Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Dan M Ford & Zakariya Rahimi
“Despite a number of foreign actors, including the United States, using kinetic military strikes and contributing military resources to Somalia for the past many years in an ostensible effort to improve the Somali security situation, both ISIS and al-Shabaab are expanding their territory and continuing to threaten the country’s peace and security. Years of heavy bombardment have failed to eliminate the security threat, and have instead helped spark collaboration between these groups and the Houthis, which are now contributing resources to help the terrorist organizations advance their goals in Somalia. All the while, the conflict is turning into a diplomatic mess, creating new scuffles amongst regional actors.” (07/24/25)