Analysts claim the withdrawal of U.S. and European troops from countries in Africa’s Sahel, and their replacement by Russian mercenaries, has led to a spike in jihadist-driven terrorism. 

The Sahel is a belt of countries running roughly west to east across the continent just below the Sahara Desert. A total of 3,885 deaths — about 51% of all terrorism-related fatalities globally in 2024 — occurred in the Sahel, according to the Global Terrorism Index.

In at least three Sahel states — Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso — military juntas that came to power in coups, notably Niger and Mali, have expelled Western military forces. The U.S. was asked, after 11 years in the country, to halt anti-terror drone operations from two bases in Niger last year. In Mali, French forces were ejected in 2022 after battling Islamist terror groups for nine years. 

Governments have turned to the Kremlin’s private mercenary army, the Africa Corps — formerly known as the Wagner Group — for protection. But the Russians are reportedly more interested in extracting minerals than helping stop the spread of jihadism.

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Ordinary people often bear the brunt of jihadist attacks in the Sahel. Last month, Islamist gunmen on motorbikes reportedly killed 22 people in an attack on Tillaberi village in western Niger. Fifteen of the dead were families attending a naming ceremony for a child, reports said. In northern Mali in January, Russian mercenaries allegedly joined government forces in executing 10 civilians, including a 2-year-old boy.

In the Sahel, «groups affiliated with the Islamic State and al-Qaeda are continuing their territorial and strategic advance,» the Observer Research Foundation reported in August, «taking advantage of governance gaps and weak security forces to push into littoral West African states such as Benin and Togo.»

«The situation in the Sahel, particularly in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, has rapidly deteriorated since the U.S. and French have withdrawn from the countries following the coups,» Bill Roggio, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies,(FDD) told Fox News Digital.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi shake hands during a family photo opportunity during the Russia Africa Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, Friday, July 28, 2023.  (Alexei Danichev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Roggio, also editor of the FDD’s Long War Journal, added, «The reality is that the situation was bad before the U.S. and French left the region, but the drawdown of U.S. and French forces has exacerbated the jihadist advances.»

«Both al Qaeda’s branch in the region, JNIM, (al Qaeda-linked Jama’a Nusrat Al-Islam wa al-Muslimin) and the Islamic State have made gains and control significant enclaves in the countries … The juntas in these three countries wanted the West out, and have turned to Russia to provide security via Wagner, which is now ironically called the Africa Corps.»

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A Boko Haram flag flutters from an abandoned command post in Gamboru deserted after Chadian troops chased jihadists from the border town on February 4, 2015.  (Stephane Yas/AFP via Getty Images)

«The Russian forces have little incentive to improve security and focus on securing mineral resources for profit,» Roggio added. «This further fuels the jihadist insurgencies, which prey on civilians caught between the jihadists and weak-to-nonexistent governments in some cases. There is little the U.S. can do at the moment, as these governments are anti-West and do not want a return of U.S. and French forces. And I am not sure either country has the political will or desire to return.»

Dr. Frans Cronje, a political and economic analyst, said in an interview with Fox News Digital that during the run-up to the 2023 coup in Niger, a sophisticated political and media campaign sought to turn public opinion against Western influence, often using anti-colonial themes popular in Western political culture.

Russia’s Wagner group mercenaries in Mali, Africa.  (East2West)

Cronje continued, «French and U.S. stabilization efforts were tarred as imperialist interference and worse. That was on top of the fact that French and U.S. troops were already under severe strain in combating a jihadist insurgency that threatened the civilian population. You could make the case that even without the coup, the Western position was untenable, short of committing ever greater volumes of arms and munitions to a war very far away from Paris and Washington.»

Cronje agreed with Roggio in his assessment of the Kremlin’s position: «Russia’s forces have now filled the gap left by the French and Americans, but Russia’s objective is securing resource supply chains — not civilians.»

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Wagner mercenaries in Mali, December 2023. (East2West)

He concluded, «It is difficult to say if this situation could have been avoided. The only way to do it would have been to run political and media operations to build popular support for Western actors, then install a pro-Western administration and, beyond that, vastly increase Western military resources, including troops, deployed in Niger. All a bridge too far for Western actors — and, in many respects, understandably so.»

A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, «The United States has engaged with Sahelian countries using a pragmatic approach that focuses on advancing our foreign policy priorities. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Will Stevens’ recent visits to the region reinforced the U.S. government’s work with host country officials to advance U.S. commercial opportunities and to engage on strategic counterterrorism priorities to mitigate threats to U.S. personnel and interests.»

