In a detailed profile published on May 11, journalist Benjamin Roger of Le Monde traces the extraordinary arc of the 72-year-old Tuareg commander who has become the most dangerous man in the Sahel. Iyad Ag Ghali, leader of Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), the Sahel branch of al-Qaida, is widely considered the architect of the sweeping jihadist offensive that has brought Mali's military junta to the brink of collapse.
The offensive, launched on April 25, 2026, sent shockwaves across Mali. JNIM fighters mounted coordinated strikes on Kidal, Gao, Mopti, and the capital Bamako itself, also storming the garrison town of Kati — a junta stronghold just 20 kilometres from the capital — killing the defence minister and the regime's second-in-command, General Sadio Camara. By April 28, jihadist forces had retaken Kidal in alliance with the Azawad Liberation Front (ALF), humiliating Russia's Africa Corps by escorting their fighters out of the city without a shot fired. Since then, JNIM has imposed a near-total blockade on Bamako, attempting to sever the capital's supply lines.
Ghali's path to this moment spans four decades of conflict. In the 1980s, he fought in Lebanon and Chad as part of Muammar Gaddafi's Green Legion, then led the Tuareg rebellion in northern Mali in the early 1990s — a period when he moved freely in Bamako's intellectual circles and served as an adviser to President Alpha Oumar Konaré. Radicalization came gradually. He founded JNIM in 2017, uniting several jihadist factions under a single al-Qaida-affiliated umbrella, and became the most wanted figure in the Sahel — eluding French forces for years and later outmanoeuvring Russia's Africa Corps just as effectively.
What distinguishes Ghali from other jihadist commanders is his political cunning. Drawing lessons from the mistakes of 2012 — when harsh enforcement of Sharia law alienated northern Mali's population — he has deliberately softened his public rhetoric, presenting himself as a patriotic counterforce to the junta rather than a radical Islamist. Following the April 25 attacks, he issued a statement calling on "all sincere patriots, without distinction, to rise up and unite their forces in a common front" against General Assimi Goïta's regime. Observers note he studied the Syrian model closely: the December 2024 fall of Bashar al-Assad to Ahmed al-Sharaa's forces, and the political transition that followed, is believed to have directly influenced his strategy.
His alliance with the ALF is built on a calculated compromise. The former Tuareg separatists gain a powerful military partner; Ghali gains political legitimacy and a public-facing "shop window," as one French security source put it. Yet the ultimate goal remains his alone: the establishment of an Islamist-compatible government across all of Mali and, eventually, the implementation of Sharia law nationwide.
If the junta falls, few expect Ghali to step into the presidential palace himself. More likely, analysts say, he will reprise his historic role as the man behind the scenes — a kingmaker endorsing a compliant political figure, with influential hardline imam Mahmoud Dicko, currently in exile in Algiers, frequently cited as a potential frontman. Patient, methodical, and still eluding every intelligence service that has hunted him, Iyad Ag Ghali remains as elusive — and as consequential — as ever.
Photo: Source