‘May God protect us from the Great Satan': Escalation on the minds of Lebanese in Nigeria after US strikes
Nigerian President Bola Tinubu "gave the go-ahead" for the U.S. strike on alleged jihadist targets.
L'Orient Today / By Ghadir Hamadi,
26 December 2025 17:11
A missile launched from a military vessel at an unidentified location attacking Nigeria, in this screen grab obtained from a handout video released by the Department of War on Dec. 25, 2025. (Credit: U.S. Department of War Via X/Handout via Reuters)
Hours after the U.S. strike on “an Islamic State base” in Northwest Sotoko, Hussein, a 35-year-old supermarket owner from Lebanon, sits in his shop nestled in one of eastern Lagos’s bustling vegetable markets.“What is one strike 100 kilometers away for someone who grew up in Shaqra [Bint Jbeil district]?” he tells L'Orient Today over the phone. Hussein does not seem to think that the situation in Nigeria will “escalate further than this one-time targeted strike.”His brother, Rani, 23, says he only heard of the strike when his Lebanese friends started texting him about it. Recently graduated from the American University of Beirut, he moved to Lagos to work at his brother’s companyRani insisted, however, that "when the U.S. sets out to destroy a country, trust that all hell will break loose, it's only a matter of time.” ...
Hours after the U.S. strike on “an Islamic State base” in Northwest Sotoko, Hussein, a 35-year-old supermarket owner from Lebanon, sits in his shop nestled in one of eastern Lagos’s bustling vegetable markets.“What is one strike 100 kilometers away for someone who grew up in Shaqra [Bint Jbeil district]?” he tells L'Orient Today over the phone. Hussein does not seem to think that the situation in Nigeria will “escalate further than this one-time targeted strike.”His brother, Rani, 23, says he only heard of the strike when his Lebanese friends started texting him about it. Recently graduated from the American University of Beirut, he moved to Lagos to work at his brother’s companyRani insisted, however, that "when the U.S. sets out to destroy a country, trust that all hell will break loose, it's only a matter...
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