Last French Troops to Bow Out of Africa's Sahel

French soldiers started leaving Niger in October. AFP
French soldiers started leaving Niger in October. AFP
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Last French Troops to Bow Out of Africa's Sahel

French soldiers started leaving Niger in October. AFP
French soldiers started leaving Niger in October. AFP

 

The last French troops withdrew from Niger on Friday, marking an end to more than a decade of French anti-militant operations in west Africa's Sahel region, AFP saw and Niger's military announced.
The French exit from Niger leaves hundreds of US military personnel, and a number of Italian and German troops, remaining in the country.
"Today's date (...) marks the end of the disengagement process of French forces in the Sahel," Niger army lieutenant Salim Ibrahim said.

France said it would pull out its roughly 1,500 soldiers and pilots from Niger after the former French colony's new ruling generals demanded they depart following a coup on July 26.
It was the third time in less than 18 months that French troops were sent packing from a country in the Sahel.
They were forced to leave fellow former colonies Mali last year and Burkina Faso earlier this year following military takeovers in those countries too.
All three nations are battling a militant insurgency that erupted in northern Mali in 2012, later spreading to Niger and Burkina Faso.
But a string of coups in the region since 2020 has seen relations nosedive with France and a pivot toward greater rapprochement with Russia.
French President Emmanuel Macron announced in September the withdrawal of all French troops from Niger by the end of the year, with a first contingent leaving in October.
Perilous desert routes
Most French troops in Niger were at an air base in the capital Niamey.
Smaller groups were deployed alongside Nigerien soldiers to the border with Mali and Burkina Faso, where militant groups linked to the ISIS group and Al-Qaeda are believed to operate.
The withdrawal was a complex operation, with road convoys having to drive up to 1,700 kilometers (1,000 miles) on sometimes perilous desert routes to the French center for Sahel operations in neighboring Chad.
The first French road convoy of troops withdrawing from Niger arrived in neighboring Chad's capital N'Djamena in October, after 10 days on the road.
From Chad, French troops can leave by air with their most sensitive equipment, though most of the rest has to be moved by land and sea.
According to a source close to the matter, some of the French containers carrying equipment were to be driven from Chad on to the port of Douala in Cameroon, before they can be ferried back to France by sea.
US, German troops
France's former ally in Niger, overthrown president Mohamed Bazoum, remains under house arrest.
A US official said in October that Washington was keeping about 1,000 military personnel in Niger but was no longer actively training or assisting Niger forces.
The United States said earlier this month that it was ready to resume cooperation with Niger on the condition its military regime committed to a rapid transition to civilian rule.
Niger's rulers want up to three years for a transition back to a civilian government.
Military leaders in Niamey early this month said they were ending two European Union security and defense missions in the country.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius visited Niger earlier this week to discuss the fate of around 120 German troops based in the country.
Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger in September banded together in a joint defense pact to fight militants.
France's withdrawal from Mali last year left a bitter aftertaste, after the bases it once occupied in Menaka, Gossi and Timbuktu were rapidly taken over by Russia's Wagner paramilitary group.
 



Netanyahu Says ‘We Can Finish the Job’ against Iran after Meeting Rubio

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands during a press conference at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands during a press conference at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. (Reuters)
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Netanyahu Says ‘We Can Finish the Job’ against Iran after Meeting Rubio

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands during a press conference at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands during a press conference at the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, February 16, 2025. (Reuters)

Israel and the United States are determined to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions and its "aggression" in the Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday after meeting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Speaking after meeting Rubio in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said they had held a "very productive discussion" on a number of issues, "none more important than Iran".

"Israel and America stand shoulder to shoulder in countering the threat of Iran," he said. "We agreed that the mullahs must not have nuclear weapons and also agreed that Iran's aggression in the region must be rolled back."

Rubio said: "Behind every terrorist group, behind every act of violence, behind every destabilizing activity, behind everything that threatens peace and stability for the millions of people that call this region home is Iran."

Israeli-Iranian enmity stretches back decades through a history of clandestine wars and attacks by land, sea, air and cyberspace.

Iran, which says it is enriching uranium for peaceful purposes, has also backed armed groups across the Middle East that describe themselves as the "Axis of Resistance" to Israel and US influence in the region.

The Axis includes not only Hamas, the Palestinian group that ignited the Gaza war by attacking Israel in October 2023, but also the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, the Houthi militias in Yemen, various Shiite armed groups in Iraq and Syria.

Over the 16 months since the Gaza war erupted, Israel has assassinated top leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah and Israel and Iran have exchanged limited retaliatory attacks.

Netanyahu said Israel had dealt a "mighty blow" to Iran since the start of the war in Gaza and said that with the support of US President Donald Trump "I have no doubt we can and will finish the job".

Thanking Rubio for "unequivocal backing" for Israel's policy in Gaza, Netanyahu said Israel and the United States under Trump shared a common strategy in the Palestinian enclave, where a fragile ceasefire is in effect.

"I want to assure everyone who's now listening to us, President Trump and I are working in full cooperation and coordination between us," he said.