The United States has picked up the pace of its air strikes against Al-Shabaab and Islamic State in Somalia this year, according to US Africa Command data.
The United States has long been involved in the Horn of Africa and has been targeting Al-Shabaab and Islamic State militants since the mid-2000s, after the former first emerged.
Since January 1, the United States has conducted 23 strikes in Somalia, Africom spokeswoman Major Mahalia Frost told AFP.
The “uptick” since the New Year, Frost said, is related to a broader US push against Islamic State-linked militants on the continent, which included Christmas Day strikes in Nigeria.
In the last year, “we’ve gotten a lot more aggressive and (are) working with partners to target, kinetically, the threats, mainly ISIS,” Africom Lieutenant General John Brennan told AFP last week on the sidelines of a US-Nigeria security meeting in the Nigerian capital.
Following the Nigeria strikes on what Washington and Abuja said were targets linked to Islamic State Sahel Province, the Pentagon has pledged increased intelligence sharing with its Nigerian counterparts.
“From Somalia to Nigeria, the problem set is connected. So we’re trying to take it apart and then provide partners with the information they need,” Brennan said.
“It’s been about more enabling partners and then providing them equipment and capabilities with less restrictions so that they can be more successful.”
Frost added that 23 bombardments in Somalia this year “also include strikes against al Shabaab.”
Increased strikes under Trump
President Donald Trump sharply escalated US strikes in Somalia during his first term, ordering 219 strikes and ground operations over four years—compared to 48 by Barack Obama in eight years—according to a tally from US think tank New America.
Trump has ordered at least 143 so far in his second term, according to New America’s tally.
The US strikes in Nigeria came as the country has also been embroiled in a diplomatic spat with Washington, after Trump last year alleged the violence in the West African country amounted to the “genocide” or persecution of Christians.
Independent analysts and the Nigerian government reject that framing of the country’s overlapping, myriad conflicts — though it has long been used by the US religious right that makes up part of Trump’s base.
Both the US and Nigerian militaries now seem keen on the increased collaboration, even if diplomats continue to clash.
Somalia, too, has come under fire diplomatically, with the United States recently pausing humanitarian aid there.
Earlier this month, Somalia announced that senior Al-Shabaab militant Abdullahi Osman Mohamed Abukar had been killed in a joint US operation.
AFP
