The United States has resumed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations in Nigeria, days after carrying out air strikes targeting ISIS fighters in Sokoto state.
Flight tracking data shared on Saturday by Brant Philip, a Sahel-focused terrorism tracker, showed an American aircraft conducting surveillance flights over Borno state.
According to the data, the aircraft involved is a Gulfstream V — a long-range business jet that is frequently adapted for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions.
Philip said the latest intelligence activity was focused on the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), the ISIS affiliate operating mainly in Nigeria’s north-east region and the Lake Chad basin.
“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,” he tweeted on X.
Flight records indicate that the US restarted intelligence operations in Nigeria on November 24, shortly after the aircraft departed from Ghana, a key logistics hub for the American military in Africa. Since then, the jet has flown surveillance missions over Nigeria almost every day.
Further analysis of the tracking data linked the aircraft’s operator to Tenax Aerospace, a special mission aircraft provider known to work closely with the US military.
When the operations first began, a former US official said the missions were aimed at monitoring militant groups active in Nigeria, as well as tracking an American pilot who was kidnapped in neighbouring Niger Republic.
The renewed surveillance activities followed talks between Nigeria’s national security adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu, and US defence secretary Pete Hegseth in Washington, where discussions reportedly centred on President Donald Trump’s threat of military intervention.
After that meeting, Hegseth said the US Department of Defense would work “aggressively” with Nigeria to end the alleged “persecution of Christians by jihadist terrorists”.
Thursday night’s air strikes marked the first implementation of that threat, with Trump indicating that additional strikes would follow.
(THE CABLE)
Post A Comment: