Tuesday July 15, 2025 {HMC} Several Puntland soldiers were killed on Tuesday in heavy fighting with ISIS militants in the Calmiskaad Mountains of the Bari region, according to security sources.

The clashes occurred in the area between Togga Miiraale and Xabley, where Puntland forces launched an offensive targeting ISIS hideouts. Security officials reported that several ISIS fighters were killed during the assault, and the group was forced to retreat from two of its positions.

In a separate incident, some Puntland soldiers reportedly died after consuming suspected poisoned water. The claim has not been independently verified by HOL.
The renewed fighting comes as ISIS militants, believed to be entrenched in the Calmiskaad Mountains, have escalated attacks against rural residents in recent weeks.

Local sources say the group has been kidnapping and robbing pastoralists, seizing livestock, and punishing those who resist their demands. In one recent incident in the Unun area of Qandala district, ISIS militants allegedly abducted a man identified as Ahmed Ibrahim Adan. His fate remains unknown, and his family and local residents continue to search for him or confirm his condition.

ISIS has maintained a presence in remote parts of northeastern Somalia despite repeated operations by Puntland’s security forces aimed at dismantling the group’s network.

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Tuesday July 15, 2025 {HMC} Somalia’s federal government has urged Puntland regional state leader Said Abdullahi Deni to withdraw troops deployed to Dhahar district in the Haylan region, warning that their presence is fueling local conflict rather than combating terrorism as originally intended.

In a statement issued Tuesday, the Ministry of Interior expressed deep concern over the recent outbreak of violence in Dhahar, where at least four soldiers were killed and 10 others wounded in clashes between Puntland security forces and clan militias aligned with politicians from the Sanaag region.

The government said it “deeply regrets the loss of life and injuries,” offering condolences to the families of the victims and prayers for the recovery of the wounded. The Ministry called for an immediate halt to the fighting and urged all parties to prioritize peace and stability.
According to local sources, heavy gunfire erupted after Puntland’s Maritime Police Force (PMPF) attempted to dismantle newly established checkpoints in the area, sparking hours of clashes and forcing civilians to flee their homes.

Traditional elders from Las Anod, originally from Dhahar, condemned the military operation and accused Puntland President Deni of targeting communities sympathetic to the newly recognized SSC-Khaatumo administration.

The Ministry of Interior appealed to cultural elders, scholars, and intellectuals to intervene swiftly and mediate an end to the conflict.

“The deployment of forces intended to fight terrorism should not be used for internal confrontations that deepen divisions,” the statement read. “This violence undermines national unity and the broader effort to build peace in Somalia.”

The fighting in Dhahar coincides with a high-level conference underway in Las Anod to finalize the transition of SSC-Khaatumo from an interim authority to a full-fledged federal member state.

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Tuesday July 15, 2025 {HMC} Somalia’s diplomatic re-engagement continues to gain momentum following the reopening of its embassy in Dar es Salaam and the signing of nine new bilateral agreements with Tanzania, covering education, security, civil aviation, trade, and more.

Somalia’s Ambassador to Tanzania, Ilyas Ali Hassan, said the current focus is on implementation. “Diplomacy must translate into real benefits for our people,” he said, noting that a roadmap has been developed to align each agreement with specific deadlines.

The agreements mark a significant milestone in Somalia’s regional engagement strategy, as the country assumes a more active role on the continent. Somalia currently holds a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council and has expanded its diplomatic footprint across Africa.

Appointed in December 2024, Ambassador Ilyas has played a central role in advancing the bilateral agenda. In addition to his post in Tanzania, he also serves as Somalia’s non-resident ambassador to Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Malawi, Mauritius, and the Union of the Comoros.

The revitalized relationship began on December 19, 2024, when Tanzanian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Thabit Kombo led the first Cabinet-level delegation to Mogadishu in over three decades. That historic visit resulted in the signing of five foundational Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs). In a reciprocal visit six weeks later, then-Somali Foreign Minister Ahmed Moallim Fiqi traveled to Dar es Salaam to continue discussions.

Agreements signed since then include joint surveillance, scholarship schemes, prisoner repatriation and Kiswahili promotion.

From January 2026, Tanzanian universities will host Somali students pursuing degrees in engineering and medicine. The University of Dar es Salaam is also preparing Kiswahili-language pilot programs for schools in Kismayo and Beledweyne.

A strategic civil aviation agreement signed on July 1 paves the way for direct Air Tanzania flights to Mogadishu by the end of the year.

“We are building a Somalia that is sovereign, united, and open for business,” said Ambassador Ilyas. “That is how we demonstrate that Somalia is back in business — as a sovereign, united, and forward-looking state under the leadership of President Dr. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.”

