Somalia hopes to end al-Shabab within five months

 Somalia hopes to end al-Shabab within five months The President of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, has announced a military offensive again...

 Somalia hopes to end al-Shabab within five months

The President of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, has announced a military offensive against al-Shabab with the goal of eliminating al-Qaeda within the next five months.

Despite this goal, experts point out that the complete elimination of the group is an optimistic prospect, given its long presence since the early 2000s, deepening community ties, and adaptive strategies to respond to pressures. international military.

In particular, a large number of government forces have gathered in a town in central Somalia to join a new military offensive against the extremist group.

In a recent move that began a year ago, the army and local militias have managed to wrest large areas from Al Shabab.

Al-Shabab, which means "youth" in Arabic, originated as the radical youth wing of the defunct Somalia Islamic Courts Group, which held Mogadishu in 2006 before being ousted by the Ethiopian army. .