US Warns of Further Nigerian Military Actions as Abuja Talks of 'Joint Ongoing Operations'.
The U.S. defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has signaled new strikes against IS targets in northwest Nigeria. This comes hours after U.S. military forces launched strikes against militant camps. The former president Donald Trump has characterized these actions as part of a campaign to stop the killing of Christians.
“The commander-in-chief was clear last month: the murder of defenseless Christians in Nigeria has to stop,” Hegseth wrote on a social platform. “The Department of Defense is constantly prepared, so ISIS found out tonight – on Christmas. Additional actions will follow … Grateful for Nigerian government backing and collaboration. Merry Christmas!”
The Nigerian Top Diplomat Frames Actions as Joint Effort
Nigeria’s foreign minister, Yusuf Tuggar, remarked on Friday that the U.S. strikes were “part of collaborative continuing operations.” This statement came after the former U.S. leader had earlier alleged Nigeria’s government of failing to stop Christians from being killed.
Nigeria is constitutionally a secular state with a population almost evenly split between Muslims and Christians. Attacks against Christians has garnered focus from religious groups in the United States, who frame it as religious persecution. Nigerian authorities have noted that armed groups attack both Christians and Muslims.
Information and Coordination Behind the Airstrikes
Nigeria supplied the intelligence for the strikes in Sokoto state, Tuggar told a local broadcaster. He detailed that he had spoken with his U.S. counterpart, then contacted the Nigerian president for approval, and subsequently conferred with the American official again.
“We have been collaborating extensively with the Americans,” Tuggar said. “This is what we’ve always been hoping for, to work with the Americans, to work with other countries, to combat terrorism, to end the death of blameless Nigerians … It’s a collaborative effort.”
The U.S. military’s Africom confirmed the operations in Sokoto state had been executed in concert with Nigerian authorities.
Context of Conflict in North-West Nigeria
Wooded areas in Sokoto state, which borders Niger, have been used as hideouts by criminal groups and members of Islamic State – Sahel Province. Some observers say this IS branch originated when pastoralists joined together to combat bandits due to a absence of state support. The region is mostly Muslim.
Conflicts between Muslim herders and mostly Christian farming communities have been aggravated by ethnicity and religion, but their core causes lie in disputes for resources.
- Clergy and religious leaders have increasingly been taken hostage, though some experts say this may be driven more by financial motives than sectarian hatred.
- A Christmas Eve suicide bombing at a mosque in north-east Nigeria killed at least five people and wounded dozens more, in a separate conflict mostly unrelated to the violence in the north-west.
Ongoing Violence and Statistics
There have been thousands of incidents of violence in Nigeria this year, with about half of them affecting civilians, according to research data. States like Katsina and Sokoto have been among the hardest-hit regions.
Tuggar stressed that the mission was about “protecting Nigerians and civilians,” not a single faith. “It is a collaborative mission,” he said. “It is not targeting any religion.”
Wider American Foreign Policy
This intervention comes amid a wider pattern of U.S. military activity overseas during this period. Despite running as a “champion of peace” who promised to extricate the U.S. from “foreign quagmires,” the first year of this presidency has seen strikes in multiple countries and a significant 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 more would follow, Tuggar replied: “You can call it a fresh chapter of an long-standing struggle. For us it is something that is continuing.”
