The U.S. launched strikes on ISIS targets in Nigeria on Thursday, President Trump mentioned.
“Tonight, at my path as Commander in Chief, the US launched a robust and lethal strike towards ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who’ve been concentrating on and viciously killing, primarily, harmless Christians, at ranges not seen for a few years, and even Centuries!” Mr. Trump wrote on his social media platform Reality Social. “I’ve beforehand warned these Terrorists that if they didn’t cease the slaughtering of Christians, there can be hell to pay, and tonight, there was.”
Mr. Trump didn’t present additional particulars on the strikes, reminiscent of how many individuals had been killed, who or what was particularly focused, and what number of strikes had been carried out, aside from to say they had been “quite a few good strikes.
In early November, Mr. Trump mentioned that he had instructed the Pentagon to “put together for potential motion” in Nigeria after he alleged that Nigeria’s authorities was not doing sufficient to fight the persecution of Christians there.
“If we assault, will probably be quick, vicious and candy, similar to the terrorist thugs assault our CHERISHED Christians! WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!” Mr. Trump wrote on Nov. 1.
In response on the time, Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote on social media that the “Division of Battle” — the Trump administration’s most well-liked time period for the Protection Division — was “making ready for motion.”
This additionally comes a few week after the U.S. carried out a collection of strikes on ISIS targets in Syria in response to the killing of two U.S. troopers and an interpreter.
Mr. Trump in November additionally mentioned he can be designating Nigeria as a “nation of specific concern.”
Designating a “nation of specific concern” below the 1998 Worldwide Spiritual Freedom Act is an government prerogative that usually follows suggestions from each the congressionally mandated U.S. Fee on Worldwide Spiritual Freedom and the State Division.
The State Division normally releases its annual Report on Worldwide Spiritual Freedom within the spring, however has not but completed so this yr. The report might or might not embody “specific concern” designations, which will be completed at any time. And, such designations, which authorize U.S. penalties, don’t essentially impose sanctions.
The Nigerian authorities has rejected Mr. Trump’s claims that it’s not doing sufficient to guard Christians from violence. Analysts have mentioned that whereas Christians are amongst these focused, the vast majority of victims of armed teams are Muslims in Nigeria’s Muslim-majority north, the place most assaults happen.
Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu beforehand mentioned on social media that the characterization of Nigeria as a religiously illiberal nation doesn’t mirror the nationwide actuality.
“Spiritual freedom and tolerance have been a core tenet of our collective id and shall at all times stay so,” Tinubu mentioned. “Nigeria opposes spiritual persecution and doesn’t encourage it. Nigeria is a rustic with constitutional ensures to guard residents of all faiths.”
Nigeria was first positioned on the “nation of specific concern” record by the U.S. in 2020 in what the State Division referred to as “systematic violations of non secular freedom.” However the designation didn’t single out assaults on Christians. The designation was lifted in 2023 in what many noticed as a manner to enhance ties between the international locations forward of a go to by then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
