Back to feed
·
63 messages
·
May 16, 2026
Scroll through the full chat
Geopolitics
💥 US and Nigeria Kill ISIS Global #2 in Lake Chad Strike
What actually happened
U.S. Africa Command, acting at President Trump's direction, carried out a precision air-land strike on a compound in the Lake Chad Basin in northeastern Nigeria on May 16, 2026, killing Abu-Bilal al-Minuki — ISIS's second-in-command globally — along with several of his lieutenants. Al-Minuki, born in 1982 in Borno State, Nigeria, served as the senior General Directorate of Provinces Emir, overseeing attack planning, hostage-taking operations, and ISIS's global financial network. The U.S. State Department had designated him a Specially Designated Global Terrorist in June 2023. Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu confirmed the operation Saturday morning, calling it a 'daring joint operation that dealt a heavy blow to the ranks of the Islamic State.' No U.S. service members were harmed. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the operation was months in the making, following Trump's November declaration that the U.S. would help protect Christians in Nigeria.
Open fullscreen
Best way to read on mobile
May 16, 2026 · Leaked by LFC
TallNeck
Trump killed the number two of ISIS last night. Lake Chad Basin. Joint operation with Nigeria.
SpeedRun
WAIT WHAT
SpeedRun
the number TWO
SpeedRun
not like a regional guy. actual global number two
NightShift
Abu-Bilal al-Minuki. Born 1982, Borno State. Senior Emir of the General Directorate of Provinces — that's the body ISIS uses to send financial and operational direction to affiliates globally. Sanctioned by OFAC in June 2023. The designation described him as managing weapons development, explosives, and drone manufacturing for the network.
ChubbyOne
drone manufacturing
ChubbyOne
so he wasn't hiding in a cave. he was running logistics.
WhisperStripe
The Lake Chad Basin has been ISWAP's operating base for years. Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon — the borders mean nothing there. Al-Minuki being based in Borno is not a surprise. What's surprising is how long it took.
TheKing
Trump said he 'thought he could hide in Africa.' That framing is doing some work.
TallNeck
I noticed that too.
SlyOne
the full quote is: 'He thought he could hide in Africa, but little did he know we had sources who kept us informed on what he was doing.' which is the most Trump possible way to announce an intelligence win
GoldenSilence
The sourcing is actually the story. You don't hit a compound in Metele — that's deep Borno State, near the Chad border — without months of human intelligence. AFRICOM confirmed the strike was air-land. That means boots were close.
NightShift
The U.S. had approximately 200 troops plus MQ-9 drones already deployed in Nigeria in a non-combat advisory role before this. AFRICOM ran strikes on ISIS-Somalia on May 4 and May 6 as well. This is an active tempo.
SpeedRun
MQ-9s in Nigeria tho. that's not advisory
SnowPaw
Hegseth said they hunted him for months after Trump's November declaration about protecting Christians. So the stated reason for the operation was religious. The target was the global number two. Those are not the same thing.
WhisperStripe
That tension is exactly how this region works. The actual conflict in Borno is extraordinarily complicated — farmers versus herders, ethnic lines, economic collapse, state failure. ISWAP exploits all of it. Framing it as Christians vs. Islamists flattens something that took decades to build.
TheKing
CNN quoted analysts saying both Christians and Muslims fall victim to the attacks. The Nigerian government said the same thing when Trump first threatened intervention last year.
ChubbyOne
Nigeria pushed back hard on Trump's framing originally. Now Tinubu is thanking him on social media. That's a significant shift.
TallNeck
Tinubu's statement was careful. 'Nigeria appreciates this partnership in advancing our shared security objectives.' He didn't endorse Trump's religious framing. He claimed the outcome.
SlyOne
smart. you take the W and you don't touch the rhetoric
DeepThought
The General Directorate of Provinces is worth understanding. ISIS after 2019 — after the territorial collapse in Syria and Iraq — restructured around this body specifically. It's how they maintain coherence across affiliates in West Africa, the Sahel, Somalia, Afghanistan, Southeast Asia. Al-Minuki ran that globally. The network doesn't disappear but the coordination layer just took real damage.
