The Escalation of U.S. Airstrikes in Somalia and the Role of Perceived Threats to the U.S. Homeland

Future Security Program Deputy Director David Sterman wrote on the escalation of U.S. strikes in Somalia for West Point's CTC Sentinel.

The United States is currently waging a stepped-up air campaign against jihadi groups in Somalia. According to information released by United States Africa Command (AFRICOM), between February 1, when the Trump administration conducted the first strike in Somalia of 2025, and June 10, the United States conducted 38 strikes against the Islamic State in Somalia and al-Shabaab. Additional strikes after June 10 have also been conducted. The rationales surrounding the increase in strikes relate to concerns about regional security (including the threat to Somalia’s federal government), but also exhibit an increasingly prominent discussion of the potential threat to the U.S. homeland. Both rationales are driven in part by the perceived role that foreign fighters play in the Islamic State in Somalia.

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