2026-02-28

EASTERN PORT-AU-PRINCE The Haitian National Police launched a large-scale offensive against armed gangs in the commune of Tabarre at approximately 7:30 AM on February 27, 2026. Several gang members were killed in the opening engagements. Specialized PNH units filled trenches that criminal networks had excavated to obstruct armored vehicle movement. Searches of structures in the operational zone produced a significant cache of Molotov cocktails, which were destroyed on site. No PNH casualties were reported in initial dispatches from HaitiLibre and Le Nouvelliste. This operation follows a January 31 Tabarre assault that killed eight gang members and cleared the Pont de Tabarre to Carrefour Marassa corridor using armored vehicles and engineering equipment. The recurring trench-filling requirement indicates that armed groups are systematically deploying anti-vehicular earthworks, forcing the PNH to conduct combined-arms operations rather than standard law enforcement actions. The tactical pattern has now appeared in at least two Tabarre engagements within thirty days. February 28, 2026 The Tabarre operation must be read in conjunction with the February 20-21 Kenscoff operation that killed sixteen gang members using snipers and drones, and the February 23 Delmas kidnapping intervention that killed six kidnappers while losing two PNH officers. The PNH received new armored combat vehicles at Port-au-Prince customs on February 5, the first acquisition of this class for the institution. Across these four engagements, the PNH is now conducting near-daily operations across Tabarre, Kenscoff, Delmas, and Carrefour-Aeroport simultaneously. Sustainability is the central operational risk. The February 23 Delmas action cost two PNH lives against six gang members killed, a ratio that signals lethal resistance rather than collapsing gang capacity. Without the Gang Suppression Force reinforcement projected for April, the current operational tempo places attrition pressure on a police corps already operating at institutional limits. The June-July rainy season will further complicate armored mobility in low-lying zones.