Puntland State launches multi-front assault on ISIS positions in Al-Miskad mountains
Ceelka Il-Abbal, Somalia — Puntland State security forces launched a coordinated, multi-pronged offensive Monday against entrenched ISIS fighters thought to be sheltering in the remote Al-Miskad mountain range, officials said, stepping up a campaign to flush out some of the group’s last visible leaders in northeastern Somalia.
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The operation, focused on the Ceelka Il-Abbal area — a maze of rocky ridges and dry gullies that have long offered sanctuary to small militant groups — is aimed at capturing or killing senior figures believed to be hiding there, including a man identified by local security sources as Abdirahman Faahiye.
“These individuals are among the last remaining senior ISIS leaders in the region,” a Puntland State security official told Axadle on condition of anonymity. “We are committed to neutralizing the threat they pose to regional stability.” Military sources said the assault would continue until the mountainous zone is cleared of militants.
Follow-up to the Hillaac campaign
The push comes on the heels of the “Hillaac” campaign, launched in December 2024, which Puntland State authorities say dismantled several ISIS encampments across northeastern Somalia and forced fighters into retreat. President Said Abdullahi Deni recently confirmed that Puntland State forces were pursuing at least two key ISIS leaders who escaped earlier operations — and Monday’s offensive appears to be a direct continuation of those efforts.
For Puntland State, a semi-autonomous region that has maintained a relatively stable government compared with parts of southern Somalia, the presence of ISIS-affiliated militants has been a persistent security concern. Local forces say the militants have tried to exploit the rugged terrain and porous borders with other Somali regions to regroup.
Terrain, tactics and risks
The Al-Miskad range is typical of the kind of landscape where small, mobile insurgent groups can survive: harsh, sparsely populated highland and escarpment dotted with seasonal water points and narrow approaches that favor defenders who know the land. That makes clearance operations slow and costly and increases the risk of civilian displacement and collateral damage.
“Mountain operations are grinding,” said a security analyst who follows the Horn of Africa. “You can push militants out of villages, but when they melt into the hills people often go with them or are pushed out of their homes. That’s where humanitarian and intelligence challenges intersect with military ones.”
Local impact and wider implications
Though ISIS’s affiliate in Somalia has never controlled territory at the scale of the group’s former holdings in Iraq and Syria, it has carried out complex attacks and sought to recruit along the coast and in urban centers. In recent years, Somali and regional forces, with varying degrees of international support, have chipped away at the group’s ability to stage large operations.
The current offensive is part of a broader pattern across regions where international jihadi groups have lost central command and been pushed into rural peripheries: decentralization creates small, resilient nodes that are harder to eradicate entirely. Counterterrorism experts warn that eliminating leadership does not always translate into durable security unless accompanied by governance, development and local reconciliation.
For residents around Ceelka Il-Abbal, the immediate concerns are more tangible: safety, access to water, and the economic fallout from military operations. Local grazing lands and trade routes can be disrupted, and families may be forced to move. Humanitarian groups say such operations must be paired with plans to protect civilians and to allow displaced people to return safely.
Questions for the region and the world
The offensive raises several difficult questions for Puntland State and its partners: Can security gains be translated into sustainable local governance that reduces the appeal of violent extremism? How will authorities manage the humanitarian fallout of a prolonged mountain campaign? And what role will regional powers and international partners play in consolidating gains?
There is also a larger strategic question. As jihadist groups have lost terrain elsewhere, the fight has shifted toward localized insurgencies and sleeper cells — a trend that complicates conventional military responses and emphasizes the need for patient intelligence work, community engagement and socioeconomic investment.
For now, Puntland State’s message is clear: its forces intend to keep pressure on ISIS elements until they are rooted out. Yet experience from other theatres suggests that military pressure alone is rarely decisive. Stability will likely require sustained effort across security, governance and development lines.
As operations in the Al-Miskad mountains proceed, the international community and regional actors will be watching closely: both to see whether the campaign delivers a conclusive break in ISIS’s capabilities in northeastern Somalia, and to monitor how civilians are protected during and after the offensive.
“Clearing the hills is only the first step,” the security analyst said. “The harder work is what comes next.”
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
