In Puntland State’s Cal-Miskaad, a puncture wound to ISIS — and a reminder of unfinished war
BOSASO, Somalia — For nearly a year, Puntland State’s counterterrorism forces have methodically pushed into the mazelike caves and dry riverbeds of the Cal‑Miskaad Mountains, chipping away at an ISIS presence that once projected violence across Somalia’s northeastern corridor. This weekend’s operation — which local commanders say captured two key spring sites and netted a foreign fighter — is being framed in Puntland State as proof that the campaign, though costly, is working.
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The operation and its immediate gains
Soldiers in camouflage and dust-streaked faces fanned out along the Baallade River valley to retake the wells and hideouts militants used to supply and shelter fighters. Puntland State officials say the forces secured control of the Dharint and Buticiso water points, locations that have been used repeatedly as staging grounds for raids on nearby towns and convoys.
Military spokespeople reported the arrest of a foreign insurgent and the discovery of several bodies believed to be casualties of recent airstrikes attributed to U.S. Africa Command. Three Puntland State soldiers were killed and six wounded in the operation — a somber reminder that the fight for caves and gullies remains lethal, even as ISIS’s conventional strength declines.
“We have lost brave men, but we will continue until these remnants are gone,” said Said Abdullahi Deni, the president of Puntland State, who promised to mobilize state resources to press the fight. Local commanders expressed cautious optimism that the enclave of fighters along the Baallade stream could be eliminated by late 2025, though they acknowledged some militants were still slipping into the hills.
Foreign partners, absent federal forces
Puntland State’s offensive is not a purely local affair. The campaign has unfolded over roughly ten months with logistical and targeting support from U.S. Africa Command, and, according to Puntland State, assistance at various frontlines from the United Arab Emirates. U.S. airstrikes have repeatedly targeted militant positions in the region, and Western officials say such strikes are part of broader efforts to degrade ISIS affiliates across the Horn of Africa.
Notably absent from the reprisals, however, has been a substantial ground contribution from Somalia’s federal government. It has not deployed forces to Puntland State for this campaign, and that omission points to the persistent fault lines in Somalia’s system of decentralized governance. Puntland State — an autonomous regional state that has often competed with Mogadishu for authority and resources — has increasingly acted to secure its territory without waiting for federal direction.
The dynamic raises questions about the future of counterterrorism in fragile states: can regional authorities, with foreign airpower and advisors, finish what national armies cannot, or does such an arrangement entrench parallel chains of command and fuel resentment in the long run?
On the ground: ordinary lives and war’s residue
In Bosaso, the bustling port town that serves as Puntland State’s economic heart, residents say the ebb and flow of violence has left scars that no victory can instantly erase. “We hear the planes at night and we light fires to keep our children calm,” a shopkeeper said, asking not to be named for fear of reprisals. “We want peace, but peace must be more than the absence of their men.”
Water access, markets and pastoral grazing routes have been disrupted by almost a year of operations. The wells recaptured in this operation are not just tactical prizes; in a region where life hinges on seasonal springs, control of water means control of mobility, subsistence and influence.
There is also the human cost inside the militant ranks. The arrest of a foreign fighter underscores a trend analysts have been tracking for years: while the so‑called caliphate in Syria and Iraq has collapsed, fighters have dispersed to weaker theatres, threading global jihadi networks into local conflicts. Captured combatants offer potential intelligence about recruitment routes and financing — but they also raise sensitive questions about prosecution, detention and repatriation.
What this campaign tells us about the global counter‑ISIS fight
Puntland State’s campaign illustrates several broader shifts in how the world combats violent extremist groups.
- Decentralized responses: Regional authorities are increasingly taking the lead in stabilizing territory, sometimes with outside airpower, sometimes without robust national political backing.
- Persistent affiliates: Even after the territorial defeat of ISIS’s core, its affiliates have shown resilience by exploiting governance vacuums, rugged terrain and transnational networks.
- Costs of partnership: Foreign military support — whether intelligence, logistics or airstrikes — can tilt tactical outcomes, but it rarely substitutes for long-term governance, development and reconciliation.
There is a danger of over-optimism as well. Local officials’ forecasts that “most” ISIS fighters could be eliminated by the end of 2025 are plausible if pressure is sustained and political solutions follow. But history in Somalia and elsewhere shows insurgents can recede into shadows only to resurface when attention and resources ebb.
As the dust settles on this latest operation, policymakers and residents alike must confront uncomfortable questions: Will federal and regional institutions reconcile to build effective, accountable security? Can humanitarian access and reconstruction follow the guns? And perhaps most crucially, how will Puntland State and its partners prevent the next generation of militants from taking root where institutions are weakest?
The operation in the Cal‑Miskaad Mountains is a tactical success by many measures. Whether it becomes a strategic turning point will depend less on which caves are cleared this weekend and more on the politics, the water wells, and the livelihoods rebuilt in their wake.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
