A top U.S military general has hinted that the continued air campaigns against al Shabab militants in Somalia were unlikely to yield much without support by the local army.
According to the U.S. Africa Command, the Somalia military needs to take more responsibility in the fight against the militant group and step up the fight.
“At the end of the day, these strikes are not going to defeat al-Shabab,” the U.S. military’s Africa Command head, Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The Pentagon is running an ongoing mission in which U.S. forces work with African Union and Somali national security forces to fight the al-Shabab movement.
Since early 2017, the U.S. has increased the number of strikes it conducts, with 35 that year, 47 in 2018 and about 12 so far this year.
While the continued military support has given space for the Somali military to advance, the U.S military has questioned whether the strikes are deterring al Shabab aggression.
African Union troops pushed al-Shabab fighters out of Somalia’s capital in 2011, and subsequently from other towns and cities.
But the Islamists still hold sway in large parts of the countryside.
They launch regular gun and bomb attacks on government, military and civilian targets in Mogadishu, as well as ambushes on military convoys and outposts.
In one strike last month, Africa Command said it killed 52 Somali militants.
In December, the U.S. military said it had killed 62 al-Shabab militants during six airstrikes in the Horn of Africa nation.
