At least 65 soldiers—including three senior officers—have been killed in jihadist raids on military garrisons in Nigeria's northeast this month. Five bases were overrun by the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP)—four of them in a single night March 5-6, showing a notable level of coordination. Military equipment, including armored vehicles, was also torched or captured. ISWAP's "Burn the Camps" offensive began last year and has accelerated against an overstretched military. (TNH)

Human Rights Watch (HRW) confirmed March 10 that an al-Qaeda-linked armed group summarily executed 10 long-haul truck drivers and two teenage apprentices in late January in southwestern Mali as part of the group's attack on a fuel convoy and deemed the acts "apparent war crimes."

Following through on threats made last month, President Donald Trump announced Dec. 25 that he had ordered air-strikes against Islamic State targets in Nigeria, ostensibly in retaliation for the group's targeting of Christian communities.

The UN on Nov. 21 decried a recent attack against civilians perpetrated by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) armed group in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The UN described the incident as "one of the most appalling attacks" ever recorded in the country, and indicated that it may constitute a war crime.

US President Donald Trump on Nov. 1 said that he has ordered the Pentagon, or the "Department of War," to prepare contingency plans for potential military action in Nigeria. Trump alleged that the Nigerian government has failed to protect Christian communities from violent extremist attacks.

Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso announced Sept. 22 that they will withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing the tribunal of serving "imperial" rather than African interests. The three countries, each governed by military juntas and members of the newly formed Alliance of Sahel States (AES), issued a joint declaration stating that they no longer recognize the ICC as a legitimate forum for justice, charging that it has become an "instrument of neo-colonialist repression."

Human Rights Watch (HRW) stated on Sept. 10 that the armed group Islamic State in the Sahel Province (IS Sahel) is escalating attacks on civilians, reporting that since March the group has illegally executed 127 people in western Niger.

HRW documented five armed attacks by the group in Tillabéri region during that time frame. The group killed 70 worshipers at a mosque in a mass execution on June 21. HRW reported that a woman who lost three sons in the massacre said there were "bodies everywhere, one on top of the other."

The so-called Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) insurgent group has launched its most successful military campaign to date in northeast Nigeria's Lake Chad Basin region. Throughout May, ISWAP raided a series of supposedly impenetrable army bases, forcing the military's withdrawal and the displacement of civilian communities—some of whom had been recently resettled by the Borno State government following its closure of internally displaced persons camps in the state capital, Maiduguri.