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WASHINGTON: The US military has conducted airstrikes against Daesh operatives in Somalia, the first attacks in the African nation during President Donald Trump’s second term.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Saturday that the strikes by US Africa Command were directed by Trump and coordinated with Somalia’s government.
An initial assessment by the Pentagon indicated that “multiple” operatives were killed. The Pentagon said it assessed that no civilians were harmed in the strikes.
Trump, in a post on social media, said a senior Daesh planner and recruits were targeted in the operation.
“The strikes destroyed the caves they live in, and killed many terrorists without, in any way, harming civilians. Our Military has targeted this Daesh Attack Planner for years, but Biden and his cronies wouldn’t act quickly enough to get the job done. I did!” Trump said. “The message to Daesh and all others who would attack Americans is that “WE WILL FIND YOU, AND WE WILL KILL YOU!”
Trump did not identify the Daesh planner or say whether that person was killed in the strike. White House officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Pentagon’s counterterrorism strategy in Africa has been strained as two key partners, Chad and Niger, ousted US forces last year and took over key bases that the US military had used to train and conduct missions against terrorist groups across the Sahel, the vast arid expanse south of the Sahara Desert.
US military officials have warned that Daesh cells have received increasing direction from the group’s leadership that relocated to northern Somalia. That has included how to kidnap Westerners for ransom, how to learn better military tactics, how to hide from drones and how to build their own small quadcopters.
The Daesh affiliate in Somalia emerged in 2015 as a breakaway faction from Al-Shabab, Al-Qaeda’s East African link, and is most active in Puntland, particularly in the Galgala Mountains, where it has established hideouts and training camps and is led by Abdulkadir Mumin.
While its influence is relatively limited compared to Al-Shabab, Daesh in Somalia has been involved in attacks in southern and central Somalia. The group funds its activities through extortion, smuggling, and illicit taxation, particularly in some coastal areas where it has attempted to control local businesses.
Despite facing counterterrorism pressure from Somali security forces, US airstrikes and Al-Shabab rivalries, it continues to operate in remote and urban areas, seeking to expand its influence through recruitment and propaganda.
The number of Daesh militants in the country are estimated to be in the hundreds, mostly scattered in the Cal Miskaat mountains in Puntland’s Bari region, according to the International Crisis Group.
Saturday’s operation followed military airstrikes on Jan. 30 in northwest Syria, killing a senior operative in Hurras Al-Din, an Al-Qaeda affiliate, US Central Command said.

LONDON: The UK prime minister is moving forward with a Middle East peace plan based on his work in the Northern Ireland peace process, The Independent reported on Saturday.

Keir Starmer pledged in December that the UK would lead efforts to bring long-term peace to the region.

This week, following the establishment of a ceasefire in Gaza, the British government and Foreign Office held meetings with figures from the Alliance for Middle East Peace, a network of more than 160 organizations engaged in civil society peacebuilding between Israelis and Palestinians.

Starmer’s plan will see Foreign Secretary David Lammy host a conference later this year to raise funds for the project.

John Lyndon, ALLMEP’s executive director, told The Independent: “It’s encouraging to see the government begin to think through how the prime minister’s endorsement of an international fund for Israeli-Palestinian peace — and the pledge that the foreign secretary would hold an inaugural meeting in London — can relate to the rapidly changing environment.

“With a fragile ceasefire and hostage deal in place, we need to see initiatives like this predicated on conflict resolution, nonviolence and diplomacy gather momentum.”

Starmer, a former human rights lawyer, served as adviser on human rights to the Northern Ireland Policing Board from 2003 to 2007.

The board supervises the Police Service of Northern Ireland, with Starmer having worked to ensure the service was compliant with the 1998 Human Rights Act.

The International Fund for Ireland, which was launched in the late 1980s and serves as a model for Starmer’s Middle East peace project, was described as the “great unsung hero of the Good Friday Agreement” by Jonathan Powell, the government’s former chief negotiator.

The fund slowly pooled resources and brought figures from both sides of the conflict together, culminating in the 1999 Good Friday Agreement.