waning on through an eventual end.
01:24So they blew up this war?
01:26Yes, exactly.
01:26And you fixed it already?
01:28Of course.
01:30We fixed it within a day.
01:32More than two days.
01:33And life goes on?
01:35Yes, of course.
01:36And it will.
01:37The civil war in Somalia is still ongoing at the time of this writing, however.
01:41Despite possessing origins that date back to 1991 and the ousting of former Somali president Siad Barre,
01:48the latter had himself taken power via a military junta back in 1969.
01:52But there was growing unrest and resistance to the Barre regime that further fueled the fires of war.
01:58This is a country, at one point, that was the best democratic country in Africa.
02:04Now it has become, in a sense, the worst because there has been no government in place for 25 years.
02:10Today, clashes between the al-Qaeda loyalist al-Shabaab militants, Somali federal forces,
02:16and various peacekeeping groups still erupt, with al-Shabaab territory holding a large influence within southern areas of Somalia.
02:23How do you stay safe when you're running restaurants like this?
02:26Basically, there's always hope.
02:28I give them always hope.
02:29And one day, if it's coming sooner, it's coming later.
02:32The Papua conflict.
02:34The large island of New Guinea has been the home of this conflict,
02:37that's been largely centered over its Indonesian-controlled western half.
02:41I sometimes feel depressed because of the situation that we face here.
02:46The Free West Papua campaign has been involved in small-scale guerrilla warfare
02:50against Indonesian officials as well as civilians.
02:53In December 2018, a group of West Papuan independence fighters ambushed and slaughtered at least 16 Indonesian road workers.
03:03The Papua conflict stands in the shadow of Papua New Guinea in the east,
03:07an autonomous country free from Indonesian administration.
03:10There have also been accusations against Indonesia with regards to their treatment of West Papua citizens,
03:16the suspension of their human rights, and of violent targeted killings.
03:19How much do you worry for your safety at the moment in West Papua?
03:24Along my life, I worry about my life.
03:27Not only me, I worry about my people's lives.
03:30All the people in West Papua worry about their life.
03:32Active skirmishes have been reported throughout 2025,
03:35including a killing of two Indonesian police officers as recent of May 16th of that year.
03:41The Kabinda War
03:42Angola was officially declared an independent country
03:45after a peaceful coup ended its war for independence back in 1974.
03:50After 15 years of liberation struggle, Angola attained independence from Portugal.
03:54The Republic of Kabinda was a protectorate prior to this time,
03:58when Angola was still under the control of the Portuguese.
04:01The Kabinda War officially kicked off a year later,
04:03with the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Kabinda
04:06seeking to re-establish itself away from its current status as an unrecognized state.
04:11Taking a page from the newly reorganized National Front for the Liberation of Angola,
04:16Fleck established a government in exile on January 10th, 1967,
04:21in a move welcomed by Gabon, the Central African Republic, and Uganda, among others.
04:26Violent skirmishes have been reported as recently as 2022,
04:30while accusations of human rights violations have been laid at the feet of Angolan authorities.
04:35The Kabinda enclave is still the scene of clashes.
04:37Kurdish separatist insurgencies.
04:40There are a number of important examples of Kurdish uprisings within areas like Iran and Iraq
04:45that are still ongoing at the time of this writing.
04:48A pause in the fighting between NATO-allied Turkey and Kurdish forces in northern Syria
04:53has been welcomed by the U.S.
04:54The longest lasting are the Iraqi-Kurdish conflict that emerged in the aftermath of World War I in 1918,
05:01Kurdish separatism in Iran from around the same time,
05:04and the Kurdish-Turkish conflict that dates back to 1921.
05:08The violence is worse than it's been in more than a decade.
05:12700 people have been killed since last June, 14 months.
05:16The Iraqi-Kurdish conflict has seen a decrease in violence over the years following the Iraq War in 2003,
05:22while less intense uprisings and violent clashes have also been reported in Iran since 2016.
05:28Meanwhile, a tentative and complicated ceasefire agreement between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers' Party
05:34was announced in March of 2025.
05:36Korean conflict
05:48The Korean War may have ended in 1953,
05:51but conflict within that region has been ongoing since 1948
05:54and remains a very active and volatile proposition.
05:57If this were to happen, is this a short war or a long war?
06:02I think it's a short war.
06:03The war actually exists as a frozen conflict,
06:06since no peace treaty was officially signed,
06:08and both North and South Korea still lay claim to Seoul's sovereignty.
06:12Today, the 291st meeting of the Military Armistice Commission is being held here at Panmunjom.
