MOGADISHU: Al Shabab fighters battled Somali troops and allied forces for control of a strategic army base in central Somalia on Thursday, the government and a military official said, as the Al-Qaeda-linked militants tried to extend recent gains in the region.
Capturing the base in Wargaadhi town in the Middle Shabelle region, which houses soldiers, special forces and clan fighters, would enable Al-Shabab to sever an important trunk road between the capital Mogadishu, 200 km (124 miles) to the southwest, and Galmudug State.
Al Shabab, which has waged an insurgency in Somalia since 2007 to seize power, said in a statement that its fighters had captured the base and Wargaadhi town, something the government denied was the case.
The information ministry said in a statement that government forces had killed more than 40 militants after they attempted to attack the base on Thursday morning.
However, army officer Hussein Ali told Reuters the militants had taken the town of Wargaadhi after “fierce fighting.”
“Our forces lost 12 men, mostly (clan fighters). Around 20 Al-Shabab fighters were also killed,” Ali said. “But finally Al-Shabab got more reinforcements and managed to capture the town.”
He said Somalia’s military was struggling to send reinforcements because they would need to use routes passing through areas held by Al-Shabab.
Two soldiers said the government forces, backed by air strikes, had managed to recapture part of the town by mid-morning.
Reuters could not independently verify any of the claims made by either side about the fighting.
Last week Al-Shabab attacked the town of Adan Yabal, about 245 km (150 miles) north of Mogadishu which the military had been using as an operating base for raids on the group.
The attacks are part of an offensive by the group launched last month. Al Shabab briefly captured villages within 50 km (30 miles) of Mogadishu, raising fears among residents of the capital that the city could be targeted.
Somali forces have since recaptured those villages but Al-Shabab has continued to advance in the countryside, as the future of international security support to Somalia appears increasingly precarious.
A new African Union peacekeeping mission replaced a larger force at the start of the year, but its funding is uncertain, with the United States opposed to a plan to transition to a UN financing model.
Al Shabab battles Somalia’s army for control of strategic military base
https://arab.news/jd3nr
Al Shabab battles Somalia’s army for control of strategic military base
- Al Shabab said in a statement that its fighters had captured the base and Wargaadhi town
- Army officer Hussein Ali told Reuters the militants had taken the town of Wargaadhi after “fierce fighting“
UN chief calls on Israel to reverse NGOs ban in Gaza
- In November, authorities in Gaza said more than 70,000 people had been killed there since the war broke out
- Israel on Thursday suspended 37 foreign humanitarian organizations from accessing the Gaza Strip after they had refused to share lists of their Palestinian employees with government officials
UNITED NATIONS, United States: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on Friday for Israel to end a ban on humanitarian agencies that provided aid in Gaza, saying he was “deeply concerned” at the development.
Guterres “calls for this measure to be reversed, stressing that international non-governmental organizations are indispensable to life-saving humanitarian work and that the suspension risks undermining the fragile progress made during the ceasefire,” his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
“This recent action will further exacerbate the humanitarian crisis facing Palestinians,” he added.
Israel on Thursday suspended 37 foreign humanitarian organizations from accessing the Gaza Strip after they had refused to share lists of their Palestinian employees with government officials.
The ban includes Doctors Without Borders (MSF), which has 1,200 staff members in the Palestinian territories — the majority of whom are in Gaza.
NGOs included in the ban have been ordered to cease their operations by March 1.
Several NGOS have said the requirements contravene international humanitarian law or endanger their independence.
Israel says the new regulation aims to prevent bodies it accuses of supporting terrorism from operating in the Palestinian territories.
On Thursday, 18 Israel-based left-wing NGOs denounced the decision to ban their international peers, saying “the new registration framework violates core humanitarian principles of independence and neutrality.”
A fragile ceasefire has been in place since October, following a deadly war waged by Israel in response to Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
In November, authorities in Gaza said more than 70,000 people had been killed there since the war broke out.
Nearly 80 percent of buildings in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged by the war, according to UN data, leaving infrastructure decimated.
About 1.5 million of Gaza’s more than two million residents have lost their homes, said Amjad Al-Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network in Gaza.
