Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS)
Executive Profile (BLUF)
The Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS) is an ISIS-affiliated jihadist group operating primarily in the Liptako-Gourma tri-border region of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso. Founded by Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi (a former MUJAO and Al-Mourabitoun commander who defected from the JNIM/Al-Qaeda framework to pledge allegiance to ISIS in 2015), ISGS is the Sahel’s IS franchise and the primary rival to JNIM for territorial control in the tri-border zone. Al-Sahrawi was killed in a French Barkhane airstrike in August 2021; leadership has since operated under less publicly identified commanders. ISGS is responsible for the October 2017 Tongo Tongo ambush (killing 4 US Special Forces soldiers), multiple attacks on Malian and Nigerien military positions, and massacre of civilians in Tillabéri (Niger) and Ménaka (Mali). The JNIM-ISGS rivalry — IS vs. AQ — has produced intermittent intra-jihadist armed clashes, paradoxically driving some civilians toward JNIM as the “less brutal” option.
Key Relationships
- ISIS / Islamic State — parent organization; bay’a pledged 2015
- JNIM / Al-Qaeda — primary rival; competing IS vs. AQ frameworks in Sahel; armed clashes in Liptako-Gourma
- Mali | Niger | Burkina Faso — primary operating theaters; Liptako-Gourma tri-border zone
- Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi — founder; killed August 2021
- Africa Corps — operates in overlapping geography; no assessed coordination; parallel presence
- France (Barkhane/Takuba) — primary Western force targeting ISGS before Sahelian withdrawal
- United States (AFRICOM) — ISR and strike support to ISGS-targeting operations pre-2024 Niger expulsion