The United States resumed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) operations over Nigeria on Saturday, days after carrying out air strikes against ISIS terrorists in Sokoto State, flight tracking data and terrorism analysts have said.
Brant Philip, a Sahel‑focused terrorism tracker, shared flight data showing a Gulfstream V aircraft, a long‑range business jet often modified for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, flying over Borno State.
Philip said Saturday’s operations were targeting the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), the ISIS affiliate operating mainly in the northeast and the Lake Chad basin.
“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‑tracking information indicated that the US began intelligence flights over Nigeria on November 24, after the aircraft took off from Ghana, a logistical hub for the American military in Africa.
The aircraft has reportedly flown over Nigerian territory almost daily since the start of the mission.
The data also tied the aircraft’s operator to Tenax Aerospace, a provider of special mission aircraft that works closely with the US military.
Around the time the operations commenced, a former US official said the missions were tasked with tracking an American pilot kidnapped in neighbouring Niger Republic and gathering actionable intelligence on militant groups operating in Nigeria.
The intelligence flights over Nigeria were resumed shortly after Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Nigeria’s National Security Adviser, met with Pete Hegseth, US Defence Secretary, in Washington.
The meeting followed public statements from the Pentagon about working “aggressively” with Nigerian authorities to end what was described as the “persecution of Christians by jihadist terrorists.”
Last Thursday night’s strike in Sokoto was the first fulfilment of US President Donald Trump’s vow to act on those threats, with Trump saying more strikes would follow.