Washington (Somalia Today) – The US military has launched an intensified air campaign in Somalia against Islamist insurgents, a blitz commanders say is meant to protect the homeland and open the country to US energy and mineral investment.
While the primary mission remains destroying Islamic State (IS) and Al-Shabab terror cells, senior officials now openly link security operations to the potential for a lucrative “private sector economy” involving liquified natural gas (LNG) and critical minerals.
“There are natural resources in Somalia that, because of the security situation, the Somalis have not benefited from,” US Army Lt. Gen. John Brennan, the second-highest ranking officer at US Africa Command (AFRICOM), said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
Describing the US private sector as “our biggest weapon system,” Brennan said that if they can establish stability, American investment could become a “guarantor of security,” tapping into reserves that decades of civil war left unexploited or inaccessible.
The economic pivot comes as US forces dramatically ramp up kinetic operations.
The ‘away game’
In 2025, AFRICOM carried out 124 airstrikes against IS and Al-Shabab targets—12 times the number of missions flown the previous year.
The tempo has only accelerated in 2026, with 26 strikes recorded in January alone, more than double the total for the entire year of 2024.
New intelligence drives the surge in violence, indicating that the focus of global Islamist terror has shifted from the Middle East to Africa.
According to Brennan, the “caliph”—or absolute leader—of the global Islamic State network is now Abdulqadir Mumin, a Somali national hiding in the remote Golis Mountains of Puntland.
“From that location, they direct terrorist activities, not just across Africa. He is directing global ISIS operations that go to the Far East, Europe, and the US,” Brennan said.
Intelligence officials believe Mumin, a former Al-Shabaab cleric who pledged allegiance to IS in 2015, has survived multiple assassination attempts.
Brennan confirmed US forces are actively hunting him: “We want to make sure he has no safe space anywhere… We’re on no. 4 right now.”
The general described the strategy as playing “the away game,” striking plotters in Somalia before they can radicalize Americans or launch large-scale attacks on US soil.
Untapped wealth
The military push aligns with a broader shift in Washington’s policy toward the region, known as the “Blue Economy.”
Seismic surveys estimate that Somalia could hold at least 30 billion barrels of oil and gas.
The race to extract them is already underway: Turkey’s seismic research vessel, the Oruç Reis, completed extensive 3D surveys of Somali waters in early 2025, with Ankara announcing plans to begin deep-water drilling early this year.
US firms are also positioning themselves in the scramble. Texas-based Coastline Exploration has secured seven production-sharing agreements (PSAs) for offshore blocks.
US officials are keen to ensure competitors do not sideline American companies in the development of future LNG terminals off the coast of Mogadishu.
“There’s LNG (liquified natural gas) off the coast of Mogadishu,” Brennan noted.
Beyond energy, the US is eyeing the country’s interior. Experts believe the same rugged terrain in the Golis Mountains that hides IS leadership also sits atop significant deposits of uranium, iron ore, and rare earth elements.
These are critical components of the global energy transition, and Washington is desperate to keep them out of the hands of strategic rivals like China.
“Now the Somalis are realizing they may have critical minerals,” Brennan said.
Houthis nexus
While IS-Somalia commands global attention due to its leadership role, the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab group remains the largest and most well-financed threat on the ground.
A morphing alliance between Al-Shabab and Yemen’s Houthi rebels particularly alarms US officials.
“That threat has definitely morphed over the last year or so, as they are coordinating with the Houthis,” Brennan said.
Intelligence reports indicate the Houthis have begun supplying Al-Shabab with advanced drone technology and weaponry across the Gulf of Aden, potentially giving the Somali insurgents new capabilities to strike Mogadishu or maritime traffic.
Despite the firepower, the US footprint remains “remote advise and assist.”
American troops rarely engage in direct ground combat; instead, they provide “a ride to work” on helicopters and advanced intelligence capabilities to local partners like the Puntland Defense Forces (PDF).
“We can show them things on a moving map that they’re carrying on their chest,” Brennan explained, crediting the PDF with retaking “well over half the territory” IS-Somalia once held.
Ambassador Robert Scott, the deputy to the AFRICOM commander, said regional neighbors—including Kenya, Ethiopia, and Uganda, as well as internal states like Jubaland—were increasingly sharing the burden.
“I think it’s been very effective,” Scott said.
The escalating campaign has drawn sharp rhetoric from the White House.
In a February post on Truth Social, President Donald Trump issued a stark warning to insurgents in the region: “The message to ISIS and all others who would attack Americans is that ‘WE WILL FIND YOU, AND WE WILL KILL YOU!’”
With drilling rigs expected to arrive off the Somali coast later this year, the race to secure the shoreline is no longer just about counter-terrorism—it is about business.
“If we can get that in there with private sector investment… that is a guarantor of security,” Brennan said.
