In America’s war on terror, there appears to be a new shining light of hope. US-trained Somali government forces have helped locals overthrow jihadists after their atrocities sparked an uprising.
Al-Shabaab, the Somali branch of Al Qaeda, is one of the most powerful Islamic State insurgent groups in the world, and the US has been aiding the military fight against them for about 16 years.
The American campaign has been riddled with setbacks for years. However, breakthroughs in recent months have made Somalia’s battlefields an optimistic place in the fight against terror.
Somali government forces, led by 2,000 American-trained fighters called Danab, recently joined the uprising against the 12,000-strong terror group.
In America’s war on terror, there appears to be a new shining light of hope. US-trained Somali government forces helped locals overthrow Islamist thugs after their atrocities sparked an uprising
US-trained Danab commander Major Aydarus Mohamed Hussein (pictured right) said last month: “The government is winning the war. I wouldn’t have said it two years ago, but I would say it now.”
The Somali National Army, US-trained Somali Special Forces and local clan militias have all united to push an offensive against Al-Shabaab.
With the help of American drones, they have regained 20 cities and 80 villages from the terrorist group in recent months, turning the tide after previous standoffs.
This victory, which included the recapture of a third of the land previously held by Al-Shabaab, allowed forces to continue their offensive and recapture two more terrorist strongholds in Somalia.
Danab commander Major Aydarus Mohamed Hussein said last month: “The government is winning the war. Two years ago I wouldn’t have said it, but now I would say it.’
The optimism was also true within the Somali government, according to reports WJ. Somali National Security Advisor Hussein Sheikh-Ali said: “This is our plan: finish them before August next year. It may take longer, but we will definitely beat them.”
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin added: ‘They have recaptured more territory in the past year than in the previous five years.
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud speaks during a meeting with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, in Washington
Somali National Army (SNA) soldiers and Somali security forces load vehicles at the airport in Baidoa, Somalia
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin added: “They have recaptured more territory in the past year than in the previous five years.”
“But we know that progress is not always a straight line.”
Since 2007, the US has been reported to have given half a billion dollars to train and equip Somali forces in their fight against terrorism.
More methodical and practical offensives will follow, government forces say, in an effort to keep cities liberated from al-Shabaab’s grip permanently free.
Shane Dixon, the top US diplomat in Mogadishu, told the WSJ: “If you look at where this country was a decade ago, and even two years ago, the progress made by the administration and the international community gives everyone hope that we can achieve this. see a future of Somalia without Shabaab and without ISIS.”
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud took office in May last year and vowed a “total war” against Al-Shabaab, which was driven out of Mogadishu in 2011 but controlled parts of the countryside.
Mohamud, who recently visited the front lines, said in August that the government would “eliminate” the jihadists by the end of the year.
But Somalia’s national security adviser recently wrote a letter to the United Nations asking for a 90-day postponement of the planned withdrawal of 3,000 African Union troops by the end of September.
In the letter, he said the government has “reliberated towns, villages and critical supply routes” during its offensive, but has suffered “several significant setbacks” since late August.
“This unforeseen turn of events has depleted our armed forces, exposed vulnerabilities in our front lines, and necessitated a major reorganization to ensure we maintain our momentum in countering the threat from al-Shabaab,” the letter said.
The Somali National Army (SNA), the US-trained Somali Special Forces called Danab, and local clan militias are joining forces to be the first to launch an offensive against Al Shabab.
Earlier this year, Al Qaeda-linked jihadists killed six civilians and injured 10 during a six-hour siege of a beach hotel in Somalia (pictured)
Security officers patrol near the destroyed Hayat Hotel after a deadly 30-hour siege by Al-Shabaab jihadists in Mogadishu on August 21, 2022
Although this has yet to happen, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti have pledged to help drive Al-Shabaab out of southern Somalia with thousands of troops.
It was President Bush who sent a small force to Somalia to fight Al-Shabaab in 2007, before Obama and Trump subsequently redoubled efforts.
Donald Trump organized 203 airstrikes on targets in the African country – before withdrawing all 700 US troops in January 2021.
When Al-Shabaab eventually began making their presence known again, local officials begged Joe Biden to reverse Trump’s decision, which he did, but with less lethal force.
There have been a total of fifteen US airstrikes on Somali land this year, which are only allowed if there is a guarantee that there will be little to no civilian casualties.
Al-Shabaab, based in Kenya’s eastern neighbor Somalia, has been waging a bloody insurgency against the vulnerable government in Mogadishu for more than fifteen years.
Kenya first sent troops to Somalia in 2011 to fight Islamist militants and is now a major troop contributor to an African Union military operation against the group.
But it has faced a series of retaliatory attacks, including a bloody siege of Nairobi’s Westgate shopping center in 2013, which killed 67 people, and an attack on Garissa University in 2015, which killed 148 people came.
Earlier this year in June, Al Qaeda-linked jihadists killed six civilians and injured 10 during a six-hour siege of a beach hotel in Somalia.
Seven Al-Shabaab militants launched the attack on the Pearl Beach Hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia.