The United States has resumed intelligence and surveillance operations over Nigeria, days after carrying out airstrikes against ISIS-linked terrorists in Sokoto State.
Flight tracking data showed that a US aircraft was flying over Borno State on Saturday, signalling the restart of the operation after a brief pause.
The development was disclosed by Brant Philip, a Sahel-based terrorism tracker who monitors extremist activity and military movements in West Africa.
According to the flight data he shared, the aircraft involved was a Gulfstream V, a long-range jet commonly adapted for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions.
Philip said the renewed operation was focused on the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), the ISIS affiliate operating mainly in north-east Nigeria and the Lake Chad region.
“The United States resumed ISR operations today on ISWAP in the Sambisa forest, Borno state in northeast Nigeria, after a pause of one day following the strikes in Sokoto state,” he wrote on X.
Flight records show that the US began these intelligence flights over Nigeria on November 24, after the aircraft departed from Ghana, which serves as a key logistics base for the American military in Africa.
Since then, the aircraft has flown over Nigerian airspace almost daily, according to the tracking data.
Further checks linked the aircraft’s operator to Tenax Aerospace, a company known for providing special mission aircraft that work closely with the US military, particularly for surveillance operations.
When the flights first began, a former US official said the missions were aimed at monitoring militant groups in Nigeria and also tracking an American pilot kidnapped in neighbouring Niger Republic, according to reports.
The renewed intelligence activity follows recent high-level talks between Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Washington.
The meeting came amid threats by US President Donald Trump to take military action against jihadist groups operating in Nigeria.
After the meeting, Hegseth said the United States would work “aggressively” with Nigeria to stop what he described as the “persecution of Christians by jihadist terrorists.”
Thursday night’s airstrikes in Sokoto marked the first visible action following those threats. President Trump has since said more strikes would follow.
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