Hommam Al Nassim 
Fierce battles between “ISIS” and the al-Qaeda-affiliated group “Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin” have resumed in northern Mali, resulting in the death of a senior al-Nusra leader.
The battles began a few days ago in an attack carried out by “ISIS” on the “Al-Nusra” camp in the “Tin Tafgat” area in the northern Malian state of Gao, during which Amdou Moussa, the emir of “Al-Nusra” in the Intel region, was killed along with 20 other of his members.
“ISIS” is led in these confrontations by Mustapha Abu Mahmoudou, the group’s leader in neighboring Burkina Faso, as he has significant influence in the entire tri-border region, which is distributed along the borders of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.
The clashes between the two groups over control of Malian territory come after a long period of cessation of fighting between them, as they have been focused in recent weeks on targeting the Malian army and launching attacks on targets inside Niger and Burkina Faso to bolster their deployment.
“ISIS” seeks to impose its influence on the region of Arbanda (Intelt and Tessit) in northern Mali, from which Al-Nusra expelled it in July 2023, so individuals belonging to “ISIS” arrived in large numbers and hundreds of motorcycles armed with various weapons.
Northern Mali and areas in the center suffer from the weak capacity of the army there, as a result of the rebellion led by separatist movements in the northern region of Azawad, and the exploitation of armed organizations to control the border to infiltrate Mali and include locals to it by stimulating their religious or material motives.
“ISIS” controls the province of Mianka in northern Mali almost entirely and is deployed in border areas between Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso.
Al-Nusra is spread over large areas in the Azawad region in the north, all the way to the south of the country, to the western borders with Mauritania, Senegal, and Guinea, and in the east and south in Niger and Burkina Faso, carrying out attacks against the armies of these countries.
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