Battle of the Serma Forest (2017)

The French, Malian, and Burkinabe militaries had previously led missions to eject jihadists from the Fhero and Foulsare forests along the Burkinabe-Malian border in early 2017. After receiving intelligence on a new joint Ansarul Islam and JNIM hideout in the Serma Forest along the border, French troops positioned themselves for a raid.^[1]

The raid was launched by French troops on the night of May 30. French helicopters circled the jihadists' position, followed by the release of French paratroopers from the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment onto the site.^[2] The French army stated that twenty jihadists were neutralized during the raid, with none being taken prisoner. One French soldier was injured.^[2] French general Bruno Guibert stated that unlike previous hideouts, the Serma Forest katiba (local jihadist clique) was more organized, and that there were also children in the camp.^[2] Due to the difficulty of identifying targets, sixty percent of the jihadists were able to escape.^[3]