Ambassador Ilyas has recently presented his diplomatic credentials to President Paul Kagame of Rwanda, President Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi, and President Azali Assoumani of Comoros. Presentations to the DRC and Mauritius are expected in the coming weeks, according to diplomatic sources.

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Wednesday 16 July 2025 {HMC} Flash floods in Garowe, in northern Somalia’s Puntland state, have left around 800 families of farmers and internally displaced people struggling to recover.

After torrential rains on 13 June, Farah Abdi Shire lost 30 goats and all his crops of vegetables and grains on his three-hectare farm in Balley outside Garowe. The floods swept away their traditional Somali hut, household items, and food supplies.

“We have no shelter now, we have become displaced people,” he told Radio Ergo. “All the property we had, including the farms, was washed away by the floods. And we have been isolated for a while now, with no way for aid to reach us.”

Farah and his family are depending on whatever their neighbours can share from their own meals as they can’t cook without their utensils. Mosquitoes have proliferated due to water collecting in pools in the valley, causing them sleepless nights camped under a tree.

The floods also cut them off, making it difficult for people to reach them with any aid.

“Our situation is dire. The road we used to take to the town is cut off. The situation has become very hard, and what has happened is not something I can recover from unless I receive aid or assistance,” he said.

Farah, 40, has spent his entire life farming and herding. He invested about $2,000 in the farm, which he borrowed from traders in Garowe. He also owes about $600 for food he bought on credit for his goats during the last dry season when there was drought in the area. He had hoped to repay these debts this year and recover from the hardship of the drought when he sold his crops.

Farah believes it will be difficult for him to recover as his farm needs significant investment to repair the damage caused by the water, which destroyed fences and eroded a lot of soil, leaving deep gullies.

In Balley, a flood-prone area, nearly 100 farms were destroyed in the sudden flooding.

Additionally, around 500 families living in displaced camps around Garowe lost their huts, food and other belongings.

Ayuto Ali Foley has been sheltering her seven children on high ground since the floods that left them homeless. She lost 12 kilograms each of flour, rice and sugar that she had bought on credit for $30 two days earlier.

“I swear to God, we are suffering. We don’t even have food for the children; we are dependent on kind people for assistance. We are staying in a house belonging to people also affected by the floods, who also have nothing. The children get one meal a day with great difficulty. We don’t even have any cooking utensils,” she said.

Ayuto lost her husband two years ago from an unknown illness he had battled for a long time. Since then, has been trying to fill the gap left by his income from manual labour by doing laundry work for two to three dollars.

However, she can’t leave her young children alone in this situation so she hasn’t been able to go to town to find work.

“We used to go to the town to collect rubbish and do laundry for people. Now, we can’t even do that,” she said. “When you have a home, you have the will and motivation to go out and find something for the children. I don’t have the will to go outside now.”

Ayuto is also concerned about the education of her seven children, who were in grades five to seven at a school now closed due to the floods.

She described the situation as the worst she had experience since moving from conflict-stricken Bakool region 10 years ago to find safety and aid in the camps in Garowe.

An assessment conducted by the Puntland Ministry of Relief and Disaster Management stated that around 500 displaced families had been affected by the floods, while another 300 families of pastoralists and farmers had also been impacted.

The ministry’s coordinator in Nugal region, Abdihaqim Barre Nuh, stated that the damage caused by the rains was extensive and that the government alone could not address it. He said they were striving to secure international assistance.

“The ministry has issued its initial assessment and shared it with organisations. Now, we are waiting for further steps to be taken on how to help these people. The biggest burden has fallen on the IDP camps,” he said.

Source Hiiraan onnline

Tuesday July 15, 2025 {HMC} Three Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) soldiers tragically lost their lives, while several others sustained injuries after their vehicle struck an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) on Tuesday.

According to security and operational reports, the officers from Kenya’s security forces were on a routine patrol along the Sakuri-Kiunga Main Supply Route (MSR) when they encountered the IED.

KDF’s Strategic Communications team confirmed the incident, stating that seven other officers were injured during the attack.

KDF further noted that a hot pursuit operation had been launched to apprehend the perpetrators, affirming that the forces remain alert and undeterred in their mission to safeguard the country’s borders.

“Early this afternoon, Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) troops on patrol along the Sankuri–Kiunga Main Supply Route (MSR) encountered an improvised explosive device (IED). Immediately after the incident, multi-agency security teams launched operations in pursuit of the perpetrators of the heinous act and have heightened the manning of routes in and out of the area to deny the enemy freedom of movement,” read part of the dispatch by KDF.

