Both ISWAP (the Islamic State's West Africa affiliate) and Boko Haram have significantly intensified attacks across the Lake Chad Basin, exploiting porous borders, weak governance, and deep economic hardship to recruit fighters and expand territorial control. Analysts say the two rival groups have fed off each other's presence — with Boko Haram quietly rebuilding while regional forces concentrated on countering ISWAP — while criminal enterprises including kidnapping, smuggling, and taxation of trade routes fund their operations and draw in unemployed youth. The crisis has displaced nearly three million people across the basin and forced the closure of over 1,800 schools, yet humanitarian agencies received just 19 percent of the funding needed for 2025, leaving conditions that armed groups are well positioned to exploit.