2015 West African offensive

2015 West African offensive
	Part of the Boko Haram insurgency
	; Boko Haram's territorial control prior to the offensive.
Date	23 January – 24 December 2015; (11 months and 1 day)
Location	Northeast Nigeria, Northern Cameroon, Southeast Niger, Western Chad
Result	Multinational Joint Task Force victory Boko Haram militants retreat to the Sambisa Forest;
Belligerents
Multinational Joint Task Force Nigeria; Cameroon; Chad; Niger; Local militias; STTEP (foreign mercenaries)	ISIL Wilayat Gharb Afriqiya (from March 2015); Boko Haram (until March 2015);
Commanders and leaders
Muhammadu Buhari (from May 2015); Goodluck Jonathan (until May 2015); Kashim Shettima; Isa Yuguda (until May 2015); Lamidi Adeosun; Eeben Barlow; Paul Biya; Idriss Déby; Mahamadou Issoufou	Abubakar Shekau; Abu Musab al-Barnawi
Strength
Nigerian Army:; 130,000 active frontline personnel;; 32,000 active reserve personnel; Nigeria Police Force:; 371,800 officers; Multinational Joint Task Force:; 7,500 active personnel; (excluding Cameroon and Nigeria); Cameroonian Armed Forces:; 20,000 active personnel; 300 advisers	ISIL: 7,000–10,000

Starting in late January 2015, a coalition of West African troops launched an offensive against the Boko Haram insurgents in Nigeria.

^ Faced with Boko Haram, Cameroon weighs death penalty for terrorism. By Tansa Musa, Reuters. YAOUNDE Wed Dec 3, 2014 9:56am EST.
^ Chad armoured column heads for Cameroon to fight Boko Haram. AFP for Yahoo! News, January 16, 2015 4:54 PM.
^ West Africa leaders vow to wage 'total war' on Boko Haram By John Irish and Elizabeth Pineau. 17 May 2014 2:19 PM.
^ "Vigilantes Settle Local Scores With Boko Haram". Voice of America. 15 February 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
^ ^a ^b Colin Freeman (10 May 2015). "South African mercenaries' secret war on Boko Haram". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
^ Adama Nossiter (12 March 2015). "Mercenaries Join Nigeria's Military Campaign Against Boko Haram". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
^ "Boko Haram swears formal allegiance to ISIS". Fox News. Associated Press. March 8, 2015. Archived from the original on November 20, 2015. Retrieved January 8, 2017.
^ The Christian Science Monitor. "Boko Haram escalates battle with bold move into Chad (+video)". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2016-02-20.
^ The African Union Readies an Army to Fight Boko Haram, Medium.com.
^ "Obama to deploy 300 US troops to Cameroon to fight Boko Haram | World news". The Guardian. Agence France-Presse. 14 October 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
^ "US troops deployed to Cameroon for Boko Haram fight". Al Jazeera English. 2015-10-14. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
^ "How Big Is Boko Haram?". 2 February 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.