Updated 2/2/05 12:11 PM EST
On Saturday, the United States launched multiple airstrikes against northwestern Somalia’s Golis Mountain range. Details are still coming in, but President Trump, in announcing the attack on Truth Social, said that “many” were killed.
The leader of Puntland made a statement later claiming the US airstrikes killed 46 ISIS members including 12 fighters from unnamed “Arab countries.” His statement provided no names, and there’s been no confirmation of the actual toll.
Trump and other officials are reporting the attacks targeted a yet-unnamed “senior ISIS planner.” Trump bragged that former President Biden wouldn’t act quickly enough to kill him “but I did!” There is no report on who this was, or whether he was actually among the slain, such details are likely to emerge later in the weekend.
Despite criticizing Biden for not acting against Somalia, the former president actually launched at least two sets of attacks in Somalia in just his last month in office. On December 24 they reportedly killed two al-Shabaab fighters in Middle Juba region, and AFRICOM reported in early January that another strike in southern Somalia has killed at least 10.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the new attacks were carried out in coordination of the Somali government, and that there were “no reported civilian casualties.” Reports of civilian bystanders killed in foreign airstrikes in remote parts of Somalia often take several days to emerge, however.
It is noteworthy that President Trump chose to attack ISIS instead of al-Shabaab in this case, as the later has a much larger presence inside Somalia. He insisted today’s killing showed the US was a message that “WE WILL FIND YOU, AND WE WILL KILL YOU!”
In 2021, the Pentagon reported that President Trump had ordered the withdrawal of 700 US ground troops from Somalia, and that there were “significant downsides” to that shift in policy. Throughout the Biden Administration the US continued to carry out large numbers of airstrikes against Somalia, and today’s strikes, the first for the new administration, show that’s likely to continue.
It is noteworthy that President Trump chose to attack ISIS instead of al-Shabaab in this case, as the later has a much larger presence inside Somalia. He insisted today’s killing showed the US was a message that “WE WILL FIND YOU, AND WE WILL KILL YOU!”
So, does that replace MAGA? WWFY & WWKY. George W should look into trademark violations (/s).
He's trying to reach the same level of Hellishness as Killary, obviously. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/81aa247beda7ac6502f6f71a9a7541c359eea20026883dd8ef081682bf070245.gif
Bragging and laughing about killing people represents a sick society and it does not matter that they come under a D or R.
Trump harumph!
I was pretty sure that ISIS worked for the USA and Israel, what's wrong? Did they drift away after not being paid for a month or is just that Uncle Sam can't avoid bombing something every Sunday?
The US also paid some ISIS fighters to fight against Russia in the Ukraine.
True: they actually attacked some sort of festival outlet in Moscow. I had forgotten about that.
Trump:
This morning I ordered precision Military air strikes on the Senior ISIS Attack Planner and other terrorists he recruited and led in Somalia. These killers, who we found hiding in caves, threatened the United States and our Allies. The strikes destroyed the caves they live in, and killed many terrorists without, in any way, harming civilians. Our Military has targeted this ISIS Attack Planner for years, but Biden and his cronies wouldn’t act quickly enough to get the job done. I did! The message to ISIS and all others who would attack Americans is that “WE WILL FIND YOU, AND WE WILL KILL YOU!”
Whew, thank goodness. They were just about to leave their caves and run some planes into our building s again.
MAGA used to say that the Dems had turned everything upside down which is true but now so have the Republicans. Peace now means Killing and be proud of it.
More like, "we will find you and we will kill you from air, because we know you can not defend yourself and we're too coward to kill you face to face"…!