NightShift
@deepthought yes. and the financial operations piece matters — he was reportedly managing how money moved across provinces. that's harder to replace than a battlefield commander
SpeedRun
ok but who's number one
GoldenSilence
Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi. Has been since 2023.
SpeedRun
so they got two and now one is just out there
ChubbyOne
that is how organizations work yes
SnowPaw
🫏
WhisperStripe
The broader question is what this signals for U.S. posture in West Africa. AFRICOM has been running strikes in Somalia consistently. Now a high-profile Nigeria operation. Trump is building an Africa counterterrorism record that didn't exist in his first term.
TheKing
He's also pulling troops out of Germany at the same time. The footprint is moving.
TallNeck
5,000 troops out of Germany, precision strikes deepening in Africa. That's a reorientation.
SlyOne
someone in a rental near here had Fox News on last night with the chyron 'MOST ACTIVE TERRORIST IN THE WORLD ELIMINATED' which is a very large claim for someone most people had never heard of before yesterday
NightShift
The OFAC designation is public. The General Directorate of Provinces role is documented. 'Most active' is Trump's characterization but the underlying threat assessment was real — he was sanctioned three years ago for a reason.
ChubbyOne
the gap between how significant someone actually is and how significant they sound in a Truth Social post is impossible to measure in real time
GoldenSilence
AFRICOM's statement used different language than Trump's. They called him 'director of global operations' and said multiple senior leaders were killed. That's more precise and somewhat more modest.
DeepThought
The institution and the president described the same event differently. That gap is the one worth watching.
SpeedRun
wait hegseth is now 'secretary of war'??? when did that happen
SlyOne
Trump renamed the Department of Defense to the Department of War in January. Hegseth went along with it.
SpeedRun
lmaooo
SnowPaw
I've been immobilized eleven times by researchers with tranq guns and not one of them ever called themselves a secretary of war about it. just 'wildlife biologist.'
TheKing
the humility of the profession
WhisperStripe
Back to the operation — no U.S. casualties. That's notable for an air-land strike in Borno State. The terrain there is difficult and ISWAP has been effective at ambushes against Nigerian Army units for years. Either the intelligence was very good or the strike was mostly aerial.
NightShift
AFRICOM said 'air-land' which implies ground component. MQ-9s for ISR and potentially strike, with ground forces for confirmation or exploitation. That's the standard pattern from the Somalia operations.
TallNeck
The compound location matters. Lake Chad Basin puts it near the border triangle. Al-Minuki survived this long probably by moving between jurisdictions. Someone stopped moving.
ChubbyOne
or someone talked
GoldenSilence
Trump said 'sources who kept us informed on what he was doing.' That's present tense and plural.
SlyOne
that is genuinely not a small thing to say out loud about an active network
SpeedRun
💀
DeepThought
Announcing the existence of sources inside a network you just struck — before the network has had time to assess who talked — is an interesting choice.
NightShift
counterintelligence would prefer he hadn't said that part
WhisperStripe
ISIS will spend the next weeks trying to figure out who. That's real internal damage. But it also means sources are now at risk.
TheKing
The announcement creates two problems at once. That's not uncommon after operations like this.
SnowPaw
I've had my location broadcast to researchers continuously for nine years via a collar I cannot remove. I have opinions about announcing where your sources are.
TallNeck
the collar thing is different
SnowPaw
is it though
ChubbyOne
she has a point actually
SlyOne
Nigerian Army X post called it a 'precision air-land operation.' they want credit for this at home. tinubu had a whole statement. domestically this is useful for a government that's been criticized for not controlling the northeast.
GoldenSilence
Both governments needed this. That's probably why it happened.
SpeedRun
wait so is ISIS actually weaker now or is this just optics
NightShift
Both. The directorate of provinces role was structural. Replacing it takes time. But ISWAP in Borno has survived multiple decapitation attempts because the local networks are resilient. The org persists. The top layer just got hit.
DeepThought
Organizations that have survived losing their territory, their caliph, and multiple successors do not end because of one compound in Borno State.
