On April 25, a coalition of jihadist and Tuareg rebel forces launched a major offensive across northern Mali, capturing Kidal and forcing Russian Africa Corps troops to withdraw from one of their most symbolic strongholds. Since then, Algeria has walked a delicate line. While publicly backing Mali's territorial integrity and condemning the offensive, Algiers reportedly helped negotiate the safe withdrawal of Russian forces from Kidal. Algeria is in a unique position in the Sahel. Despite years of tensions with Mali's government, border disputes, and accusations of support for Tuareg rebels, Algeria remains one of the few actors with influence across multiple sides of the conflict. For Bamako, the fall of Kidal exposed the limits of its military strategy and reliance on Russian support. For Algeria, it reinforced a longstanding argument that northern Mali cannot be stabilized through force alone. Algeria has a long and complicated history with Islamist armed and militant groups across the region. With its growing influence over events in northern Mali, some now see the country as turning Mali into its latest arena for regional power projection.