US Issues Warning of Further Nigerian Airstrikes as Abuja Talks of 'Collaborative Continuing Operations'.
The American Pentagon chief, Pete Hegseth, has indicated further strikes against ISIS positions in northwest Nigeria. This follows a short time after U.S. military forces conducted operations against militant camps. The former president Donald Trump has described these actions as part of a campaign to halt the killing of Christians.
“The president was clear previously: the killing of defenseless Christians in Nigeria has to stop,” Hegseth wrote on a social platform. “The Department of Defense is always ready, so ISIS discovered tonight – on Christmas. Additional actions will follow … Thankful for Nigerian government support & cooperation. Merry Christmas!”
The Nigerian Top Diplomat Describes Strikes as Collaborative Effort
Nigeria’s top diplomat, Yusuf Tuggar, said on Friday that the U.S. strikes were “part of collaborative ongoing operations.” This comment followed after the former U.S. leader had earlier alleged Nigeria’s government of not doing enough to stop Christians from being killed.
Nigeria is officially a secular state with a population nearly divided between Muslims and Christians. Violence against Christians has drawn attention from conservative groups in the United States, who frame it as religious persecution. The government in Abuja have noted that militants target both Christians and Muslims.
Information and Collaboration Behind the Airstrikes
Nigerian authorities supplied the information for the airstrikes in Sokoto state, Tuggar told a local broadcaster. He detailed that he had consulted with his U.S. counterpart, before called the Nigerian president for approval, and subsequently conferred with the American official again.
“We have been working closely with the Americans,” Tuggar said. “This is what we’ve long desired, to partner with the Americans, to cooperate with other countries, to fight terrorism, to stop the killing of blameless Nigerians … It’s a joint effort.”
The U.S. military’s Africa Command confirmed the strikes in Sokoto state had been carried out in coordination with local officials.
Background of Violence in North-West Nigeria
Wooded areas in Sokoto state, which borders Niger, have been used as bases by gangs of armed bandits and members of ISSP. Some observers say this IS branch started when herders banded together to fight bandits due to a lack of state support. The region is mostly Muslim.
Clashes between Muslim herders and mostly Christian farming communities have been exacerbated by ethnicity and religion, but their roots lie in competition for resources.
- Priests and religious leaders have increasingly been kidnapped for ransom, though some specialists say this may be driven more by criminal incentives than sectarian hatred.
- A Christmas Eve suicide bombing at a mosque in north-east Nigeria took the lives of at least five people and wounded dozens more, in a separate insurgency largely separate to the violence in the north-west.
Ongoing Unrest and Data
There have been thousands of incidents of violence in Nigeria this year, with about 50% of them affecting civilians, according to conflict monitoring data. States like Katsina and Sokoto have been among the hardest-hit regions.
Tuggar stressed that the mission was about “safeguarding Nigerians and innocent lives,” not one religion. “It is a joint operation,” he said. “It is not targeting any religion.”
Wider U.S. Military Posture
This intervention comes amid a broader pattern of American activity overseas during this administration. Despite running as a “candidate of peace” who promised to extricate the U.S. from “endless wars,” the first year of this presidency has seen strikes in several countries and a major deployment of forces in another region.
Neither the U.S. or Nigerian authorities have revealed if there were any fatalities in the latest airstrikes. When questioned if additional actions would follow, Tuggar responded: “You can call it a new phase of an old conflict. For us it is something that is continuing.”