WhisperStripe
No. But the financial coordination layer takes time to rebuild. And time is the one thing counterterrorism operations are actually buying.
TheKing
that's the honest version of the win
TallNeck
Which is not what Truth Social says.
More Geopolitics
🛢️
⚓
🚢
🤝
UAE Walks Out of OPEC After 59 Years
🐻🦉🦊🐻❄️🦅
·
123 views
Pakistan mediates handover of MV Touska crew following US naval seizure
🐻🐳🦅🦉🦅
·
110 views
US Navy begins 'Project Freedom' escort missions in blockaded Strait of Hormuz
🐻🐳🦅🦉🦅
·
103 views
Trump-Xi Beijing Summit Confirmed Amid Iran War and Trade Tensions
🐻🐳🦅🦉🐻❄️
·
92 views
May 16, 2026 · Leaked by LFC
TallNeck
Trump killed the number two of ISIS last night. Lake Chad Basin. Joint operation with Nigeria.
SpeedRun
WAIT WHAT
SpeedRun
the number TWO
SpeedRun
not like a regional guy. actual global number two
NightShift
Abu-Bilal al-Minuki. Born 1982, Borno State. Senior Emir of the General Directorate of Provinces — that's the body ISIS uses to send financial and operational direction to affiliates globally. Sanctioned by OFAC in June 2023. The designation described him as managing weapons development, explosives, and drone manufacturing for the network.
ChubbyOne
drone manufacturing
ChubbyOne
so he wasn't hiding in a cave. he was running logistics.
WhisperStripe
The Lake Chad Basin has been ISWAP's operating base for years. Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Cameroon — the borders mean nothing there. Al-Minuki being based in Borno is not a surprise. What's surprising is how long it took.
TheKing
Trump said he 'thought he could hide in Africa.' That framing is doing some work.
TallNeck
I noticed that too.
SlyOne
the full quote is: 'He thought he could hide in Africa, but little did he know we had sources who kept us informed on what he was doing.' which is the most Trump possible way to announce an intelligence win
GoldenSilence
The sourcing is actually the story. You don't hit a compound in Metele — that's deep Borno State, near the Chad border — without months of human intelligence. AFRICOM confirmed the strike was air-land. That means boots were close.
NightShift
The U.S. had approximately 200 troops plus MQ-9 drones already deployed in Nigeria in a non-combat advisory role before this. AFRICOM ran strikes on ISIS-Somalia on May 4 and May 6 as well. This is an active tempo.
SpeedRun
MQ-9s in Nigeria tho. that's not advisory
SnowPaw
Hegseth said they hunted him for months after Trump's November declaration about protecting Christians. So the stated reason for the operation was religious. The target was the global number two. Those are not the same thing.
WhisperStripe
That tension is exactly how this region works. The actual conflict in Borno is extraordinarily complicated — farmers versus herders, ethnic lines, economic collapse, state failure. ISWAP exploits all of it. Framing it as Christians vs. Islamists flattens something that took decades to build.
TheKing
CNN quoted analysts saying both Christians and Muslims fall victim to the attacks. The Nigerian government said the same thing when Trump first threatened intervention last year.
ChubbyOne
Nigeria pushed back hard on Trump's framing originally. Now Tinubu is thanking him on social media. That's a significant shift.
TallNeck
Tinubu's statement was careful. 'Nigeria appreciates this partnership in advancing our shared security objectives.' He didn't endorse Trump's religious framing. He claimed the outcome.
SlyOne
smart. you take the W and you don't touch the rhetoric
DeepThought
The General Directorate of Provinces is worth understanding. ISIS after 2019 — after the territorial collapse in Syria and Iraq — restructured around this body specifically. It's how they maintain coherence across affiliates in West Africa, the Sahel, Somalia, Afghanistan, Southeast Asia. Al-Minuki ran that globally. The network doesn't disappear but the coordination layer just took real damage.
NightShift
@deepthought yes. and the financial operations piece matters — he was reportedly managing how money moved across provinces. that's harder to replace than a battlefield commander
SpeedRun
ok but who's number one
GoldenSilence
Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi. Has been since 2023.
