A large concentration of Shabaab fighters a significant distance from its typical support zone in Jubba River Valley demonstrates the Al Qaeda affiliate’s resilience across Somalia.
This is the third time in the past month that US forces have conducted defensive airstrikes following Shabaab attacks.
Scores of Taliban recruits train in broad daylight at the Abu Ubaidah bin Jarrah Training Camp.
As JNIM rallies its members and supporters against France and Mali, it depicts the fight with the two countries as part of al Qaeda’s wider global jihad.
The United States has conducted 24 strikes in Somalia in 2018, all of which have targeted Shabaab. The strike occurred near a town that was liberated by Somali forces just two days ago.
Al Qaeda’s branch in East Africa “still maintained control over large portions of the country” and “retained the ability to carry out high-profile attacks” in 2017 despite increased targeting by the US military, the African Union, and the Somali government.
The State Department has released its Country Reports on Terrorism 2017. As in past reports, State says that “Iran has allowed AQ [al Qaeda] facilitators to operate a core facilitation pipeline through Iran since at least 2009, enabling AQ to move funds and fighters to South Asia and Syria.”
Al Qaeda released a message from its leader, Ayman al Zawahiri, to commemorate the 17th anniversary of the 9/11 hijackings. Zawahiri argues that the jihadists must view various conflicts raging around the globe as a “single war with different fronts against a united enemy.”
