Last night, President Donald Trump announced that he had ordered strikes on ISIS targets in Nigeria. “Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!” he said on Truth Social. “I have previously warned these Terrorists that if they did not stop the slaughtering of Christians, there would be hell to pay, and tonight, there was. The Department of War executed numerous perfect strikes, as only the United States is capable of doing. Under my leadership, our Country will not allow Radical Islamic Terrorism to prosper. May God Bless our Military, and MERRY CHRISTMAS to all, including the dead Terrorists, of which there will be many more if their slaughter of Christians continues.”
U.S. Africa Command reported that its initial assessment was that multiple ISIS terrorists were killed in the ISIS camps. “U.S. Africa Command is working with Nigerian and regional partners to increase counterterrorism cooperation efforts related to ongoing violence and threats against innocent lives,” said Gen. Dagvin Anderson, commander, U.S. Africa Command. “Our goal is to protect Americans and to disrupt violent extremist organizations wherever they are.”
Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar told CNN Friday that he had spoken with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio prior to the strike and that Nigerian President Bola Tinubu gave the “go ahead.”
“This is not about religion. It is about Nigerians, innocent civilians, and the wider region as a whole,” Tuggar said. “When you talk about the Sahel, [the] majority are Muslims. They’re not Christians.”
“Whoever is prepared to work with us to fight terrorism, we’re ready, willing, and able,” he said, later adding: “We demonstrated this yesterday.”
Officially, the U.S. hasn’t said how the strikes were carried out, but the DoD did release a 4-second video showing what appears to be a Tomahawk cruise missile being launched from an Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer. The UK Defense Journal identified the destroyer as the USS Paul Ignatius. The Pentagon has not confirmed how many missiles were used or provided detail on target locations, damage assessments, or casualties, UKDJ adds.
