Insurgency in the Maghreb (2002–present)

Islamist insurgency in the Maghreb
	Part of the war on terror
	; Map showing GSPC area of operations (pink), member states of the Pan Sahel Initiative (dark blue), and members of the Trans-Saharan Counterterrorism Initiative (dark and light blue) as of 2011.
Date	11 April 2002 – present; (22 years)
Location	Maghreb, Sahara desert
Status	Ongoing Insurgency in Algeria spreads through the Maghreb and in the Sahel; Islamic State and Al-Qaeda are defeated in Algeria, fighters flee into the Sahel; US-led Operation Enduring Freedom – Trans Sahara initiated in 2007; Islamists capture northern Mali in 2012, engaging in a civil war; Chaambi Operations and IS insurgency in Tunisia; IS captures territory in the Second Libyan Civil War, largely fought back by 2016;
Belligerents
Algeria; Mali; Niger; Mauritania; Tunisia; Libya; Morocco Multi-national coalitions: MINUSMA (until 2023) ; AFISMA (from 2013) ; EUTM Mali ; Supported by: France ; United States (AFRICOM) ; United Kingdom ; Sweden ; Netherlands ; Germany ; Denmark ; Portugal ; Czech Republic ; Russia ; Turkey ;	Al-Qaeda and allies: AQIM (from 2007); Ansar al-Sharia (Tunisia) (from 2011); Uqba ibn Nafi Brigade (2012-14); GSPC (until 2007); Ansar al-Sharia (Libya) (2012–17); Salafia Jihadia Islamic State (from 2014) Libyan Provinces; Wilayat al-Jazair; Sahel Province; Uqba ibn Nafi Brigade (from 2014);
Commanders and leaders
Show list Abdelmadjid Tebboune; (from 2019) ; Aymen Benabderrahmane; (from 2021) ; Mohamed Ould Ghazouani; (from 2019) ; Mohamed Ould Bilal; (from 2020) ; Kais Saied (from 2019) ; Najla Bouden (from 2021) ; Mohamed al-Menfi; (from 2021) ; Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh; (from 2021) ; Assimi Goïta (from 2021) ; Choguel Kokalla Maïga; (from 2021) ; Mohamed Bazoum; (from 2021) ; Ouhoumoudou Mahamadou; (from 2021) ; Mahamat Deby Itno; (from 2021) ; Emmanuel Macron; (from 2017) ; Jean Castex (from 2020) ; King Mohammed VI ; Aziz Akhannouch; (from 2021) ; Recep Tayyip Erdoğan; (from 2014) ; Joe Biden (from 2021) ;	Amari Saifi (POW); Nabil Sahraoui †; Abdelmalek Droukdel †; Abu Ubaidah Yusef al-Annabi; Abdelhamid Abou Zeid †; Mokhtar Belmokhtar †; Ahmed al Tilemsi †; Seifallah Ben Hassine †; Mohamed al-Zahawi † Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi (Leader of IS); Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi † ; Abu al-Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi † ; Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi † ; Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi † ; Abu Nabil al-Anbari †; Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi †
Strength
Total armed forces (unless specified):; Algeria: 520,000; Mauritania: 15,870; Tunisia: 45,000; 6,000 deployed in Chaambi; Libya: 35,000; France: 5,100 deployed in the Sahel Supported by:; United States: 1,325+ advisors, trainers	AQIM (former GSPC): 1,000–4,000; Ansar al-Sharia (Tunisia): 1,000; Ansar al-Sharia (Libya): 5,000+; Salafia Jihadia: 700+ Islamic State Libyan Province: 5,000–10,000; Wilayat al-Jazair: <30;
Casualties and losses
	Major conflict casualties: 2002: 1,100+ killed in Algeria; 2003: 1,162 killed in Algeria; 2004: 429 killed in Algeria; 2005: 488 killed in Algeria; 2006: 323 killed in Algeria; Algeria: 3,502+ total killed (2002–06) Libya: 10,071+ killed (2014–18),; 20,000+ wounded (as of May 2015)

An Islamist insurgency is taking place in the Maghreb region of North Africa, followed on from the end of the Algerian Civil War in 2002. The Algerian militant group Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) allied itself with al-Qaeda to eventually become al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The Algerian and other Maghreb governments fighting the militants have worked with the United States and the United Kingdom since 2007, when Operation Enduring Freedom – Trans Sahara began.

While the 2011 Arab Spring affected support for the insurgency, it also presented military opportunities for the jihadists. In 2012, AQIM and Islamist allies captured the northern half of Mali. They held the territory for almost a year, until being forced out of the urban areas during a French-led foreign intervention, which was succeeded by the Sahel-wide Operation Barkhane. In Libya, the Islamic State was able to control some limited territory during the Second Libyan Civil War, amid allegations of local collaboration with its AQIM rival.

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