The Sapping Strength of Al Shabaab

By Abdullahi Jamaa
(Adopted from Somalia Report)
It is apparent from the events of recent weeks that Somalia’s radical Islamist group, Al Shabaab, is losing strength and ground due to the recent Transitional Federal Government (TFG) offensive, casting doubt on their ability to continue to control much of southern Somalia.

Following recent intensified fighting, Al Shabaab lost strategic towns in the south and a number of its military bases in the capital of Mogadishu. The latest loss of the towns of Bulla Hawa and Luuq is a powerful testimony to the sapping strength of the Islamists, both militarily and ideologically.

Even as Al Shabaab consolidates its power in large swathes of the land in Somalia, there is a growing concern over whether the group can still hold the power of its strongholds given the rising military opposition from the authority of Sheikh Sharif, backed by the international community and supported by African Union (AU) peacekeepers.

Al Shabaab provides the only significant opposition to the fragile western-backed Somali government, but if the current emerging signals are anything to go by, the present military onslaught seems to be an acid test for the group that has vowed to rule Somalia under Islamic sharia law.
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