{"id":3691,"date":"2026-01-02T10:27:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T10:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/badvibes.live\/?p=3691"},"modified":"2026-01-02T10:27:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T10:27:14","slug":"donald-trump-pursuing-rapidly-escalating-campaign-of-air-strikes-across-the-globe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/badvibes.live\/?p=3691","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump pursuing \u2018rapidly escalating campaign\u2019 of air strikes across the globe"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0has ramped up US air strikes with targets in Somalia and Yemen most frequently hit, according to a monitoring organisation.<\/p>\n

The number of global\u00a0military\u00a0operations\u00a0has\u00a0more than doubled since 2024,\u00a0the\u00a0Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED)\u00a0group said.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Trump\u00a0said that the\u00a0US<\/a>\u00a0had struck a dock facility in\u00a0Venezuela<\/a>,\u00a0the\u00a0first known example of its air war on \u2018narco-terrorists\u2019<\/a>\u00a0based in the South American country taking place on land.<\/p>\n

The acknowledgement\u00a0followed\u00a0an attack on what the Pentagon said were ISIS targets in\u00a0north-western Nigeria<\/a>\u00a0on Christmas Day.<\/p>\n

Under Trump, the US has also carried out strikes\u00a0on three key nuclear sites in Iran,\u00a0<\/a>as well as on targets in\u00a0Syria<\/a>, Iraq,\u00a0Yemen<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Somalia.<\/p>\n

The escalation is being pursued by a president who is eager to land the\u00a0Nobel\u00a0Peace Prize<\/a>\u00a0and had wanted the US to stop policing the world.<\/p>\n

Dr Ladd\u00a0Serwat, senior analyst for Africa at ACLED, told\u00a0Metro:<\/strong>\u00a0\u2018The US strikes in Nigeria are part of a rapidly escalating campaign of aerial warfare by the American military.<\/p>\n

\n
\"The<\/div>
The US has carried out an increasing number of military interventions across the globe under Donald Trump\u2019s administration (Picture: U.S. Central Command, X)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018Targets in Somalia and Yemen\u2019<\/h2>\n

\u2018This was the first US air strike in Nigeria since 1997, when ACLED began recording data. Globally, US military air and drone strikes have more than doubled in 2025 compared to the previous year.<\/p>\n

\u2018While new areas of operation in Latin America have captured significant public attention,\u00a0US strikes have been\u00a0concentrated in Yemen and\u00a0Somalia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2018In Yemen, these strikes have primarily targeted Houthi militants, with strikes in\u00a0Somalia focused on al-Shabaab and Islamic State\u00a0Somalia.\u2019<\/p>\n

Under the Trump administration, the US military has already carried out more air strikes than in the entire four years of Joe Biden\u2019s presidency, according to ACLED. Estimated fatalities from these strikes have risen from at least 219 in 2024 to over 850 last year, the group has found.<\/p>\n

Trump has repeatedly hailed US military interventions across the world, although the impact has been called into question on several occasions.<\/p>\n

After the strike in Venezuela, he said that US forces had hit a \u2018dock area\u2019 linked\u00a0to\u00a0alleged drug boats,\u00a0leading to a \u2018major explosion\u2019.<\/p>\n

\n
\"METRO<\/div>
Regions where targets in US air strikes have been located (Picture: Metro.co.uk)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A drone was used in the operation, which was carried out at an unspecified time earlier this\u00a0month,\u00a0according to CNN and the\u00a0New York<\/a>\u00a0Times.<\/p>\n

Trump also hailed\u00a0\u2018powerful and deadly\u2019\u00a0US<\/a>\u00a0strikes\u00a0unleashed\u00a0on Christmas Day against an ISIS branch in Nigeria.<\/p>\n

The US president\u00a0said\u00a0\u2018perfect\u2019 hits had been carried out against \u2018ISIS terrorist scum\u2019\u00a0in\u00a0the operation targeting\u00a0camps run by\u00a0the group.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Pentagon\u00a0reported\u00a0that an \u2018initial assessment\u2019 had suggested \u2018multiple\u2019 fatalities\u00a0after the strikes in Sokoto state.<\/p>\n

Trump said that the group had been \u2018targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians.\u2019<\/p>\n

The claim, escalated to \u2018genocide\u2019 by\u00a0some figures in the US, is thrown into question by commentators who say Nigeria is afflicted by a complex set of tensions, where both Christians and Muslims are being killed.<\/p>\n

The commander-in-chief also lauded US military might after the strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities\u00a0during the summer, saying\u00a0they had been \u2018completely and totally obliterated.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/div>
Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau pictured in 2014 (Picture: AFP\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018We\u2019ll continue to kill terrorists\u2019<\/h2>\n

But Iran claimed its\u00a0programme\u00a0\u2018can\u2019t be destroyed by\u00a0bombing\u2019 while the BBC\u2019s security analyst Gordon\u00a0Corera\u00a0said\u00a0\u2018the truth is likely to be\u00a0somewhere in the middle\u2019 of both narratives.<\/p>\n

