What you need to know about US military actions in Nigeria

US attacks against the group Islamic State in northwest Nigeria followed the president’s threat Donald Trump Earlier this year he decided to take military action if the Nigerian government failed to stop the killing of Christians by Islamist militants.

Trump did not specify which attacks he was referring to or provide evidence to support claims made by several of his political allies that Christians were being attacked in Nigeria.

Trump announced the attacks on Truth Social but gave few details.

He said only that “the United States has launched a powerful and deadly attack against the terrorist scum of the United States.” ISIS in northwestern Nigeria” and accused the group of “savagely attacking and murdering mostly innocent Christians.”

The Defense Ministry said it worked with the Nigerian government in carrying out the attacks.

On November 1, Trump said that if the Nigerian government continued “to allow the murder of Christians, the United States will immediately cease all aid and support to Nigeria and may well invade that country in disgrace.”Weapons in hand‘”.

“I hereby direct our War Department to prepare for possible action,” he wrote. “If we attack, it will be quick, fierce and powerful.”

The Defense Minister, Pete Hegsethresponded to the president’s post with the following words:

“Yes, sir,” adding that the Pentagon was “preparing to take action.”

A day earlier, the Trump administration announced it would redesignate Nigeria as a “country of particular concern,” a designation the U.S. government applies to nations deemed responsible for “serious violations of religious freedom.”

Trump took a similar measure in 2020 near the end of his first term, which was repealed during the Biden administration.

Trump’s threat of military intervention marked a significant escalation.

When asked last month about the details of his plan, he replied:

“I foresee many things. They are killing Christians, and in large numbers. “We will not allow that.”

In the days leading up to Trump’s threats, several of his political allies made similar allegations.

The senator Ted Cruzfrom Texas, accused Nigeria of “facilitating the mass murder” of Christians.

Nigeria has denied the allegations.

Your President, Bola Ahmed Tinuburecently stated that the country remains committed to protecting religious freedom.

“Nigeria stands firmly as a democracy governed by constitutional guarantees of religious freedom,” Tinubu wrote on social media.

Characterizing Nigeria “as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality,” he added in a statement, citing the government’s ongoing efforts to protect freedom of religion or belief for all Nigerians.

Nigeria, home to around 220 million peoplehas a large population of Christians and Muslims.

Some areas of the country have long suffered from violence from extremist groups, such as: Boko Haraman Islamist terrorist group based in northeastern Nigeria that has attacked both Christians and Muslims it deems insufficiently loyal.

A splinter group, the Islamic State of West Africa Province, has carried out similar attacks.

In a 2024 report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom found that extremist violence in Nigeria “affects large numbers of Christians and Muslims in several states.”

Central Nigeria has also seen repeated deadly clashes between herders and farmers as the fight over scarce resources fuels long-standing religious and ethnic tensions.

Usually it’s the shepherds Fulani ethnicity and Muslims, while farmers are usually Christians.

Some conflicts are simply due to land grabbing by armed men.

And in northwestern Nigeria there is a large kidnapping industry for ransom.

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