Sahel

American  

[suh-heyl, -heel] / səˈheɪl, -ˈhil /

noun

1. the arid area on the S flank of the Sahara desert that stretches across six countries from Senegal to Chad.

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Other Word Forms

• Sahelian adjective

Example Sentences

These days, al-Qaida is broken up into several affiliates in sometimes overlapping geographical areas: the Sahel, North and West Africa; Syria; Somalia; Yemen; and finally, a very small group in South Asia.

From Slate • Apr. 21, 2026

Sahel states have been fighting Islamic State and Al-Qaeda extremists for more than a decade with limited success.

From Barron's • Apr. 8, 2026

Weapons from the former Yugoslavia helped drive the Libyan civil wars after 2011, later fueling rebellions in Mali and across the Sahel.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 28, 2026

Petrović had become the latest victim of a concerning trend for foreign travellers and expatriate workers in West Africa's Sahel region.

From BBC • Mar. 1, 2026

Now the idea of leaving Sahel to lie here in the dirt, as alone as he’d been in the last grisly seconds of his life, unsettled her.

From "Beasts of Prey" by Ayana Gray