Military tensions are rising across northern Mali, with government forces stepping up air operations around Kidal while JNIM intensifies attacks on Malian troops and their Russian Africa Corps partners.
The latest significant attack took place on Wednesday, 26 August, when a joint Malian military and Africa Corps patrol was ambushed near Er-Intedjeft, east of Ber in the Timbuktu region.
Reports indicate that the patrol had left Ber and was travelling towards Bourem when it was struck by improvised explosive devices before coming under gunfire.
Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), the al-Qaeda-linked armed group operating across the Sahel, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Initial reports indicated casualties and damage to military vehicles, although no independently verified casualty toll has been established and Malian authorities have not publicly released a detailed account of the losses.
The attack comes amid renewed military pressure across northern Mali following the government’s loss of Kidal in April.
Kidal back at the centre of Mali’s conflict
Kidal has once again become one of the principal battlegrounds in Mali’s long-running conflict.
The northern city was retaken in late April by the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), a predominantly Tuareg rebel alliance, during a major offensive in which the FLA and JNIM coordinated attacks against government positions across the country.
Malian troops and their Russian Africa Corps partners subsequently withdrew from Kidal.
The loss represented a major political and military setback for Bamako.
Government forces, backed at the time by Russia’s Wagner Group, had recaptured Kidal in November 2023, presenting the operation as a major step towards restoring state authority over territory previously controlled by northern rebel movements.
Its loss less than three years later therefore carried considerable symbolic as well as strategic significance.
Kidal is located in Mali’s far north near the Algerian border and has long been a centre of Tuareg political and armed resistance to governments in Bamako.
Mali intensifies air operations
There are now signs that the Malian military is increasing pressure on armed groups operating around Kidal.
During August, the Malian Armed Forces announced several rounds of air strikes against targets in and around Kidal, Tessalit, Tinzawatène and other northern locations.
On 7 and 8 August, the military said its aircraft struck several positions linked to JNIM and the FLA around Kidal and Tessalit.
Further strikes were announced on 16 August against locations in Kidal and around Tinzawatène and Talhandak.
The Malian military said the operations targeted fighters, military equipment and logistical positions. Independent verification of the results of the strikes remains limited.
The increased aerial activity comes as armed groups continue targeting government positions, patrols and supply routes across northern and central Mali.
Attacks on convoys are particularly significant because maintaining secure supply routes is essential to any attempt by government forces to expand or consolidate their presence in the vast northern regions.
Army orders irregular personnel back to units
Another development has added to questions over the Malian military’s next steps.
On Friday, 28 August, Mali’s General Staff ordered soldiers serving in an “irregular situation” within armed groups claiming proximity to the state to return to their original military units by Sunday, 6 September.
The military warned that personnel who failed to return by the deadline would be considered deserters.
Dissident members of armed groups close to the authorities were also instructed to return to their respective organisations.
The General Staff said arrangements had been made to facilitate the return and reintegration of those affected.
The communiqué did not identify the armed groups concerned or link the directive to any planned operation in northern Mali.
Nevertheless, the order comes at a time of heightened military activity and appears aimed at tightening discipline and command over personnel associated with forces allied to the state.
Prisoner exchange provides rare sign of dialogue
The battlefield escalation has coincided with a significant prisoner exchange involving Mali’s northern rebels.
Around 60 Malian soldiers were reportedly released by Tuareg rebels in exchange for Inkinane Ag Attaher, a former Malian army officer and prominent figure associated with the FLA, along with other individuals allegedly linked to JNIM.
Security sources said the exchange was overseen by neighbouring Niger.
The FLA also said some of its members being held in Malian prisons had been released.
The exchange suggests that channels of communication remain open despite continuing military operations.
It does not, however, amount to a broader ceasefire, and fighting between the government and its armed opponents continues.
What happens next in Kidal?
The combination of intensified Malian air strikes, attacks on government supply routes and continuing military reorganisation has raised questions over whether another major confrontation around Kidal could be approaching.
For Bamako, recovering Kidal would reverse one of its most significant military setbacks of 2026 and restore control over a city that has repeatedly become a symbol of the struggle between the central government and northern armed movements.
Mali will also mark the 66th anniversary of its independence on 22 September, although there is currently no confirmed evidence that the government intends to launch or conclude an operation against Kidal around that date.
For JNIM and the FLA, preventing the government from rebuilding its military position in the north remains strategically important, even though the two forces have distinct ideological and political objectives.
Their cooperation during major operations in 2026 has presented Bamako and its Russian partners with an increasingly complex battlefield.
For now, there is no confirmed announcement of a new government offensive to retake Kidal.
But the growing tempo of air strikes, attacks on military movements and efforts to tighten control within government-aligned forces indicate that the struggle over northern Mali is entering another increasingly tense phase.
