Post‑Sokoto Airstrikes: US Restarts ISR Operations in Sambisa
The United States has resumed intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) operations over Nigeria’s northeast region, targeting militants in the Sambisa forest following recent air strikes on ISIS fighters in Sokoto State.
A Sahel-focused terrorism tracker, Brant Philip, disclosed the development on Saturday, sharing flight-tracking data showing a US aircraft flying over Borno State.
Philip explained that the operation focused on the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), the ISIS affiliate operating mainly in Nigeria’s northeast and the Lake Chad basin.
The aircraft involved was a Gulfstream V, a long-range business jet often modified for ISR missions. “The United States resumed ISR operations today on ISWAP in the Sambisa forest, Borno State in northeast Nigeria, after a pause of one day following the strikes in Sokoto State,” Philip wrote on X (formerly Twitter)
The renewed US engagement came just weeks after National Security Adviser (NSA) Mallam Nuhu Ribadu met with US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in Washington amid growing tension over President Donald Trump’s threats of military intervention in Nigeria.
After the meeting, Hegseth said the US Department of Defense would work “aggressively” with Nigeria to end what he described as the “persecution of Christians by jihadist terrorists” .
Sources familiar with the operation said the surveillance flights serve multiple purposes, including tracking an American pilot kidnapped in neighboring Niger Republic and gathering intelligence on militant groups in Nigeria.
The US began its ongoing ISR missions in Nigeria on November 24, taking off from Ghana, which serves as a logistics hub for the American military network in West Africa ¹
The same aircraft, linked to Tenax Aerospace, a US special mission aircraft provider known to work closely with the American military, has reportedly flown over Nigeria almost daily since the start of the mission .
The US Africa Command (AFRICOM) said its initial assessment indicated that “multiple” ISIS fighters were killed in the Sokoto strikes, though no specific casualty figures were released.
The Nigerian government confirmed it had approved the operation, with Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar saying on Friday that Nigeria had acted jointly with the US, but that no specific religion had been targeted .
In a statement, the Nigerian government said intelligence reports indicated that the targeted locations were being used by foreign ISIS elements infiltrating Nigeria from the Sahel region, in collaboration with local affiliates, to plan and execute large-scale terrorist attacks within the country. #Post‑Sokoto Airstrikes: US Restarts ISR Operations in Sambisa#
