The U.S. has ramped up its air strikes in Somalia. Since President Trump returned to office, there have been 111 strikes on armed groups, some killing civilians, according to the New America Foundation, which tracks U.S. operations there.
Just recently, on December 14, U.S. Africa Command conducted an air strike about 31 miles northeast of Kismayo, a port city. They said they were targeting al-Shabaab fighters.
Things started in February when Trump approved the first strike of his new term. Later, a top U.S. Navy admiral called it the biggest air strike ever from an aircraft carrier. This marked a U-turn from Biden’s policies.
The number of air strikes this year is already higher than the combined totals under Bush, Obama, and Biden. Trump is on track to surpass his first-term record of 219 strikes.
They are targeting al-Shabaab, an al-Qaeda group fighting Somalia’s government since 2007 that controls much of the south-central area, and ISIS in Somalia, a smaller group with about 1,500 fighters mostly in the northeast.
Somalia’s conflict was one of Africa’s deadliest last year, with over 7,289 deaths, per the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.
Washington has a security deal with Somalia’s government. They train special forces and launch air strikes to support local operations. U.S. troops are also on the ground.
The increase in strikes followed U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth changing the rules, removing the Biden-era requirement for White House approval for attacks outside war zones. AFRICOM commanders now have more freedom.
David Sterman, a senior analyst at the New America Foundation, told Al Jazeera the data shows the White House wants to turn up the heat and is okay with strikes being on the offensive with less oversight.
Over half the strikes this year have supported an offensive against ISIS-Somalia by Somalia’s Puntland region. This began after the group attacked a military convoy in December 2024.
Sterman said U.S. operations have shifted from targeting leaders to repeatedly hitting fighters hiding in caves in Somalia’s northern mountains. The remaining strikes target al-Shabaab advances in the south. They support Somali National Army units that have struggled this year.
The military operation that began the new air campaign on February 1 involved 16 F/A-18 Super Hornets taking off from the USS Harry S Truman in the Red Sea, dropping 60 tonnes of bombs on cave complexes in the Golis Mountains. Africa Command said the strike killed 14 people.
The increase in the campaign has raised concerns about civilian deaths.
Drop Site News reported in December that U.S. air strikes and Somali forces killed at least 11 civilians, including seven kids, during an operation on November 15 in the Lower Jubba region, based on witness accounts.
Africa Command said it launched strikes to support Somali troops but didn’t comment on civilian deaths when asked by Drop Site.
The U.S. military recently stopped releasing civilian casualty assessments in strike announcements, which critics say reduces transparency. According to the military newspaper Stars and Stripes, the number of operations now outpaces U.S. counter-narcotics strikes in the Caribbean.
This comes as Trump has been speaking harshly about Somali immigrants in the U.S. He recently made racist comments about Somali communities in Minnesota, while federal authorities prepared a major immigration crackdown targeting hundreds of undocumented Somalis there.
The comments were slammed by Somali communities worldwide, from Mogadishu to Minneapolis.
As Somalia fights armed groups, U.S. air power is again a key part of the war, changing its course and renewing concerns about protecting civilians. With more strikes coming, Somalia faces a future with increased U.S. military involvement, more political stress, and a war fought from above.