Tomahawks, Tomahawks, Tomahawks. That’s the word buzzing in the ears of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as President Donald Trump weighs providing America’s precision strike missile of choice to Ukraine.   

Since May, Trump has bombed the Houthis in Yemen, obliterated Iran’s nuclear facilities and hit narco-terrorist drug boats in the Caribbean.  Putin has to realize that Tomahawks could soon be in the skies over Russia.

What can Ukraine hit with the 1,000-mile-range Tomahawks? Start with the Shahed drone factory in Tatarstan, and at least 67 Russian airbases. Tomahawks in Ukraine’s hands rip open Russian energy infrastructure to precision attack with no warning.

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If Ukraine launches Tomahawks, they’ll be flying as low as 100 feet, hugging the terrain, evading radar. TLAMs can each take separate routes at 500 mph and then meet up over the Russian target for a coordinated strike.

Trump is baiting Putin. «Hopefully, they won’t need it,» Trump said of the Tomahawks at Friday’s lunch with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the White House. Trump said he’d like to «get the war over without Tomahawks» but then went on to describe the missiles as «very dangerous» and «incredible.»

Here’s the backstory on the Tomahawks and why Trump is keeping them on the table to pressure Putin.  

Built for the Russian target set

First tested in 1972, the Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missile, or TLAM, was actually developed by the U.S. Navy during the Cold War to attack targets on land in the Soviet Union. In case you haven’t seen one up close, the Tomahawk is 20 feet long but just 21 inches wide.  It looks like a white pole with winglets, but inside is a powerful turbo-fan engine and sophisticated guidance. Today’s Block IV Tomahawks can be retargeted in flight, and loiter over a target for hours, taking electro-optical scans and waiting for other missiles to arrive before detonating. They carry a unitary warhead for harder targets, or dispense cluster munitions over a wide pattern to hit airfields, for example. (Yes, there was once a nuclear TLAM variant with a 200 Kiloton warhead, but they were placed in storage in 1991 and eliminated in 2010.) 

Air Defense Nightmare 

The presence of Tomahawks in Ukraine will set up an almost insoluble air defense problem for Putin. No way can Russia place air defenses at every remote gas pipeline point or cover all the airbases where planes park out in the open.  

Fast delivery

TLAMs could be in Ukraine in 24 hours. The Army Mid-Range Capability missile system is a tractor-trailer missile launcher that can be driven onto a U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo plane. The Army deployed TLAM launcher 8,000 miles away to North Luzon in the Philippines in under 15 hours last year for a wargame. Trump has plenty of time.  

Deterring Putin. The brutal escalation of mass attacks by Russia led Ukraine to ramp up its drone strikes on Russian energy starting in August. According to a Reuters study, Ukraine’s drones have hit 18 pumping stations, plus 32 strikes on refineries. Ukraine’s Liutyi drones have a range of about 600 miles and carry warheads of about 50 pounds. Mixing in TLAMs would intensify pressure on Russian energy, Putin’s single biggest source of government revenue. Zelenskyy has called Ukraine’s drone attacks on Russian energy «the sanctions that work the fastest.»

In this handout released by the U.S. Navy, the guided-missile destroyer USS Barry (DDG 52) launches a Tomahawk cruise missile in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn. (U.S. Navy via Getty Images)

Don’t worry about depleting TLAM inventory

The U.S. still has about 4,000 Tomahawks in its inventory, and new missiles like the U.S. Navy’s SM-6 are already in action. The U.S. Army deployed its new Dark Eagle long-range hypersonic weapons to Australia in August and will have its first full battery by December. By the way, last year Japan bought 400 Tomahawks for targeting China and North Korea.  

Combat Record

Tomahawks have piled up an incredible combat record since Jan. 17, 1991, when 122 TLAMs hit Iraqi oil and command and control targets at the start of Operation Desert Storm. Eight-hundred TLAMs were fired in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. Over the years, Tomahawks have hit targets in Iraq, Serbia, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen and, of course, Iran. On June 22, TLAMs hit above-ground «key surface infrastructure targets» in the nuclear complex at Isfhahan, according to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine. The TLAM strikes left the sprawling site visibly damaged and blackened. «We gave it a capper with 30 TLAMS,» as Trump said Friday. 

Putin may yell and scream about Tomahawks for Ukraine. Pay no attention. He’s grumbled about each weapon system, from F-16s to Patriots. And no, Putin does not dare escalate with nuclear weapons in Ukraine, because the wind patterns blow radiation clouds back into Russia.  

