US Restarts Surveillance Flights Over Sambisa Forest Following Sokoto Airstrikes

American ISR aircraft have returned to the northeastern region of Nigeria to keep an eye on ISWAP operations after recent airstrikes.

After airstrikes on ISIS combatants in Sokoto State on Thursday night, the United States has resumed intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions over northeastern Nigeria, focusing on militants in the Sambisa forest.

The development was revealed on Saturday by Brant Philip, a terrorism tracker with a concentration on the Sahel, who shared flight-tracking data that showed a US aircraft passing over Borno State.

The Gulfstream V, a long-range business jet frequently adapted for espionage, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions, was the aircraft in question, according to the data.

“After a one-day break following the strikes in Sokoto State, the United States resumed ISR operations today on ISWAP in the Sambisa forest, Borno State in northeast Nigeria,” Philip posted on X (previously Twitter).

The Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), an ISIS affiliate that mostly operates in northeastern Nigeria and the Lake Chad basin, was the target of Saturday’s operation, Philip clarified.

The US launched its ongoing ISR missions in Nigeria on November 24 from Ghana, a logistical hub for the US military network in West Africa, according to flight-tracking data examined by several open-source experts.

Since the beginning of the mission, the same aircraft, associated with Tenax Aerospace, a US special mission aircraft provider known to collaborate closely with the US military, has reportedly flown over Nigeria nearly every day.

According to people with knowledge of the operation, the surveillance flights are used for a number of tasks, such as tracking down an American pilot who was abducted in the neighboring Niger Republic and obtaining intelligence on militant organizations in Nigeria.

In the midst of mounting anxiety over President Donald Trump’s threats of military intervention in Nigeria, National Security Adviser (NSA) Mallam Nuhu Ribadu met with US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in Washington a few weeks prior to the renewed US participation.

Following the meeting, Hegseth declared that the US Department of Defense would cooperate with Nigeria in a “aggressive” manner to put a stop to what he called the “persecution of Christians by jihadist terrorists.”

Trump previously called Thursday night’s airstrikes in North-West Nigeria, which were purportedly directed at militants with ties to ISIS, the “first fulfillment” of that pledge.

In his statement Thursday evening, the US president issued a warning: “More strikes would follow.”