What's behind Trump's Christmas Day Nigeria airstrikes
- - What's behind Trump's Christmas Day Nigeria airstrikes
Cybele Mayes-Osterman, USA TODAY December 27, 2025 at 1:43 AM
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The U.S. launched strikes in Nigeria against Islamic State militants on Christmas Day, after President Donald Trump threatened in November to go into the country "guns-a-blazing" over what he called a "mass slaughter" of Christians.
At Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's direction, and in coordination with Nigerian authorities, the U.S. military launched strikes on "ISIS terrorists" in the country's northwest, according to U.S. Africa Command.
Trump said on Truth Social that he ordered the military to launch a "powerful and deadly strike against ISIS terrorist scum in Northwest Nigeria who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians."
President Donald Trump has issued a full travel ban blocking the entry of foreign nationals from 12 countries, and partially restricting seven others, into the United States, reviving a controversial policy from his first term that is likely to be challenged in court.
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1 / 21Trump issues travel ban on 12 nations, partially restricts nine others
President Donald Trump has issued a full travel ban blocking the entry of foreign nationals from 12 countries, and partially restricting seven others, into the United States, reviving a controversial policy from his first term that is likely to be challenged in court.
The military "executed numerous perfect strikes," he added.
Hegseth wrote in an X post that there would be "more to come."
The operation marked the first time the U.S. has launched deadly strikes in Nigeria as part of its efforts to combat ISIS, or the Islamic State, in Africa.
More: US hits Islamic State in Nigeria after Trump warnings
The U.S. on Dec. 19 launched airstrikes on ISIS targets in Syria after a gunman with suspected ties to the terrorist group allegedly shot dead two U.S. soldiers stationed in the country and their interpreter earlier this month.
The strikes backed up threats from Trump beginning in late October over what he called mass killings of Nigerian Christians – an issue long pushed by the online right and more recently glommed onto by Trump. Ongoing violence in the country has impacted Christians, but experts say the situation is far more nuanced than how Trump has described it.
Where were the strikes?
According to U.S. Africa Command, the strikes were in Sokoto State, on the country's northwestern border with Niger.
The U.S. has not released any further information about how many targets were struck and how many people were killed. The Pentagon referred USA TODAY to U.S. Africa Command, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The U.S. struck an undisclosed number of ISIS targets in Nigeria on Dec. 25.
Nigeria's foreign ministry said the U.S. coordinated its strikes with the Nigerian government, and that the two countries shared intelligence. Yusuf Tuggar, the country's foreign minister, told CNN he had discussed the strikes beforehand in two phone calls with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
"We are ready willing and able to collaborate coordinate with any foreign government that is committed to the fight against terrorism," Tuggar said. "This is not about religion, this is about Nigerian innocent civilians and the wider region as a whole."
Why is Trump concerned with Nigeria?
Trump first aired concerns about killings of Christians in Nigeria in the fall. On Oct. 31, he designated Nigeria a "country of particular concern," a State Department category for countries implicated in "particularly severe violations of religious freedom."
The next day, he threatened on Truth Social that the U.S. would cut off aid to Nigeria and could "go into that now disgraced country, 'guns-a-blazing,'" if the government "continues to allow the killing of Christians."
Concern over violence directed specifically against Christians in Nigeria has long circulated among the right wing and religious groups. It has been taken up recently by well known figures including Trump's ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, talk show host Bill Maher and rapper Nicki Minaj.
Are Christians really being killed in Nigeria?
Nnamdi Obasi, the International Crisis Group's senior advisor on Nigeria, said security issues in the country were "multifaceted," and Christians aren't the only group at risk.
Both Christians and Muslims, who make up around 60% of Nigeria's population, have been targets of violence, according to Obasi.
Some attacks, like suicide bombings, are indiscriminate, he said. Muslim sites of worship like mosques, prayer grounds, and Islamic schools have been destroyed, he added.
Remnants are seen inside the Al-Adum Jumaat Mosque a day after an explosion that struck the mosque following evening prayers near Gamboru Market in Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria, December 25, 2025. Officials blamed the attack on the Boko Haram militant group.
"It’s not just a single narrative of the killing of Christians. There are different manifestations of violence in different parts of the country," he said.
The northwest, where the U.S. said it launched the strikes, is a "heavily Muslim" area, Obasi said. That means the victims of violence, which is largely perpetrated by armed bandits in that region, are also mostly Muslim, he said.
ISIS is mostly present in Nigeria's northeast, Obasi said. In that region, a faction of Boko Haram, another violent extremist group, split off and formed an alliance with other ISIS factions in the Middle East, he said.
Rescued schoolchildren from St. Mary's School sit at the Niger State Government House after being freed from captivity following their abduction by gunmen, in Minna, Nigeria, December 8, 2025.
A group known as Lakurawa in the Northwest was initially brought into the region by locals to help protect against the bandit groups around 2017, but evolved into an extremist group in the years since, Obasi said.
ISIS in the Sahel Province, or ISSP, has expanded its operations along the border between Niger and Nigeria, including in Sokoto, since the beginning of 2024, according to Armed Conflict Location & Event Data.
Obasi said a continued U.S. operation specifically directed towards defending Christians could risk "further polarizing the country along religious lines."
"A U.S. military campaign that doubles down on protecting the Christian population will almost certainly be misunderstood by the Muslim population that this is a one-sided response," he said.
What will the strikes do?
Javed Ali, the counterterrorism director on the National Security Council during Trump's first term, said air strikes alone were unlikely to destroy or significantly degrade the ISIS presence in Nigeria. "It's too big, too dispersed, and Nigeria is a huge country," he said.
People read newspapers reporting on U.S. airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Nigeria, in Lagos, Nigeria, December 26, 2025.
"The Jihadist environment in central-west Africa has been entrenched and persistent for decades," said Ali, now an associate professor at the University of Michigan. Although the U.S. had deployed several hundred troops and intelligence collection capabilities to combat Islamist groups in Africa, there was never a serious effort to launch strikes in Nigeria, he said.
"This is the first time this has happened," he said.
If the strikes are the beginning of a longer operation, other considerations will come into play, like whether ISIS will try to retaliate against the U.S. or its troops in the region, Ali said.
"Do we truly understand the very complex ethnic and religious and tribal makeup of a country like Nigeria?" he said. "If we don’t, the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan tell you: the deeper you get involved in these countries, the harder it becomes" to reach an end state, he said.
Where is Nigeria?
Nigeria is on Africa's western coast. With a population of 218.5 million people, it is Africa's most populous country.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why is Trump striking Nigeria? What to know about Christmas attack
Source: “AOL Breaking”
