The
Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a nonprofit foreign
policy and national security think tank, released their Long War
Journal on Thursday. The report tracks US airstrikes in Libya,
Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, four nations where the US is not
actively engaged in armed hostilities but does provide air and
tactical support.
The
Obama administration's policy for "areas outside of active
hostilities" was limited airstrikes partnered with support to
the local government. Trump meanwhile has loosened the rules of
engagement and given the military more decision-making power.
In
2017, the US launched 120 strikes against Islamic militant groups in
Yemen, more than the entirety of strikes launched during Obama's
second term. US airstrikes in Yemen began in 2007, but the Islamic
insurgency there continues to go strong ten years later — even with
the enhanced bombing campaign against al-Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula under Trump.
Meanwhile,
the US launched an additional 35 strikes in Somalia after Trump
greenlit US Africa Command to use military force against al-Shabaab,
a local militant group. The Defense and State Departments upped
al-Shabaab's threat assessment as the group expanded its territory in
southern Somalia, overrunning African Union forces in the process.
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