Over the last few weeks, troops from the Somali National Army (SNA), backed by clan-based militias, African Union forces, and U.S. air support, have steadily made progress against Shabaab, al Qaeda’s branch in East Africa, across central Somalia.
Beginning earlier this month, the SNA, alongside clan-based militias known as the Macawisley, began an offensive against Shabaab in Somalia’s central Hiraan region. These operations then spread into the neighboring regions of Galguduud, further northeast, and Bay, to the southwest of Hiraan.
Somali officials in all three regions, as well as from the federal government in Mogadishu, have touted that the combined operations have re-taken dozens of towns and villages from Shabaab, many of which have been under the direct control of the al Qaeda branch for over a decade.
