US hits Islamic State: What is Trump going to do in Somalia?

Weeks after US President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office, the United States on Saturday conducted airstrikes on Somalia. The strikes left many surprised since there was a time when Trump ordered the withdrawal of American troops from the country. Not only this but with two wars raging on in the world, Somalia was not even on the international community’s radar.

Following the strikes, the Trump administration issued a statement in which they said that the strikes were against the operatives of the Islamic State in Northern Somalia. This was the first major American military operation ever since Trump returned to the White House.

Soon after the news started to spread like wildfire, new Defence Secretary Pete Hegesth faced the media and that the military’s initial assessment was that “multiple operatives” in the remote Golis Mountains in the country’s north were killed in the strikes, and that no civilians were harmed. Trump eventually gave a pat on his back as he posted on TruthSocial that a senior commander of the terrorist wing was killed in the attack.

“The strikes destroyed the caves they live in, and killed many terrorists without, in any way, harming civilians. Our Military has targeted this ISIS Attack Planner for years, but Biden and his cronies wouldn’t act quickly enough to get the job done. I did!” Trump wrote on TruthSocial. “The message to ISIS and all others who would attack Americans is that “WE WILL FIND YOU, AND WE WILL KILL YOU!” But the question still remains, what does Trump want from Somalia?

Why did Trump order airstrikes in Somalia?

During the Saturday press briefing, Hegseth maintained that the strikes were conducted by Navy and Air Force warplanes, including F/A-18 fighter jets from the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman operating in the Red Sea. “This action further degrades ISIS’s ability to plot and conduct terrorist attacks threatening U.S. citizens, our partners and innocent civilians,”  the defence secretary averred.

There are three reasons why the strikes in the African nation might have been conducted:

1. Symbolic Gesture 

According to the New York Times, several US Defence officials believe that the strikes were more symbolic than substantive. They claimed that it was meant to showcase Trump’s image as a “commander in chief protecting the country from terrorists” from the very beginning of his second term.

2. Scars of New Orleans 

2025 started with a devastating incident in New Orleans when a US Army veteran inspired by the Islamic State rammed a car into a group of people celebrating New Year’s. The West has been concerned with the rise in terrorist attacks, where the perpetrators were either part of ISIS or were inspired by the IS.

The recent attack on Islamic Operatives in Somalia can be seen as Trump’s way of paying back for the New Orleans tragedy. It also indicates that America is concerned by the recent resurgence of the influence of IS.

Earlier this month it was reported that counterterrorism specialists have warned the new administration that it needs to take these threats seriously.

3. Shutting down the critics

When Trump called for an emergency at the US borders and called for Army enforcement in the region, several critics argued that this would distract security officials from other military missions. Hence, many saw the recent strike in Somalia as a way for the Trump administration to shut down its critics.

But what changed?

One can not forget the fact that it was Trump who withdrew 700 American troops from Somalia in January 2021. His successor, who soon became his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, later redeployed 450 troops back to the African nation after he took office.

Hence, it remains unclear why Trump was suddenly interested in Somalia and what he might do this time. It is pertinent to note that the American troops in the region have been providing training to Somali forces and do not conduct counterterrorism operations. However, things can change soon.

Hegseth said on Saturday that the United States “stands ready to find and eliminate terrorists who threaten the United States and our allies, even as we conduct robust border-protection” missions.

Al Shabab: The group on Trump’s radar

The African nation is better known for its issues with the militants from Al Shabab, the terrorist group linked to Al Qaeda than for the Islamic State. US intelligence officials estimate that the group in Somalia has roughly 7,000 to 12,000 members and an annual income — including from taxing or extorting civilians — of about $120 million, making it the largest and wealthiest Qaeda affiliate in the world.

However, it would be wrong to diminish the threats in northern Somalia where the Islamic State Operates. In May last year, the American military carried out an airstrike against ISIS fighters in a remote area southeast of Bosaso, Somalia, and killed three people. It was claimed that the strike killed a Somali militant believed to be the head of ISIS’s worldwide operations. However, the assessment proved incorrect by the counterterrorism officials who later investigated the matter.

Not only this, in January 2023, US Special Operations commandos killed a senior Islamic State leader in an early morning helicopter raid. The operation was conducted in a remote area of northern Somalia. The Pentagon later identified the militant to be one of the terrorist group’s top financial operatives, Bilal al-Sudani.

The officials said that while he was operating in Somalia, Sudani’s influence extended across Africa, into Europe and even to the ISIS branch in Afghanistan that carried out the August 2021 bombing at Kabul’s airport that killed 13 American service members. American spy networks eventually detected Sudani’s hidden headquarters and the information from his laptop and hard drives still helps the American military in a significant way.

Somalia welcomes the strike

Meanwhile, the office of the president of Somalia acknowledged that they had been informed of the US strike targeting senior IS leadership in the northern part of the country. Somalia President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud went on to laud the operation and said that he “acknowledges the unwavering support of the United States in the fight against international terrorism and welcomes the continued commitment under the decisive leadership of President Donald Trump”.

Mohamud maintained that the latest American operation “reinforces the strong security partnership between Somalia and the United States in combating extremist threats”. Hence, while many questioned the strike, the people of Somalia saw it as a ray of hope to save themselves from the presence of the Islamic State.

With inputs from agencies.