The fighting between Islamic State in Greater Sahara (ISGS) and al Qaeda Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) began at the beginning of 2020 when a large group of JNIM fighters defected to Islamic State in Nampala Area in Ségou Region, Central Mali causing JNIM to target ISGS fighters. By early March 2020, a purported letter circulated from Abd al-Hakim al-Sahrawi (Adnan Abu Walid Sahraoui), the leader of Islamic State Greater Sahara (ISGS), to one of the JNIM leaders warning that the fighting between the two groups needed to stop.

By 26 March 2020, another handwritten partially destroyed letter circulated that a previously unknown leader Musa Mo’meni had died and morale among the ranks was low. Footage of the clash near Menaka, Mali on 2 August 2020, released on 18 September 2020. Armed Islamic State militants on motorcycles clash with unseen foes.

The two groups clashed in Mali on 28 July 2020, where Islamic State claimed to have killed dozens of JNIM fighters west of Gao. Gao and Menaka are some distance apart from one another.