New Delhi, July 23 -- The Trump administration is weighing direct military strikes against jihadist groups in Mali, American officials told The Washington Post on Wednesday, a deliberation that follows an ambush last week that killed at least 50 Malian soldiers and comes as Russia's Africa Corps has entrenched itself as the Malian junta's primary security partner in a region that Western governments spent a decade trying and failing to stabilize.

JNIM is an al-Qaeda affiliate pursuing a regional jihadist campaign; the Azawad Liberation Front pursues an ethnic self-determination agenda focused on northern Mali's Tuareg population.

"The Tuareg-led separatist and JNIM currently fight together because they share a common enemy," an analyst ...