United States intervention in Somalia

United States intervention in Somalia
	Part of the war on terror, Operation Enduring Freedom – Horn of Africa, and the Somali Civil War
	; MQ-9 Reaper drone, commonly used over Somalia by U.S. forces.
Date	January 7, 2007 – present; (19 years, 2 months and 1 week)
Location	Somalia
Status	Ongoing US-backed Ethiopian invasion and rise of Al-Shabaab (2006–2009); African Union intervention; (2007–2022); Kenyan intervention; (2011–2012); Establishment of Federal Government of Somalia (2012); Withdrawal of majority of US ground troops (2021); Redeployment of US ground troops (2022); US support for Somali forces and multinational African Union force with drone strikes, intelligence, and training; US military operations in Puntland against ISIS;
Belligerents
United States United States Army; United States Marine Corps; United States Air Force; United States Navy; CIA; ; In support of:; Ethiopia; Somalia; Puntland; ATMIS; (since 2022) Burundi ; Djibouti ; Ethiopia ; Kenya ; Uganda; AMISOM; (until 2022) Burundi ; Djibouti (from 2011) ; Ethiopia (from 2006) ; Ghana ; Kenya (from 2011, officially from 2012) ; Nigeria (from 2010) ; Sierra Leone (from 2013) ; Uganda (until 2017);	Islamic Courts Union (until 2009); Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia (until 2009); ; al-Shabaab; al-Qaeda; Alleged support:; Iran; North Korea; ; Hizbul Islam (until 2009–10; 2012–14); ; Islamic State Somalia Province; ;
Commanders and leaders
Donald Trump; (2017–2021, 2025–); Joe Biden; (2021–2025); Barack Obama; (2009–2017); George W. Bush (2007–2009); Pete Hegseth; (2025–); Lloyd Austin; (2021–2025); Mark Esper; (2019–2020); Jim Mattis; (2017–2019); Ash Carter; (2015–2017); Chuck Hagel; (2011–2015); Leon Panetta; (2011–2013); Robert Gates; (2007–2011);	Ahmed Diriye; (Emir of al-Shabaab); Fuad Qalaf (former); Mukhtar Robow ; Moktar Ali Zubeyr †; Hassan Abdullah Hersi al-Turki #; Mohamed Said Atom ; Ibrahim Haji Jama Mee'aad ; Hassan Dahir Aweys ; Sharif Ahmed; Ibrahim Addow; Abdullahi Afrah †; Abdirahman Janaqow; Abdilqadir Ali Omar; Madobe (POW); Abu Mansoor Al-Amriki †; Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan †; Fazul Abdullah Mohammed †; ; Abdul Qadir Mumin; (leader of ISS); ; Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi; (ISIL caliph since 2023); Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi †; (ISIL caliph 2022–2023); Abu al-Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi †; (ISIL caliph 2022); Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi †; (ISIL caliph 2019–2022); Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi X; (ISIL caliph until 2019); Mahad Maalin †; Abdihakim Mohamed Ibrahim ("Dhoqob") †;
Strength
450 personnel	Al-Shabaab: 7,000–9,000 fighters (Dec 2017)
Casualties and losses
3 service members killed; 2 contractors killed; 1 CIA paramilitary officer killed; 5 wounded; 5 aircraft destroyed; 1 aircraft damaged; 2 Oshkosh M-ATV; several fuel tanker destroyed	1,879-2,495 militants killed
	35–135 civilians killed (per New America); 22 Galmudug soldiers mistakenly killed; 78–153 civilians killed (per Airwars)

Since the mid-2000s, the United States has provided military support to the Ethiopian National Defence Force, African Union troops, the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and its successor, the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS), in their conflicts with Somali Islamist actors.

U.S. military involvement in Somalia dates back to the 1990s with the UNITAF and UNOSOM II operations. With the global war on terror in the early 2000s, renewed U.S. military action was framed as counterterrorism. Successive administrations under George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and Joe Biden have conducted airstrikes, special forces missions, intelligence operations and training programs against Islamist groups in the country.

In the early 2000s, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) emerged as a major political and military force, becoming the de facto government over much of southern Somalia by mid-2006 after defeating a CIA-backed coalition of warlords. The U.S. backed the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia aimed at regime change against the ICU and installing the weak Ethiopian backed Transitional Federal Government its place. U.S. aircraft, special forces and intelligence assets were covertly deployed in support of Ethiopian troops advancing on Mogadishu in 2006. Following the overthrow of the ICU government, an Islamist insurgency emerged in 2007 and brought the Ethiopian military occupation to an end in early 2009, during which the al-Shabaab evolved into a powerful insurgent actor.

U.S. support for the Ethiopian invasion resulted in the growth of an intense anti-American sentiment. The war had significantly increased popular hostility to both the United States and Ethiopia, while strengthening the Islamic movements most radical elements. By the US military's own assessment, the war had been poorly prosecuted. American forces have been engaged in counterinsurgency operations against the al-Shabaab throughout the present post-Ethiopian occupation phase of the Somali Civil War (2009–present).

In late 2020, President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal of most US troops from Somalia. In May 2022, President Joe Biden redeployed US soldiers. The Somali government has asked for U.S. involvement support on numerous occasions in recent years. The United States Army stationed in Puntland's Bari region are currently supporting the ongoing anti-ISIS campaign. During 2025 the Trump administration drastically escalated the number of airstrikes.

Amnesty International concluded that the actual number of U.S. airstrikes conducted in Somalia exceeded officially reported figures, and that AFRICOM has repeatedly misclassified Somali civilians killed in these strikes as “terrorists".