US resumes surveillance flights over Sambisa forest after airstrike in Sokoto
The United States has resumed intelligence and surveillance operations in Nigeria following air strikes on ISIS terrorists in Sokoto.
Brant Philip, a Sahel-focused terrorism tracker, shared flight tracking data that showed the aircraft flying over Borno state.
The aircraft was a Gulfstream V, a long-range business jet often modified for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions, according to the data.
Philip said Saturday’s intelligence operations focused on the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), the ISIS affiliate in Nigeria, which operates primarily in the north-east and 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 tracking data showed that the US began intelligence operations in Nigeria on November 24 after taking off from Ghana, a hub for the American military’s logistics network in Africa.
The aircraft has flown over Nigeria almost daily since the start of the mission.
Flight tracking data linked the operator to Tenax Aerospace, a special mission aircraft provider that works closely with the US military.
At the time the operations began, a former US official said the missions include tracking an American pilot who was kidnapped in neighbouring Niger Republic and gathering intelligence on militant groups operating in Nigeria.
The intelligence operations in Nigeria took off days after Nuhu Ribadu, the national security adviser (NSA), met Pete Hegseth, US defence secretary, in Washington over President Donald Trump’s military intervention threats.
After the meeting, Hegseth said his department would work “aggressively” with Nigeria to end the alleged “persecution of Christians by jihadist terrorists”.
Thursday night was the first of the threat’s fulfilment. Trump said more strikes would follow.
Before the Christmas Day attack, the United States had carried out similar missions in Sokoto, Yobe and the Lake Chad region.
Nigeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Yusuf Tuggar, told the BBC that the airstrikes were a joint Nigeria–US operation and that more action could still follow.
The renewed surveillance points to the possibility of fresh strikes, this time focused on the North-East.
