Somalia and ISIS

Lt. Gen. John Brennan, deputy commander of U.S. Africa Command, says the U.S. has massively escalated air and special‑operations strikes in Somalia to disrupt ISIS and al‑Qaeda cells that he says are actively plotting attacks on the U.S. and Europe. In an on‑the‑record interview, Brennan details that AFRICOM carried out 124 strikes in Somalia in 2025—12 times the 10 missions flown in 2024 under the Biden administration—and has already launched 26 more in January 2026, targeting ISIS‑Somalia and al‑Shabab operatives and infrastructure. Brennan identifies Abdulqadir Mumin, a Somali based in the Golis Mountains, as the current global ISIS 'caliph' directing operations from East Africa to the Far East, Europe and the United States, and confirms U.S. forces are explicitly hunting him with the goal that he will "have no safe space anywhere." He frames the campaign as an "away game," arguing that keeping ISIS leaders on the run overseas is what has prevented large‑scale attacks inside the U.S. since 9/11, and warns that giving such networks "time and space" would let them mount bigger plots. The piece also notes Trump’s February 2025 Truth Social vow—"WE WILL FIND YOU, AND WE WILL KILL YOU!"—as political cover for the surge, while independent analysts have been debating online how far the Somalia fight risks mission creep versus genuine homeland protection.