U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets fly in formation April 5, 2025. Over the weekend, U.S. Africa Command carried out its 100th airstrike of the year in Somalia in its campaign against Islamic militants in east Africa. (Gerald Willis/U.S. Air Force)
U.S. Africa Command over the weekend carried out its 100th airstrike of the year in Somalia, showcasing how a campaign against Islamic militants in east Africa now represents one of the American military’s most aggressive operations worldwide.
The milestone came with a Saturday airstrike that targeted Islamic State militants in the vicinity of the Golis Mountains in northern Somalia, AFRICOM confirmed Monday.
The number of AFRICOM airstrikes in Somalia this year far exceeds that of all previous years and is on a pace to potentially double the previous one-year high of 63 carried out in 2019.
In addition, the strikes are occurring at a faster clip than the Pentagon’s campaign against suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea.
Since early September, U.S. forces have launched at least 21 separate strikes against suspected traffickers in the Caribbean and in the eastern Pacific Ocean. By comparison, at least 28 U.S. strikes on militants in Somalia have occurred during that same time frame, according to AFRICOM reports.
AFRICOM has long conducted operations against al-Shabab, an Islamic militant group aligned with al-Qaida that has been waging a decades-long insurgency in Somalia.
While al-Shabab remains the largest terrorist group in Somalia and a focus of AFRICOM attention, strikes against ISIS also have surged in 2025.
The targeting of ISIS in Somalia, formed in 2015 by a group of defectors from al-Shabab, comes amid indications the group is expanding its foothold in the country.
In 2019, there were an estimated 300 ISIS militants in Somalia. But as of May, ISIS’s Somalia cell had grown to an estimated 1,500 fighters, with roughly 60% being foreign, AFRICOM said at the time.
The uptick in airstrikes in 2025 coincides with a January directive by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that grants more decision-making authority on airstrikes to AFRICOM commanders.
U.S. military personnel in Somalia provide various forms of support to the country’s shaky central government as it attempts to keep al-Shabab and ISIS at bay.
AFRICOM’s missions in the country involve training and advising local ground forces, as well as carrying out airstrikes coordinated with the Somali government.
U.S. Africa Command carried out its 100th airstrike of the year in Somalia in its campaign against Islamic militants in east Africa. An airstrike on Nov. 22, 2025, targeted militants in the vicinity of the Golis Mountains in northern Somalia, AFRICOM confirmed Monday. (U.S. Africa Command)