06:19Today's meeting is ending as usual with stalemate.
06:22Korea's former status as a Japanese colony may have ceased after World War II,
06:26but Cold War-era attempts to unify that country,
06:29by both the United States and the Soviet Union,
06:31were failures that led directly into the Korean conflict's legacy into the modern day.
06:36South Korea's military says it is, quote,
06:39fully ready to respond after North Korea ordered troops on the border to prepare to fire.
06:45It's unsure at this point whether Korea's demilitarized zone will ever be a thing of the past,
06:50or whether North and South Korea will ever be united.
06:53Indo-Pakistani Wars
06:55The partition of India in 1947 divided this former British colony into two separate states,
07:01the Dominion of Pakistan and what's now known as the Republic of India.
07:04Conflict over land and territory, such as the Kashmir region,
07:08have been ongoing since 1947.
07:10So in the 1990s, conflict in Kashmir raged again.
07:17There have also been reports of terrorist activity related to this conflict within both Pakistan and India over the course of the last 50 years.
07:25There's been a long-standing disagreement on how to even approach diplomacy,
07:30with India opposing the involvement of other countries and Pakistan favoring international mediation.
07:35Worry surrounding the possible usage of nuclear weapons remains a valid one for those living in these regions,
07:41since the history of Indo-Pakistani warfare has ebbed and flowed for over 75 years at the time of this writing.
07:47It's a deeply felt and very real conflict.
07:53Afghan conflict.
07:55Far more intelligent folks than us have weighed in upon the seemingly endless amount of combustive political tensions that have dominated Afghanistan.
08:02conflict within this region has existed in one form or another since 1978,
08:22Conflict within this region has existed in one form or another since 1978, specifically
08:27within the power vacuum that emerged in the wake of the Sour Revolution in 1978.
08:32The removal of former Afghan President Mohammed Daoud Khan, who also took autocratic power
08:37after a coup d'etat five years earlier, pushed the region into a socialist direction that
08:42tied itself with the Soviet Union.
08:52Since then, notable events such as the September 11 terrorist attacks upon the United States,
09:05American retaliation in the region, and the Taliban's return to power have ensured that
09:10life in Afghanistan remains unstable.
09:21Arab-Israeli Conflict This long-standing and seemingly never-ending
09:24conflict between the state of Israel and the region of Palestine is one that has spilled
09:29over into the political discourse of countries all over the world.
09:32After the war was over, the United Nations decided to partition Palestine into two countries,
09:37the Jewish state of Israel and the Arab state of Palestine.
09:43Israel agreed to the partition, and borders were drawn for two states, but many Arab residents
09:47thought the partition unfairly favored the Jewish population.
09:50It's a conflict of many sides, stories, and opinions, as supporters from both sides plead
09:55cases for homeland and heritage.
09:57The Gaza war is the most recent example of violence between Israel and Palestinian forces,
10:02but the central focus of the Arab-Israeli conflict primarily has to do with ancestral claims of
10:07territory.
10:08By the late 1980s, Palestinian frustration exploded into the Intifada, which is the Arabic word
10:14for uprising.
10:15These claims have often escalated to the point of violence, although various moments of tenuous
10:20peace have existed in the aftermath of events such as the Yom Kippur War of 1973 and the
10:25Egypt-Israel peace treaty in 1979.
10:29Important decisions have to be made if we are to proceed on the road to peace.
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10:51The Myanmar conflict
10:52It was known as Burma prior to the Four-Eights Uprising of 1988, the protests and riots that
10:59eventually resulted in the establishments of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.
11:03As if to underline what they saw as Burma's new era, the generals also changed its name
11:09to Myanmar.
11:11And it was back in 1948 that what was then Burma saw the onset of its internal conflict involving
11:17armed ethnic groups within the region.
11:19Peace-fire attempts within Myanmar have been attempted but failed, with fighting and human
11:24rights violations continuing to be a problem within the region.
11:27I stated that in Myanmar the situation of human rights remains alarming.
11:31Accusations have been levied against both Myanmar's armed forces divisions, the Tatmadaw, as well
11:37as resistance groups.
11:38Charges which include, but aren't limited to, the usage of landmines against civilians as well
11:43as child labor for soldier recruitment.
11:46There are many historical conflicts that fascinate you.
11:58Let us know in the comments.
11:59We have to exchange three documents, so we'll all sign three times for this one.
12:13Let us know in the comments.
12:14Let us know.
12:15Let us know in the comments.
12:19All right.
12:20Let us know in the comments.
12:23One of the comments.
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