A leaked US intelligence report,\u00a0hotly disputed by Trump, assessed that the regime\u2019s\u00a0programme\u00a0was only set back by a matter of months.<\/p>\n

In another high-profile operation, US Central Command claimed to have killed Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, ISIS\u2019s global second in command, in an air strike carried out on March 13 in Anbar Province, Iraq.<\/p>\n

The terror leader and another ISIS operative were said to have been found dead at the explosion site wearing suicide vests.<\/p>\n

US Centcom commander Michael Erik Kurilla emphasised that \u2018we will continue to kill terrorists and dismantle their organisations that threaten our homeland and US allied and partner personnel.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/div>
A \u2018precision\u2019 US air strike in Syria said by Central Command to have killed a senior leader of an al-Qaeda affiliate (Picture: US Central Command, X)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018Long-term strategy\u2019<\/h2>\n

Peter Layton,<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0a military aviation analyst at the Griffith Asia Institute and a former Royal\u00a0Australian Air Force officer, told\u00a0Metro:<\/strong>\u00a0\u2018The first year of the second Trump\u00a0administration\u00a0has\u00a0certainly featured a new emphasis on air strikes compared to the\u00a0previous\u00a0Biden\u00a0administration.<\/p>\n

\u2018It is noticeable that\u00a0the air\u00a0strikes are frequent, more diverse in being across multiple\u00a0countries\u00a0and that the rate of air strikes is increasing.<\/p>\n

\u2018Most seem directed against non-state groups with two main current focuses: ISIL [Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] and drug smugglers.\u2019<\/p>\n

Layton assesses that the success of the air strikes was difficult to gauge, but that they\u00a0appear to be\u00a0part of a long-term trend.<\/p>\n

\u2018The attacks have been quite different,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

\n
\"President<\/div>
Donald Trump raises a fist at Christmas Eve dinner at his Mar-a-Lago club before announcing the US strikes the following day (Picture: AP Photo\/Alex Brandon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018Drones have been used in\u00a0Somalia, which is possible as the US has nearby airbases, including at Djibouti. In Nigeria, the single attack involved multiple Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from a US Navy warship.\u2019<\/p>\n

A common thread is the targeting of ISIS,\u00a0especially after the killing of two US soldiers and an American civilian interpreter in Palmyra, Syria,<\/a>\u00a0by a gunman belonging to the terror group on December 13.<\/p>\n

\u2018The strikes in Nigeria, the recent\u00a0Somalia\u00a0attacks and the attacks in\u00a0Syria\u00a0have all been against ISIL,\u2019 Layton said.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s\u00a0notable that these have been\u00a0roughly coordinated\u00a0in time, in a series of rolling strikes against ISIL across three countries.<\/p>\n

\u2018The intent\u00a0appears to send\u00a0a public message after the killing of two US\u00a0servicemen\u00a0in Syria; the strikes have a performative, theatrical function.<\/p>\n

\u2018More strategically, they aim to keep ISIL off-balance after\u00a0the\u00a0terrorist attack in\u00a0Australia\u00a0<\/a>and thwarted ones in Europe and\u00a0Turkey<\/a>.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n
\"Nigeria<\/div>
Members of the Nigerian police\u2019s Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit secure the scene of a US airstrike in north-west Jabo on December 26, 2025 (Picture: AP Photo\/Tunde Omolehin)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Layton judges that the strategic intent is most likely to\u00a0deter ISIS from future terrorist acts by fear of retribution.<\/p>\n

\u2018In using air strikes for this there is\u00a0little risk\u00a0to American military personnel, the targeted groups and countries appear ineffectual, and the attacks can be easily repeated,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

\u2018They signal America remains attracted to intervening militarily globally, at least against non-state actors and weak states.<\/p>\n

\u2018In 2026, this\u00a0long-term\u00a0trend seems likely to continue,\u00a0albeit\u00a0with a stress on using air strikes.\u2019<\/p>\n

Video shared by the US Department of War yesterday showed\u00a0strikes\u00a0on two vessels said to be\u00a0operated\u00a0by \u2018designated terrorist\u00a0organisations\u2019\u00a0and to be engaged in \u2018narco-trafficking.\u2019<\/p>\n

Three \u2018narco-terrorists\u2019 were killed in the first boat and two in\u00a0the second, according to the department.<\/p>\n

Trump is currently also engaged in\u00a0talks over a\u00a0possible peace\u00a0deal between\u00a0Ukraine and Russia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kyiv is\u00a0reportedly discussing\u00a0the possibility of hosting US\u00a0troops on its\u00a0soil\u00a0as part of the deal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump\u00a0has ramped up US air strikes with targets in Somalia and Yemen most frequently hit, according to a monitoring organisation. The number of global\u00a0military\u00a0operations\u00a0has\u00a0more than doubled since 2024,\u00a0the\u00a0Armed Conflict Location & Event Data (ACLED)\u00a0group said. On Monday, Trump\u00a0said that the\u00a0US\u00a0had struck a dock facility in\u00a0Venezuela,\u00a0the\u00a0first known example of its air war on \u2018narco-terrorists\u2019\u00a0based in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t