President Trump launched nearly as many airstrikes in his first five months in office as President Biden did during his entire four-year term, The Telegraph reported last week, citing figures from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED).
The ACLED found that Trump oversaw 529 airstrikes, compared with 555 launched during President Biden’s term. The majority of Trump’s airstrikes — 470 — have been launched in Yemen, where the Trump administration carried out a very heavy bombing campaign from March 15 to May 6 that killed more than 250 civilians.
The Trump administration has also launched a significant number of airstrikes in Somalia. US Africa Command told Antiwar.com on July 15 that it has carried out at least 51 airstrikes in Somalia so far this year, which includes only one that was launched when Biden was still president in January 2025.
The US has been bombing Somalia at a record pace, and the Trump administration is on track to break the record for annual airstrikes in the country, which President Trump set during his first term at 63. Despite the rate of airstrikes, the US air war in Somalia gains virtually no media coverage in the US.
During his second term, President Trump has also overseen US airstrikes in Syria, Iraq, and the recent strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The surge in US bombings came after the Trump administration eased restrictions on airstrikes and ground raids, giving lower-level commanders greater freedom of action in areas outside of official US war zones, which include Yemen and Somalia.
“The US military is moving faster, hitting harder, and doing so with fewer constraints,” Clionadh Raleigh, the head of the ACLED, told The Telegraph. The rate of airstrikes comes despite pledges from Trump and his political allies that he would be a “peace president.”
