EXCLUSIVE TO FOX: The United States is intensifying its aerial strikes and military operations against Islamist extremists in Somalia, aiming to diminish the risk of jihadist attacks on American soil.

The primary targets are terrorists linked to either the Islamic State (ISIS) or al Qaeda. This information comes from U.S. Army Lt. Gen. John Brennan, the second-in-command at U.S. Africa Command, who shared insights in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital last week.

Brennan, who has a background as a U.S. Special Forces leader with experience in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan, stated, “There are ISIS-inspired threats that target the United States and Europe. That forms the core of the threat we face.”

U.S. forces concluded an operation against ISIS in Somalia in August 2025. (Hannah Kantner/AFRICOM)

“Consider,” Brennan explained, “how American citizens can be recruited via social media to commit harmful acts within the U.S. Furthermore, ISIS leadership and resource networks have the capability to launch larger attacks. Since 9/11, our overseas actions have prevented many such incidents, effectively keeping the threat at bay.”

He added, “When a terrorist group like ISIS has the resources and freedom to plan, they can execute attacks. By keeping them on the defensive and preoccupied with their survival, their ability to strategize and execute attacks is significantly diminished.”

The U.S., with strikes and intelligence capabilities, is on an aggressive campaign to smash terror’s hold on Somalia, and stop the country from being what the State Department described in 2017 as “a terrorist safe haven”.

File from a handout released to Reuters by IntelCenter shows members of Somalia’s Islamist rebel group al-Shabab in Mogadishu. Date unknown. (IntelCenter Handout/Reuters)

In 2025, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), working with Somali and other partners, carried out 124 airstrikes on ISIS-Somalia (Islamic State) and al-Shabab jihadi terrorists and their facilities in Somalia, 12 times the amount of missions flown under the Biden administration in 2024. 

In the first month of 2026, the U.S. has staged another 26 attacks – 2½ more than the 10 that were carried out in the whole of 2024.

The focus of Islamist terror has moved from the Middle East to Africa, and specifically to Somalia, Brennan told Fox News Digital. “The caliph — absolute leader — of the global ISIS network, Abdulqadir Mumin, is a Somali, and he is in the (Somali) Golis Mountains along with a lot of his key leaders. And 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 U.S.”

This picture taken on September 1, 2016, in Nairobi shows a computer screen displaying the portrait of Somali-born cleric Abdulqadir Mumin, accused of heading the Islamic State group in East Africa. He was put on a U.S. terror list. (Simon Maina /AFP via Getty Images)

President Donald Trump, referring to Somalia in February 2025, posted on his Truth Social account, “The message to ISIS and all others who would attack Americans is that ‘WE WILL FIND YOU, AND WE WILL KILL YOU!’”

Asked by Fox News Digital this week whether U.S. forces are hunting the ISIS leader Mumin, Brennan replied, “Yes, absolutely. We want to make sure he has no safe space anywhere. History has shown that the ISIS caliph ends up getting killed by us at some point.”

“We’re on no. 4 right now,” he added. The most notorious, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was hunted down in Syria.

Lt. Gen. John W. Brennan arrives in Nigeria in January for talks on advancing coordinated efforts to improve security conditions and protect vulnerable communities across the country. (U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Kenneth Tucceri)

In Somalia, the Islamic State is represented by ISIS-Somalia. “We’ve had a lot of success targeting that network, ISIS-Somalia,” he said.

“We’ve taken large swathes of terrain back — our partners have. We’ve just enabled with intel sharing ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, Reconnaissance) and fires — airstrikes. About well over half the territory that ISIS Somalia once maintained up in Puntland — an autonomous state in North-Eastern Somalia — is now under the control of the Puntland Defense Forces.”

“They’ve conducted a massive amount of clearing operations, taking back terrain, capturing a great number of ISIS operatives, as well as a lot of their material. But again, our main mission is to secure the homeland — make sure that none of this threat migrates back to our shores. I think we’ve been pretty successful at that and if the PDF can continue what they’re doing, ISIS Somalia may cease to exist before too long. That’s our ultimate goal,” he said.

Soldiers of the Somalia National Army walk near Sabiid, one of the towns they have liberated from al-Shabab, in Somalia on Nov. 11, 2025. (Tony Karumba/AFP via Getty Images)

Al-Shabab, the local al Qaeda affiliate, is, however, still a problem in Somalia. He said, “In the south you have al-Shabab, and that threat has definitely morphed over the last year or so, as they are coordinating with the Houthis.”

“Not as much (an) external operations threat,” the general continued, “but in fact, al-Shabab is, I think, the strongest, largest, most well financed part of the al Qaeda global franchise and their desire is to take over Mogadishu and turn Somalia into an al Qaeda caliphate.”

The U.S. role in Somalia in 2026 is increasingly “remote advise and assist,” with most of the Somali troops using their own ground assault vehicles, Brennan said, adding that on occasion they provide them “with a ride to work” — transporting them to raids on U.S. helicopters and providing airstrike support.

AFRICOM provides advanced intelligence capabilities. Brennan said, “We’ve given them tools that allow them to see what the ISR aircraft are seeing. We can show them things on a moving map that they’re carrying on their chest.”

A soldier with the Puntland Defense Force fires a machine gun at a former Islamic State stronghold near Daabdamale, Puntland, Somalia on Jan. 25, 2025. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Ambassador Robert Scott, a senior career diplomat who was brought in by the State Department in 2023 to serve as deputy to the commander for civil-military engagement with AFRICOM, told Fox News Digital that governments around Somalia have been able to share the burden with AFRICOM — “not only Kenya and Ethiopia and Uganda, but also Somaliland, Puntland especially (and) also Jubaland. So (we are) finding partners who are willing to engage in the fight against both ISIS and al Shabab. I think it’s been very effective.”

Brennan also says the U.S. military activity in Somalia could lead to huge trade potential. “There’s natural resources in Somalia that, because of the security situation, the Somalis have not benefited from,” he added. “Now the Somalis are realizing they may have critical minerals.”

“There’s LNG (liquified natural gas) off the coast of Mogadishu, so that our biggest weapon system, if you will, from an African perspective, is our private sector economy. If we can get that in there with private sector investment similar to other countries in Africa, that is a guarantor of security.”