#somalia

AFRICOM says its forces targeted al-Shabaab in southern Somalia's Lower Juba region.

US Africa Command announced on Thursday that its forces launched another airstrike in Somalia as the Trump administration continues a record-shattering bombing campaign in the country.

AFRICOM said the strike was launched on July 13 and that it targeted al-Shabaab in the vicinity of Qumbi, a village about 55 miles northwest of the port city of Kismayo in Somalia's Lower Juba region. The command offered no other details about the attack as it stopped sharing casualty estimates and assessments on potential civilian harm last year.

The attack marked the second strike AFRICOM announced that it said was launched on July 13. The other strike was conducted about 120 miles southwest of Mogadishu and also allegedly targeted al-Shabaab.

The strike announced on Thursday marks at least the 75th US airstrike in Somalia this year, as the Trump administration is on pace to break the record for annual US airstrikes in the country, which it set at 124 in 2025...

The US has been involved in Somalia for decades and has been fighting al-Shabaab since the George W. Bush administration backed an Ethiopian invasion in 2006 that ousted the Islamic Courts Union, a Muslim coalition that briefly held power in Mogadishu after taking the city from CIA-backed warlords.

“Can I-” His voice cracked, and he tried again. “May I touch you?” She hadn’t expected this. She hadn’t allowed herself to consider that he might want to. The idea of Tony’s hands anywhere near her scars made her stomach seize up, but it also, confusingly, stirred something else. Curiosity. Relief. Maybe even desire, though she was too practiced at denial to name it outright. She nodded, because she couldn’t make herself speak. She didn’t trust her voice not to betray how desperately she needed it to be okay. He hesitated for a long time, as if he wanted to give her a final chance to back out. Then, with an exhale that sounded like it hurt, he reached out and cupped her elbow. The touch was feather-light, the barest suggestion of contact. She braced herself for the instinctive recoil, the spike of panic that always accompanied touch, even from people she trusted. But when his palm slid over her skin, she realized that what she felt was not fear, but a kind of relief so intense it left her dizzy.

WIP - Post Somalia Fic.

01 July 2026

A Visual Poem by Dayaxa Saré

Waking up to the sound of the adhan

The remembrance of Allah whispering through the streets

One man’s bounty is another man’s deepest wish

But all was equal in our hometowns

Children belly laughing as they retreat from their schools

Skipping along the sandy roadside

One of them was probably my mother

Young, simple and carefree

And others her friends and friends of friends

God, if I could ask You a question about my homeland,

Would You tell me the reason I was never born there,

Or why I had to experience the life of a legal alien?

Legal because Allah has blessed me with documentation.

Semantics, if you want honesty.

Wishing there was some alternate lifetime

Where I grew up in the arms of my grandmother,

Aunties, uncles, cousins and friends.

Because in Somalia it takes a village to raise a child,

But in Europe, the child is to be seen and not heard.

Although I am satisfied with my life

And the blessings I have received,

I can’t help but feel robbed of a life

I wished I could have lived.

But who says you cannot be grateful and torn?

So, I raise a cheers to 66th year of independence.

I miss you like a dear friend,

Love you like no other,

And dream of you,

Painfully,

Almost every night.

I long to come home,

And the party of people who would have attended with me

Is certainly dwindling, painfully.

As I write this poem,

I’m still grieving the loss of a loved one.

The man who told me about the golden years of Xamar,

Allahu yerhamuh

Now a visitation without him almost feels empty.

But I long to walk the streets he walked,

The schools he attended,

His favourite theatre in the city centre,

And oh, to play football on Lido Beach,

Just like him.

I hope to return home in honour of him,

And Hodan Nalayeh.

May Allah have mercy on her.

As every day passes,

I feel myself getting closer to you,

Even without the picture of a ticket for a plane ride.

Somalia,

You live inside me,

And many others alike.

Please wait on us.

We’ll make it there peacefully,

In shā’ Allāh.

[Rios and Salem from Army of Two riding an elevator during the beginning of the US invasion of Afghanistan, on their way to fight a dollar store MGS villain with WMDs]

RIOS: We're making bank because we're at war now. This war ends and you're not gonna be able to sustain your lifestyle.

SALEM: Relax, man. This war ain't ending any time soon.