US Warns of Additional Nigeria Military Actions as Abuja Talks of 'Collaborative Ongoing Operations'.

The U.S. defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has warned of further airstrikes against Islamic State positions in north-western Nigeria. This follows a short time after U.S. military forces launched strikes against insurgent bases. The ex-president Donald Trump has described these efforts as part of a campaign to halt the killing of Christians.

“The commander-in-chief was clear last month: the murder of defenseless Christians in Nigeria has to stop,” the defense secretary wrote on a social media platform. “The Department of Defense is constantly prepared, so ISIS found out tonight – on Christmas. Additional actions will follow … Thankful for Nigerian government backing and collaboration. Merry Christmas!”

The Nigerian Foreign Minister Describes Strikes as Joint Operation

Nigeria’s top diplomat, Yusuf Tuggar, remarked on Friday that the U.S. strikes were “part of joint ongoing operations.” This statement came after the former U.S. leader had earlier alleged Nigeria’s government of not doing enough to stop Christians from being killed.

Nigeria is officially a secular state with a population nearly divided between Muslims and Christians. Violence against Christians has drawn attention from religious groups in the United States, who frame it as religious persecution. The government in Abuja have pointed out that armed groups attack both Christians and Muslims.

Information and Coordination Behind the Missions

Nigeria supplied the information for the strikes in Sokoto state, Tuggar informed a television network. He detailed that he had consulted with his U.S. counterpart, then contacted the Nigerian president for authorization, and subsequently 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 work with the Americans, to work with other countries, to combat terrorism, to stop the killing of innocent Nigerians … It’s a collaborative effort.”

The U.S. military’s Africom confirmed the operations in Sokoto state had been carried out in coordination with local officials.

Background of Conflict in Northwestern Nigeria

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

Clashes between pastoralists and predominantly Christian farming communities have been exacerbated by ethnicity and religion, but their core causes lie in competition for resources.

• Priests and religious leaders have increasingly been taken hostage, though some experts say this may be driven more by financial motives than religious discrimination.
• A Christmas Eve attack at a mosque in north-east Nigeria took the lives of at least five people and wounded dozens more, in a distinct conflict largely unrelated to the violence in the north-west.

Ongoing Unrest and Data

There have been numerous events of violence in Nigeria this year, with about half 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 “protecting Nigerians and civilians,” not a single faith. “It is a joint operation,” he said. “It is not targeting any religion.”

Wider American Military Posture

This intervention comes amid a wider pattern of U.S. military engagement overseas during this period. Despite running as a “candidate of peace” who promised to withdraw the U.S. from “foreign quagmires,” the first year of this term has seen strikes in multiple countries and a major military buildup in another region.

No official from 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 responded: “You can call it a fresh chapter of an old conflict. For us it is something that is continuing.”