FIRST ON FOX: The U.S. is mounting an increasing blitz of air attacks and military missions against Islamist terrorists in Somalia to reduce the threat of jihadi attacks on the U.S. homeland.
The terrorists are said to be mainly affiliated with Islamic State (ISIS) or al Qaeda. This is according to U.S. Army Lt. Gen. John Brennan, the second highest-ranking officer at U.S. Africa Command, who talked exclusively last week to Fox News Digital.
Brennan, a former U.S. Special Forces leader who served in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, confirmed, “There’s ISIS-inspired threats. They plot against the United States homeland as well as Europe. So that’s kind of the nexus of the threat.”
AFTER TRUMP STRIKES ISLAMIST TERRORISTS, US GENERAL TRAVELS TO NIGERIA WITH MILITANTS ‘ON THE RUN’
“So think,” Brennan said, “American citizens on social media get recruited to do bad things inside America. And then there’s ISIS lead and ISIS resource cells that are capable of larger-scale attacks. We’ve stopped, over the history since 9/11, a lot of those from happening, because of what we do overseas, so we’re playing the away game.”
He continued, “When you give a terrorist organization that has resourcing like ISIS time and space to plot and plan, those ISIS and terrorist-led attacks can happen. If they’re on the run, and they’re constantly worried about surviving, they can’t be as effective at planning and plotting.”
The U.S., with strikes and intelligence capabilities, is on an aggressive campaign to smash terror’s hold on Somalia, and stop the country from being what the State Department described in 2017 as “a terrorist safe haven“.
In 2025, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), working with Somali and other partners, carried out 124 airstrikes on ISIS-Somalia (Islamic State) and al-Shabab jihadi terrorists and their facilities in Somalia, 12 times the amount of missions flown under the Biden administration in 2024.
In the first month of 2026, the U.S. has staged another 26 attacks – 2½ more than the 10 that were carried out in the whole of 2024.
The focus of Islamist terror has moved from the Middle East to Africa, and specifically to Somalia, Brennan told Fox News Digital. “The caliph — absolute leader — of the global ISIS network, Abdulqadir Mumin, is a Somali, and he is in the (Somali) Golis Mountains along with a lot of his key leaders. And from that location they direct terrorist activities, not just across Africa. He is directing global ISIS operations that go to the Far East, Europe and the U.S.”
President Donald Trump, referring to Somalia in February 2025, posted on his Truth Social account, “The message to ISIS and all others who would attack Americans is that ‘WE WILL FIND YOU, AND WE WILL KILL YOU!’”
Asked by Fox News Digital this week whether U.S. forces are hunting the ISIS leader Mumin, Brennan replied, “Yes, absolutely. We want to make sure he has no safe space anywhere. History has shown that the ISIS caliph ends up getting killed by us at some point.”
“We’re on no. 4 right now,” he added. The most notorious, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was hunted down in Syria.
In Somalia, the Islamic State is represented by ISIS-Somalia. “We’ve had a lot of success targeting that network, ISIS-Somalia,” he said.
“We’ve taken large swathes of terrain back — our partners have. We’ve just enabled with intel sharing ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance) and fires — airstrikes. About well over half the territory that ISIS Somalia once maintained up in Puntland — an autonomous state in North-Eastern Somalia — is now under the control of the Puntland Defense Forces.”
“They’ve conducted a massive amount of clearing operations, taking back terrain, capturing a great number of ISIS operatives, as well as a lot of their material. But again, our main mission is to secure the homeland — make sure that none of this threat migrates back to our shores. I think we’ve been pretty successful at that and if the PDF can continue what they’re doing, ISIS Somalia may cease to exist before too long. That’s our ultimate goal,” he said.
SOMALIS LIVE IN CONSTANT FEAR, DANGER AS DISTURBING REALITY HOVERS OVER THEIR DAILY LIVES
Al-Shabab, the local al Qaeda affiliate, is, however, still a problem in Somalia. He said, “In the south you have al-Shabab, and that threat has definitely morphed over the last year or so, as they are coordinating with the Houthis.”
“Not as much (an) external operations threat,” the general continued, “but in fact, al-Shabab is, I think, the strongest, largest, most well financed part of the al Qaeda global franchise and their desire is to take over Mogadishu and turn Somalia into an al Qaeda caliphate.”
The U.S. role in Somalia in 2026 is increasingly “remote advise and assist,” with most of the Somali troops using their own ground assault vehicles, Brennan said, adding that on occasion they provide them “with a ride to work” — transporting them to raids on U.S. helicopters and providing airstrike support.
AFRICOM provides advanced intelligence capabilities. Brennan said, “We’ve given them tools that allow them to see what the ISR aircraft are seeing. We can show them things on a moving map that they’re carrying on their chest.”
Ambassador Robert Scott, a senior career diplomat who was brought in by the State Department in 2023 to serve as deputy to the commander for civil-military engagement with AFRICOM, told Fox News Digital that governments around Somalia have been able to share the burden with AFRICOM — “not only Kenya and Ethiopia and Uganda, but also Somaliland, Puntland especially (and) also Jubaland. So (we are) finding partners who are willing to engage in the fight against both ISIS and al Shabab. I think it’s been very effective.”
Brennan also says the U.S. military activity in Somalia could lead to huge trade potential. “There’s natural resources in Somalia that, because of the security situation, the Somalis have not benefited from,” he added. “Now the Somalis are realizing they may have critical minerals.”
“There’s LNG (liquified natural gas) off the coast of Mogadishu, so that our biggest weapon system, if you will, from an African perspective, is our private sector economy. If we can get that in there with private sector investment similar to other countries in Africa, that is a guarantor of security.”
Rising ISIS threats to US homeland drive AFRICOM airstrikes against terrorists in Somalia 2026 IUSTITIA.BG – Investigations 2009-2025 2026-02-02 18:41:42 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law
