While a strong focus of President Donald Trump’s first weeks in office has been the Western Hemisphere, the danger posed by ISIS terrorists in other areas of the world has not been ignored.
Although ISIS’s so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria was destroyed by the United States and its Kurdish allies in 2019, the group has transformed itself into a network of regional branches and has expanded from the Middle East. Africa, in particular, has suffered from the growth of ISIS terrorists in recent years. Not only are they a coercive and destabilizing force for local communities, they remain a global threat. The 2024 Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community noted that “ISIS will remain a centralized global organization even as it has been forced to rely on regional branches … and [will attempt] to conduct and inspire global attacks against the West and Western interests.”
Because of ISIS’ continued threat, the United States will not relent in its efforts to counter and destroy it. To that end, on February 1, the U.S. conducted airstrikes against ISIS in Somalia. In a statement, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the airstrikes were undertaken in coordination with the Federal Government of Somalia and targeted ISIS-Somalia operatives in the Golis mountains. According to the Pentagon’s assessment, multiple ISIS operatives were killed and no civilians were harmed.
U.S. Africa Command, which conducted the airstrikes, said in a statement that the Command “takes great measures to prevent civilian harm. Protecting civilians remains a vital part of the Command’s operations to promote a more secure and stable Africa.”
Posting on social media, President Trump described the main target of the strike as a “Senior ISIS Attack Planner and other terrorists he recruited and led in Somalia. These killers, who we found hiding in caves, threatened the United States and our Allies,” wrote President Trump. “The strikes destroyed the caves they live in, and killed many terrorists without, in any way, harming civilians. … The message to ISIS and all others who would attack Americans is that ‘WE WILL FIND YOU, AND WE WILL KILL YOU!‘”
