President Donald Trump of the United States on Saturday announced airstrikes aimed at a senior Islamic State attack planner and other operatives who had been hiding in caves in Somalia. On his Truth Social platform, Trump claimed that the airstrikes successfully destroyed the caves, killing several terrorists and ensuring no civilians were hurt during the operation.
The airstrikes occurred in the Golis Mountains region, which was notorious for giving shelter to ISIS fighters. According to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, preliminary information pointed to the deaths of several ISIS operatives in the strikes. This information could not be confirmed. However, according to a Somali government official, who spoke under anonymity, attacks did occur. He said that he supported such an action.
“Somalia cannot be a safe haven for terrorists,” said the official, who stated that the Somali government was assessing the full impact of the operation.
These strikes only went on to weaken ISIS’ ability to plan and execute terrorist attacks against the United States and its allies, said Hegseth, who also highlighted that the operations sent a strong message and further reaffirmed the United States commitment to eliminating the terrorist threats worldwide.
This is part of the US continuing military operations against ISIS in Somalia-an operation that’s been going without interruption since Republican and Democratic administrations. A year ago, this kind of operation killed three ISIS militants.
