American Warns of Further Nigeria Airstrikes as Nigeria's Capital Speaks of 'Joint Continuing Operations'.

The American defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has indicated additional military actions against ISIS positions in northwest Nigeria. This comes a short time after U.S. military forces conducted operations against insurgent bases. The ex-president Donald Trump has described these actions as part of a campaign to halt the slaughter of Christians.

“The commander-in-chief was explicit previously: the killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria needs to cease,” the defense secretary stated on a social media platform. “The Pentagon is constantly prepared, so ISIS discovered tonight – on Christmas. More to come … Grateful for Nigerian government backing and collaboration. Merry Christmas!”

Nigeria's Foreign Minister Frames Strikes as Collaborative Operation

Nigeria’s top diplomat, Yusuf Tuggar, said on Friday that the American military actions were “part of collaborative ongoing operations.” This comment came after Trump had earlier accused Nigeria’s government of not doing enough to stop Christians from being killed.

Nigeria is officially a non-religious state with a population nearly divided between Muslims and Christians. Attacks against Christians has drawn attention from conservative groups in the United States, who describe it as religious persecution. Nigerian authorities have pointed out that armed groups attack both Christians and Muslims.

Information and Coordination Preceding the Airstrikes

Nigeria provided the intelligence for the airstrikes in Sokoto state, Tuggar informed a local broadcaster. He detailed that he had spoken with his American opposite number, before contacted the Nigerian president for approval, and then spoke 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 partner with the Americans, to cooperate with other countries, to fight terrorism, to stop the killing of innocent Nigerians … It’s a collaborative effort.”

The U.S. military’s Africa Command said the operations in Sokoto state had been executed in concert with Nigerian authorities.

Context of Conflict in Northwestern Nigeria

Wooded areas in Sokoto state, which borders Niger, have been used as bases by gangs of armed bandits and members of ISSP. Some analysts say this IS branch started when pastoralists banded together to fight bandits due to a absence of state support. The region is predominantly Muslim.

Conflicts between pastoralists and mostly Christian farming communities have been exacerbated by communal and sectarian factors, but their core causes lie in disputes for land and water.

• Priests and pastors have increasingly been kidnapped for ransom, though some experts say this may be driven more by criminal incentives than religious discrimination.
• A Christmas Eve suicide bombing at a mosque in north-east Nigeria killed at least five people and wounded dozens more, in a distinct conflict mostly separate to the violence in the north-west.

Continuing Unrest and Statistics

There have been thousands of incidents of violence in Nigeria this year, with about 50% of them targeting civilians, according to conflict monitoring data. States like Katsina and Sokoto have been among the hardest-hit regions.

Tuggar stressed that the operation was about “safeguarding Nigerians and civilians,” not a single faith. “It is a collaborative mission,” he said. “It is not targeting any religion.”

Broader American Military Posture

This intervention comes amid a wider pattern of American activity overseas during this administration. Despite campaigning as a “candidate of peace” who promised to extricate the U.S. from “foreign quagmires,” the initial period of this term has seen strikes in several countries and a significant deployment of forces in another region.

Neither the U.S. nor Nigerian authorities have disclosed if there were any fatalities in the latest airstrikes. When questioned if additional actions would follow, Tuggar replied: “You can call it a new phase of an old conflict. For us it is something that is continuing.”