On May 9, 2025, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) carried out an attack on ISIS-Somalia in cooperation with the Federal Government of Somalia. Seventy kilometres southeast of Bassaso, Somalia, the airstrike took place. ISIS-Somalia has demonstrated that it is capable of attacking American soldiers.
During the early part of 2025, AFRICOM conducted several strikes on ISIS-Somalia, which resulted in the deaths of dozens of operatives, including prominent operatives like ISIS recruiter and external operations commander Ahmed Maeleninine, who was responsible for sending jihadists abroad.
Together with the Somali Armed Forces and the Federal Government of Somalia, AFRICOM is working to weaken ISIS-Somalia’s capacity to organise and carry out actions that endanger the American homeland, our troops, and our nationals overseas. In order to maintain the security of ongoing operations, specific information on units and assets will not be disclosed.
AFRICOM is one of the U.S. Department of Defense’s eleven unified combatant commands with the responsibility for U.S. military operations and interactions with 53 African countries (except Egypt, which is under U.S. Central Command). AFRICOM is headquartered in Kelley Barracks in Stuttgart, Germany, and the command was inaugurated in October 2007 and became operational in October 2008.
AFRICOM continues to actively engage in military operations against ISIS-affiliated entities in Africa, specifically ISIS-Somalia, that operate in the northeastern part of Somalia. They consist of airstrikes in coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia and Somali Armed Forces designed to deprive ISIS-Somalia of its capability to plan and conduct attacks against U.S. interests, people, and citizens overseas.
U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has stepped up airstrikes against ISIS-Somalia, most notably in the Golis Mountains and Puntland area of northeastern Somalia. The airstrikes have resulted in dozens of ISIS fighters, including top leaders like Ahmed Maeleninine, an ISIS recruiter and external operations planner who was in charge of sending jihadists abroad.
The United States-led anti-ISIS coalition in Iraq and Syria, begun in 2014, involved widespread airstrikes, special operations missions, and assistance to local partners like the Iraqi Security Forces and Syrian Democratic Forces. This operation severely weakened ISIS’s control over territory, ending in the recapture of large cities like Mosul (2017) and Raqqa (2017).