It added: “Regrettably, three gallant soldiers succumbed to their injuries. These soldiers paid the ultimate sacrifice while protecting the citizens of Kenya. The entire KDF fraternity condoles with their families.”

The seven injured soldiers were rushed to a hospital in Kiunga, where they are currently receiving specialised treatment as KDF monitors their condition.

“Meanwhile, wounded personnel were evacuated to specialised military medical facilities in the region and are responding well to treatment.”

KDF also condoled with the affected families and pledged to intensify its operational efforts in the troubled Boni Forest, which has been a key focus area due to the porous border that Al-Shabaab militants frequently cross from neighbouring Somalia.

“Kenya Defence Forces recognises the courage demonstrated by the personnel and appreciates the swift response by multi-agency teams operating in the area,” KDF stated.

“KDF and the entire multi-agency Operation Amani Boni fraternity remain unbowed and are resolute in ensuring that sustainable peace is attained in the area of responsibility.”

Tuesday July 15, 2025 {HMC} As Somali-American state senator Omar Fateh campaigns to become Minneapolis’s next mayor, a tide of Islamophobic and racial attacks has been unleashed by far-right voices aiming to question his loyalty, background, and legitimacy. Yet, rather than diminishing him, the attacks have sharpened attention on what Fateh represents: a new generation of Muslim-American politicians, progressive in policy, rooted in community, and unafraid to speak to the plural realities of diaspora life.

The comparisons between Fateh and Zohran Mamdani—the 33-year-old Muslim democratic socialist who recently shocked the political establishment in New York by defeating former Governor Andrew Cuomo in the city’s Democratic mayoral primary—have been seized upon by right-wing pundits as proof of an imagined Islamist conspiracy. But for many in Minneapolis’s multiracial neighbourhoods, that comparison carries an entirely different meaning: possibility.

The attacks have come in the form of viral disinformation, doctored images, and accusations of dual loyalty. Much of the online vitriol centers on a clip from Fateh’s 2020 campaign where he described Somalia as “home”—a sentiment familiar to Mamdani’s campaign and countless children of immigrants. Yet to his detractors, this simple word has become the basis for a coordinated attempt to cast him as un-American.

Both men are the sons of immigrants—Fateh born in Washington, D.C. to Somali parents; Mamdani born in Kampala to Indian and Ugandan heritage. Both are Muslim, in their thirties, and politically insurgent in style and substance. Their grassroots appeal cuts across working-class communities, where the politics of survival—housing, transit, healthcare—matter more than smear campaigns dressed in fear.

Earlier this week, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk accused Muslims like Fateh and Mamdani of plotting to “take over” the government, posting on X that, “The attempted Islamic takeover of America is made possible thanks to mass migration.” The remarks were laced with familiar dog-whistles: anti-immigrant resentment, Islamophobic panic, and racialized nostalgia for a vanished, whiter America.

In response, Fateh refused to retreat. “Minneapolis is a beautifully diverse city that stands firm in our progressive values,” he wrote. “The hate I’ve seen today—and most days—is not who we will ever be.”

Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN), condemned the attacks as “factually wrong and dangerously inflammatory.” He warned that these tactics echo the same narratives used to vilify Somali-American congresswoman Ilhan Omar and others who carry multiple identities with pride. “This kind of anti-Muslim fearmongering puts lives at risk,” he said.

Fateh’s candidacy arrives at a moment of reckoning for Minneapolis. A city shaped by the 2020 murder of George Floyd, rocked by the uprising that followed, and still grappling with the unfinished work of police reform, housing justice, and racial healing. His main opponent, Mayor Jacob Frey, has been both praised for his crisis management and criticized for being too aligned with corporate developers and law enforcement interests.

The Mamdani parallel goes beyond identity. Like Fateh, Mamdani faced dismissals—called unelectable, too radical, too young. Mamdani’s campaign in New York centred on bread-and-butter issues—rent control, food prices, transit access—and won him broad support across boroughs. His team registered tens of thousands of first-time voters, especially among the 18–29 demographic, and built an on-the-ground army of 50,000 volunteers. His “city-owned grocery store” proposal went viral for its boldness. His alliance with other candidates under the “Don’t Rank Cuomo” banner became a strategic masterstroke.

Mamdani’s shock victory over Cuomo, a national political heavyweight with deep-pocketed donors and establishment backing, was not a fluke. It was the result of smart organizing and a campaign style that favoured sidewalk conversations over flashy donor dinners. While Cuomo remained aloof, Mamdani took his message to delis, subway stops, and halal carts.

Source Hiiraan onnline