Operation Serval

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Operation Serval
Part of the Mali War and the Islamist insurgency in the Sahel
(Top) A French Dassault Rafale of squadron 2/92 "Aquitaine" refuels from a KC-135 Stratotanker over Africa on 17 March 2013. (Bottom) French troops arriving in Bamako.
Date 11 January 2013 – 15 July 2014 (1 year, 6 months and 4 days) Location Mali Result Malian/French victory All major cities controlled by French and Malian troops. France launched Operation Barkhane on 1 August 2014.
Belligerents
France Mali  Chad  Nigeria  Burkina Faso  Senegal  Togo MNLA (latter part of conflict) AFISMA Supported by:  Belgium  Canada  Denmark  Germany  Netherlands  Spain  Sweden  Poland  Australia  United Arab Emirates  United Kingdom  United States	Islamic militants MOJWA AQIM Ansar Dine Boko Haram[1] Ansaru[1]
Commanders and leaders
François Hollande ADM. Édouard Guillaud Dioncounda Traoré (until 4 Sept. 2013) Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (from 4 Sept. 2013) Mahamat Déby Itno Bilal Ag Acherif	Abdelhamid Abou Zeid  † Iyad ag Ghali[2] Omar Ould Hamaha  †[3] Mokhtar Belmokhtar Abdel Krim  †[4]
Strength
4,000 French troops deployed (5,100 involved in total),[5] 2,900 AFISMA[6]	Elements of: between 5,000 and 10,000 fighters (Ansar Dine)[7] 1,000 fighters (AQIM)[7] 500 fighters (MOJWA)[7]
Casualties and losses
9 killed[8][9] 1 Gazelle helicopter lost[10] 82 killed[11][12][13] 38 killed[14] 17 killed, 60 wounded[11] 2 killed[15] 1 killed[11] 1 killed[11] 2 killed[16]	Between 600 and 1,000 killed[17][18] 50 vehicles destroyed, 150 tons of ammunitions and 200 weapons seized, 60 IEDs defused[10] 109-300 captured[19]

Operation Serval (French: Opération Serval) was a French military operation in Mali.^[20] The aim of the operation was to oust Islamic militants from the north of Mali,^[21] who had begun a push into the center of Mali.^[22]

Operation Serval followed the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2085 of 20 December 2012 and an official request by the Malian interim government for French military assistance.^[23] The operation ended on 15 July 2014, and was replaced by Operation Barkhane, launched on 1 August 2014 to fight Islamist fighters in the Sahel.^[24] Three of the five Islamic leaders, Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, Abdel Krim and Omar Ould Hamaha were killed, while Mokhtar Belmokhtar fled to Libya and Iyad ag Ghali^[25] fled to Algeria.^[26]

The operation is named after the serval, a medium-sized African wild cat.