As Trump said Friday: «Yeah, its escalation. But we’re going to talk about it anyway.»  

Ante 60 mil fieles que llenaban la plaza de San Pedro al Vaticano, el Papa León XIV canonizó a los dos primeros santos de Venezuela y a otros cinco elevados a la santidad, en una jornada que miles de venezolanos presentes en la plaza vivieron con una ruidosa alegría y fervor religioso

Con el repicar de las campanadas como fondo el pontífice canonizó al médico de los pobres José Gregorio Hernández y a la monja Carmen Rendiles, en Venezuela el momento fue saludado con aplausos ovaciones y una gran emoción del pueblo movilizado desde la madrugada de hoy en las celebraciones.

Junto con el doctor José Gregorio Hernández y la monja Carmen Rendiles, el Papa elevó a la santidad al antiguo “sacerdote satánico” convertido a la fe católica, el italiano Bartolo Longo; al primer santo de Nueva Guinea, Peter To Rot; al obispo armenio Ignacio armenio Ignacio Choukrallah Maloyan, a dos monjas italianas: las hermanas Vicenza María Poloni y Maria Troncatti.

En una jornada soleada, se desplegaron enormes retratos se los siete canonizados en el frente de la basílica.

El prefecto del dicasterio para la Causa de los Santos, cardenal Marcello Semeraro, leyó en voz alta los perfiles de los elegidos en medio de los aplausos y ovaciones de la multitud, miles de los cuales comulgaron de manos de un ejército de sacerdotes.

El Papa leyó la fórmula de canonización. Pidió “que su intercesión nos asista en las pruebas y su ejemplo nos inspire en la común vocación a la santidad”, dijo el pontífice durante la homilía.

La tradición impone que para ser canonizado sea necesario haber realizado dos milagros, llevar fallecido al menos cinco años y haber llevado una vida cristiana ejemplar.

Venerado en Venezuela desde hace años, José Gregorio Hernández Cisneros nació el 26 de octubre de 1964 en las montanos de la población andina de Isnotu, Estado de Trujillo. Tras viajar a Caracas para estudiar, se graduó de médico en 1888. Fundó la Academia Nacional de Medicina y combatió la mortífera epidemia de gripe española que mató al uno por ciento de la población del país.

Fallecido en 1919 su imagen está tatuada en la cultura popular venezolana, donde los más devotos lo veneran e imitan su siempre impecable vestimenta como un acto de fe.

“El doctor” es un referente para “la gente de a pie, de la gente humilde”.

Carmen Elena Rendiles, la primera santa venezolana, fue una monja nacida en 1903 sin el brazo izquierdo, que superó su discapacidad para fundar la Congregación de las Siervas de Jesús, antes de su muerte en 1977.

Además de los de los siete santos de hoy, el Papa canonizó el mes pasado a los italianos Carlo AcuTis, un joven llamado “el influencer de Dios”, que murió en 2006, y a Pier Giorgio Frasssati, considerado un modelo de caridad cristiana que murió a los 24 años, en 1925.

Hay que recordar que promotor de la canonización del médico Hernández fue el papa argentino Francisco, que firmó su declaración de santidad basado en “la veneración generalizada del doctor santo”

El Papa León presentó en su homilía a los siete nuevos santos como modelos para los católicos “pues llevaron encendida la lámpara de la fe”.

En la ceremonia de hoy fue canonizado también el arzobispo Ignazio Choukrailah Maloyan, un católico armenio que fue asesinado por negarse a renunciar a su fé, en lo que el Vaticano ha calificado como el genocidio armenio de la era otomana.

En el marco de las celebraciones previas a la canonización de los primeros santos venezolanos, se celebró en Roma un acto académico en el que el sustituto para los Asuntos Generales de la Secretaría de Estado Vaticano, el venezolano Edgar Peña Parra, destacó que estas canonizaciones “son un ejemplo universal capaz de inspirar fraternidad, servicio y esperanza, superando toda barrera cultural y geográfica”.

Destacó que “la canonización de Joe Gregorio Hernández no solo es un momento de reconciliación y unidad para Venezuela sino también un don para toda la Iglesia».

A su vez el arzobispo de Carcas Raúl Biond, destacó que la canonización de los dos primeros santos venezonalos representan “una causa país” y “un momento para generar esperanza” en medio de la crisis que atraviesa Venezuela”.