The US-backed Somali government said on Thursday that the US launched airstrikes in support of its operations against al-Shabaab, which has been making gains in a ground offensive in southern and central Somalia.
The Somali Information Ministry said in a press release that on Wednesday night, a joint airstrike launched by US Africa Command (AFRICOM) and the Somali military targeted Adan Yabaal, a town about 140 miles north of Mogadishu that al-Shabaab just captured.
The Information Ministry claimed that 12 al-Shabaab fighters were killed in the strike and that there were no civilian casualties. In another press release, the ministry said the US and Somalia carried out another airstrike against vessels it claimed were carrying weapons for al-Shabaab.
“The operation took place in Somali territorial waters, targeting an unflagged ship and a smaller support craft. These vessels were transporting modern weaponry that posed a significant threat to the security of Somalia,” the ministry said.
So far, AFRICOM has not confirmed the airstrikes, but it’s unclear if the command has been reporting each strike it launches in Somalia. Africom has taken credit for two attacks this month against the small ISIS affiliate that’s based in Somalia’s northeastern Puntland region.
The US airstrikes against al-Shabaab come after The New York Times reported that the Trump administration is divided on how to handle the al-Shabaab offensive. State Department officials have recommended evacuating the US embassy in Mogadishu as a precaution, suggesting the US believes the city could fall to al-Shabaab.
Other US officials, including Sebastian Gorka, the senior director for counterterrorism on the National Security Council, are urging that the US escalate its airstrikes and continue propping up the federal government, which appears as weak as ever and holds little territory inside Somalia’s internationally recognized borders.
Hawks who favor continued intervention in Somalia portray al-Shabaab as a major threat to the US due to its size and al-Qaeda affiliation, but it’s widely believed the group does not have ambitions outside of Somalia.
Al-Shabaab was born out of a US-backed Ethiopian invasion in 2006 that toppled the Islamic Courts Union, a coalition of Muslim groups that briefly held power in Mogadishu after ousting CIA-backed warlords.
Al-Shabaab was the radical offshoot of the Islamic Courts Union. The group’s first recorded attack was in 2007, and it wasn’t until 2012 that al-Shabaab pledged loyalty to al-Qaeda after years of fighting the US and its proxies.
