[HIGHLIGHTS] Mali: Islamic State group takes Tidermene, Menaka on reprieve

Jihadists of the Sahelian branch of the Islamic State group invested Tidermène, about 75 kilometers north of Menaka, Monday afternoon. Their rivals in the AQIM-linked JNIM made no attempt to oppose.

A little more than a year after the start of the vast and deadly offensive launched by IS in northeastern Mali. Nearly a thousand deaths since March 2022, according to cumulative counts of local communities – the city of Ménaka is now encircled, isolated.