Talk:Battle of Sambisa Forest (2021)

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A fact from Battle of Sambisa Forest (2021) appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 15 July 2021 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that many Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant fighters were able to reunite with their kidnapped families after the 2021 Battle of Sambisa Forest?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2021/July. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Battle of Sambisa Forest (2021).

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Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Kingsif (talk) 02:17, 13 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

(

Comment or view
Article history

)

... that Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau's tone indicated that he "was near the end" during a sermon one day before his forces were defeated during the Battle of Sambisa Forest (2021)? Source: "Shekau, for his part, gave a final sermon on the day before his death that has been leaked publicly. He indicated that many of his fighters had been killed and the group was facing calamities. Shekau said he would never be loyal to anybody. His tone also suggested he knew was near the end. However, the dramatic fashion in which he reportedly ended his life evidently took ISWAP by surprise and, for the first time in several years, Nigeria will enter a post-Shekau era." (Killing of Boko Haram Leader Abubakar Shekau Boosts Islamic State in Nigeria, p. 2)
- ALT#3 ... that many Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant fighters were able to reunite with their kidnapped families after the Battle of Sambisa Forest (2021)? (Source: What Shekau's Death Means For Security In Nigeria, Lake Chad)

Reviewed: WVOI

Created by Applodion (talk). Self-nominated at 11:37, 2 June 2021 (UTC).[reply]

General: Article is new enough and long enough
New enough: Long enough:

Policy: Article is sourced, neutral, and free of copyright problems
Adequate sourcing: Neutral: Free of copyright violations, plagiarism, and close paraphrasing:

Hook: Hook has been verified by provided inline citation
Cited: Interesting:

QPQ: Done.

Overall: ALT#3 looks good, thanks. Aussie Article Writer (talk) 06:03, 30 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

- I provide some ALTs; please tell me which one you prefer or if you want something else entirely:

ALT1: ... that Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau reportedly exploded himself to kill an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant commander during the Battle of Sambisa Forest (2021)? (Source: How Did Abubakar Shekau Die? Here's What We Know So Far.)

ALT2: ... that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant possibly wanted to catch Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau alive during Battle of Sambisa Forest (2021), only for him to reportedly commit suicide? (Source: What Shekau's Death Means For Security In Nigeria, Lake Chad)

ALT3: ... that many Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant fighters were able to reunite with their kidnapped families after the Battle of Sambisa Forest (2021)? (Source: What Shekau's Death Means For Security In Nigeria, Lake Chad)

ALT4: ... that Abubakar Shekau, who was "too extreme even by the Islamic State's standards", was probably killed in the Battle of Sambisa Forest (2021) with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant? (Source: The Defeat of Abu Bakr Shekau's Group in Sambisa Forest)

Applodion (talk) 08:24, 30 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I can work with ALT#3. - Aussie Article Writer (talk) 16:07, 1 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Applodion is this information in the actual article? - Aussie Article Writer (talk) 16:15, 1 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Aussie Article Writer: See "ISWAP also captured large amounts of weaponry at Shekau's camp, while many ISWAP fighters were able to reunite with their families who had been seized by Shekau and held at the Sambisa Forest camps after the rebel splintering." Applodion (talk) 17:11, 1 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Applodion: this looks good, accepting ALT#3 - Aussie Article Writer (talk) 16:37, 2 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

I was going to promote this hook, but I do not think ALT3 is supported by the text or verified by the source. As far as I can determine from the article, ISWAP was created when Boko Haram and ISIL merged. Both the source and the article mention that ISWAP troops reunited with their families, but it cannot be verified that these people considered themselves part of ISIL at the time nor were originally part of ISIL. Pinging @Applodion and Aussie Article Writer: for further thoughts. Z1720 (talk) 01:27, 13 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Z1720 I had checked the source for this, and it seemed reliable but perhaps there is an issue I was unaware of. Applodion, could you clarify? - Aussie Article Writer (talk) 01:58, 13 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

My concern is not with the reliability of the source, but with saying, "many Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant fighters". I think the hook should say, "many Islamic State's West Africa Province's fighters." Also, I have just noticed that the wikilink to Islamic State's West Africa Province in the lede points to ISIL, while the wikilink in the article's text points to Boko Harem, so I am not sure which one we are supposed to use. Z1720 (talk) 02:02, 13 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

@Z1720: The problem here is related to the fact that ISWAP has no separate article. One was supposed to be created years ago, but nobody got to it. Boko Haram and ISIL actually never really "merged"; Boko Haram intially pleged allegiance to ISIL - officially becoming "ISWAP" and part of ISIL -, but then got engulfed in a civil war. As a result of this conflict the "original" Boko Haram/ISWAP split into Skekau's faction (usually called "Boko Haram" because it remained largely the same) and the pro-ISIL group (which called itself "ISWAP") which has fully integrated into ISIL. As the battle article points out, ISWAP even includes troops from and is directed by core-ISIL, meaning that any ISWAP fighters are - by extension - ISIL fighters (btw, this is reflected in US terror designations as well). The linkage of the hook was supposed to reflect this, as it would be wrong to link ISWAP and get redirected to Boko Haram.
If this would solve the issue, I would be willing to create a small start-level article on ISWAP to finally differentiate it from Boko Haram. Applodion (talk) 12:58, 13 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Name

What reliable source calls this event the "Battle of Sambisa Forest"? _{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 05:26, 16 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

The title is a placeholder until (or if) a generally accepted name appears in academia or the media (note that it is not used as bolded title in the lede). However, several reliable sources do actually describe the fighting as "battle", for example BBC, Guardian, DW, and VOA. Applodion (talk) 08:28, 16 June 2021 (UTC)[reply]

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

Sambisa forest Nigeria.jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 18:08, 10 August 2021 (UTC)[reply]