Brussels (Brussels Morning) – The United States, in coordination with the Somali government, carried out targeted airstrikes on ISIS positions in Somalia through AFRICOM. No civilian casualties to be deplored.
Trump claims a successful operation in Somalia
US President Donald Trump declared this 1st of February 2025 on X that an anti-terrorist operation struck The Islamic State’s Somalia Province (ISS) members in the Golis Mountains of Somalia. He claims a “senior ISIS attack planner” had been neutralized without causing civilian casualties.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also emphasized that no civilian casualties were to be deplored but did not provide specifics regarding casualties or even accomplished objectives. For now, we know that the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) carried out the operation in coordination with the Somali government.
Furthermore, in a politization of the operation, Trump also criticized the Biden administration for what he called an unwarranted hold-up in removing the prominent terrorist target in Somalia – which follows recent trends of showcasing the pro-activity of his administration compared to the last. It is worth noting that the Biden administration had conducted airstrikes in Somalia, but not on the ISIS backed ISS, but rather targeting Al Qaeda.
A decade of ISS presence
The ISS has had a significant presence in Somalia since 2015 and is especially influential in the Puntland region to the north of the country. It has between 100 and 400 fighters as of September 2024 – and interestingly half of them are reported to be foreigners.
The relatively low number of the ISS should not lead to dismiss their potential impact as the organizations has been active and dangerous on multiple occasions – exemplified by the attack on the military base of Puntland on the 31st of December 2024 which claimed the life of 20 regional security forces. It’s also important to note that in spite of its small size, ISS has consistently made money and maintained itself for the last decade – in the first half of 2022, their extortion tactics brought in close to 2 million dollars alone.
Because of this prolonged presence of terrorism in Somalia, this U.S. counter-terrorist operation is not the first one. On the 25th of January 2023 an operation led to the death of ISIS leader Bilal al-Sudani for instance. And these counterterrorism operations are part of the reasons why ISS is still firmly established in the rocky Al-Miskaad mountain range as of early 2025 rather than being closer to urban areas.
Terrorist competition in the country
While ISIS continues to operate in Somalia through ISS, it faces harsh competition from the dominant jihadist group in the region – al-Shabaab which has its allegiance to Al-Qaeda and both groups have clashed in the past. Geographically, Al-Shabaab is in charge of large areas in central and southern Somalia, while the ISS mostly operates in northern Somalia.
Although the groups have a similar jihadist philosophy, they have had very specific methods within Somalia. For instance, high-profile attacks like the 2015 Garissa University massacre and the 2013 Nairobi Westgate Mall siege have been carried out by al-Shabaab, while ISS has concentrated on smaller-scale strikes and sleeper cell strategies.
Overall, because of a weak government and a multitude of competing terrorist organizations and various gangs, it’s likely that Somalia will continue to be a zone of tension in the war on terrorism for the foreseeable future.
