The US military has carried out at least 23 airstrikes on Somalia so far this month, part of a major surge in the Trump administration’s bombing campaign on the African nation. Last year saw a record number of strikes on Somalia, though data on civilian casualties is not always forthcoming.
US Africa Command (ARICOM) has announced a flurry of recent strikes allegedly targeting ISIS and al-Shabaab militants, including at least four in the last week alone. The latest operations took place in Godane – north of the capital city, Mogadishu – as well as around the Golis Mountains in the northern Somaliland region.
Over the last year, the command has “gotten a lot more aggressive” in Africa, and is “working with partners to target, kinetically, the threats, mainly ISIS,” AFRICOM Lieutenant General John Brennan told AFP last week.
American operations in Somalia have seen a major uptick under Trump’s two presidencies, with 219 strikes ordered during his first term, compared to just 48 over President Barack Obama’s eight years in office, according to New America. With the trend continuing into the new year, Trump’s second term appears set to break that record, after 124 airstrikes were ordered in 2025 alone, AFRICOM told Antiwar.com’s Dave DeCamp.
After launching strikes on Nigeria on Christmas Day, Washington also vowed to step up intelligence-sharing and operations in that African state as well, part of a broader push said to target the Islamic State across the continent. Brennan said the Pentagon is also working with the governments of Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali to combat the militant group.
Though AFRICOM is often opaque with information about civilian casualties, New America has recorded up to 135 noncombatant deaths in Somalia out of a total 473 strikes since the George W. Bush administration, with at least 14 under Trump’s two terms. Airwars, which has collected information on civilian deaths in Somalia since 2007, has reported a total of 170 casualties, including 28 children – compared to just six acknowledged by the US military.