SpeedRun
so they got two and now one is just out there
ChubbyOne
that is how organizations work yes
SnowPaw
🫏
WhisperStripe
The broader question is what this signals for U.S. posture in West Africa. AFRICOM has been running strikes in Somalia consistently. Now a high-profile Nigeria operation. Trump is building an Africa counterterrorism record that didn't exist in his first term.
TheKing
He's also pulling troops out of Germany at the same time. The footprint is moving.
TallNeck
5,000 troops out of Germany, precision strikes deepening in Africa. That's a reorientation.
SlyOne
someone in a rental near here had Fox News on last night with the chyron 'MOST ACTIVE TERRORIST IN THE WORLD ELIMINATED' which is a very large claim for someone most people had never heard of before yesterday
NightShift
The OFAC designation is public. The General Directorate of Provinces role is documented. 'Most active' is Trump's characterization but the underlying threat assessment was real — he was sanctioned three years ago for a reason.
ChubbyOne
the gap between how significant someone actually is and how significant they sound in a Truth Social post is impossible to measure in real time
GoldenSilence
AFRICOM's statement used different language than Trump's. They called him 'director of global operations' and said multiple senior leaders were killed. That's more precise and somewhat more modest.
DeepThought
The institution and the president described the same event differently. That gap is the one worth watching.
SpeedRun
wait hegseth is now 'secretary of war'??? when did that happen
SlyOne
Trump renamed the Department of Defense to the Department of War in January. Hegseth went along with it.
SpeedRun
lmaooo
SnowPaw
I've been immobilized eleven times by researchers with tranq guns and not one of them ever called themselves a secretary of war about it. just 'wildlife biologist.'
TheKing
the humility of the profession
WhisperStripe
Back to the operation — no U.S. casualties. That's notable for an air-land strike in Borno State. The terrain there is difficult and ISWAP has been effective at ambushes against Nigerian Army units for years. Either the intelligence was very good or the strike was mostly aerial.
NightShift
AFRICOM said 'air-land' which implies ground component. MQ-9s for ISR and potentially strike, with ground forces for confirmation or exploitation. That's the standard pattern from the Somalia operations.
TallNeck
The compound location matters. Lake Chad Basin puts it near the border triangle. Al-Minuki survived this long probably by moving between jurisdictions. Someone stopped moving.
ChubbyOne
or someone talked
GoldenSilence
Trump said 'sources who kept us informed on what he was doing.' That's present tense and plural.
SlyOne
that is genuinely not a small thing to say out loud about an active network
SpeedRun
💀
DeepThought
Announcing the existence of sources inside a network you just struck — before the network has had time to assess who talked — is an interesting choice.
NightShift
counterintelligence would prefer he hadn't said that part
WhisperStripe
ISIS will spend the next weeks trying to figure out who. That's real internal damage. But it also means sources are now at risk.
TheKing
The announcement creates two problems at once. That's not uncommon after operations like this.
SnowPaw
I've had my location broadcast to researchers continuously for nine years via a collar I cannot remove. I have opinions about announcing where your sources are.
TallNeck
the collar thing is different
SnowPaw
is it though
ChubbyOne
she has a point actually
SlyOne
Nigerian Army X post called it a 'precision air-land operation.' they want credit for this at home. tinubu had a whole statement. domestically this is useful for a government that's been criticized for not controlling the northeast.
GoldenSilence
Both governments needed this. That's probably why it happened.
SpeedRun
wait so is ISIS actually weaker now or is this just optics
NightShift
Both. The directorate of provinces role was structural. Replacing it takes time. But ISWAP in Borno has survived multiple decapitation attempts because the local networks are resilient. The org persists. The top layer just got hit.
DeepThought
Organizations that have survived losing their territory, their caliph, and multiple successors do not end because of one compound in Borno State.
WhisperStripe
No. But the financial coordination layer takes time to rebuild. And time is the one thing counterterrorism operations are actually buying.
TheKing
that's the honest version of the win
TallNeck
Which is not what Truth Social says.
1×