US Resumes Intelligence Flights Over Nigeria After Sokoto ISIS Strikes
The United States on Saturday resumed intelligence and surveillance operations in Nigeria, days after Thursday night’s airstrikes targeting ISIS militants in Sokoto State.
Brant Philip, a terrorism tracker focused on the Sahel region, shared flight-tracking data indicating that the aircraft operated over Borno State.
According to the data, the aircraft was a Gulfstream V — a long-range business jet commonly adapted for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions.
Philip said Saturday’s operations were focused on the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), the Nigerian affiliate of ISIS, which is active mainly in the North-East 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 wrote on X.
Flight-tracking records showed that the US began intelligence operations in Nigeria on November 24, with the aircraft departing from Ghana, a key hub in the US military’s African logistics network.
Since the mission began, the aircraft has flown over Nigeria almost every day.
Additional flight data linked the operator to Tenax Aerospace, a special-mission aircraft provider that works closely with the US military.
When the operations commenced, a former US official said the missions included tracking an American pilot kidnapped in neighbouring Niger Republic, as well as gathering intelligence on militant groups operating within Nigeria.
The renewed intelligence activity followed days after Nuhu Ribadu, Nigeria’s national security adviser, met with US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth in Washington amid President Donald Trump’s threats of military intervention.
After the meeting, Hegseth said the US defence department would work “aggressively” with Nigeria to end the alleged “persecution of Christians by jihadist terrorists”.
Thursday night’s strikes marked the first apparent execution of that threat, with Trump warning that additional strikes would follow.
