Conflict archive
This conflict entry covers the post-2006 phase of Somalia's long-running civil war, centered on the insurgency that followed Ethiopia's intervention against the Islamic Courts Union and the later fight against al-Shabaab.
The Somali Civil War / al-Shabaab conflict since 2006 covers the insurgency that followed Ethiopia's intervention against the Islamic Courts Union and the long-running fight between Somalia's federal authorities, African Union forces, regional partners, and al-Shabaab. The archive is centered on south-central Somalia, where rural control, Mogadishu security, improvised explosives, crew-served weapons, MANPADS proliferation, and foreign-supported counterinsurgency operations shape the equipment record.
This archive covers the Somali civil war period that intensified after 2006, with al-Shabaab as the central insurgent actor in the conflict.
Use the archive to track weapons, equipment, and factional alignment documented in Somalia during the conflict era.
The entry is deliberately narrow so conflict-specific weapons can be grouped around the 2006-onward insurgency rather than the wider pre-2006 civil war history.
4 weapon systemsContext
The current Somali archive is intentionally narrow and source-limited. It emphasizes directly documented light and crew-served weapons tied to al-Shabaab-era reporting: recoilless rifles, shoulder-fired anti-armor launchers, and MANPADS-related proliferation. The page should not be read as a full order of battle; many Somali conflict claims appear in monitoring reports, battlefield imagery, or low-resolution footage, so individual weapon pages still need direct system-specific evidence before they are attached to the conflict.
Map
Map data from OpenStreetMap contributors.
Timeline
Ethiopia intervened against the Islamic Courts Union in late 2006, creating the setting in which al-Shabaab became the central insurgent actor opposing Somalia's transitional and later federal authorities.
Sources: Somalia - Civil War, Conflict, Famine, Endless war: a brief history of the Somali conflict
The United Nations Security Council sanctions committee listed al-Shabaab, citing attacks and threats against Somalia's political process, transitional institutions, AMISOM, peacekeeping operations, and humanitarian access.
Sources: Al-Shabaab UN Sanctions Summary
AMISOM and Somali government forces pushed al-Shabaab out of Mogadishu's major fixed positions, moving the conflict toward a mixture of rural control, urban attacks, and repeated counterinsurgency campaigns.
Sources: CFR Conflict With Al-Shabaab in Somalia
The African Union Transition Mission in Somalia became operational as a reconfigured AU mission intended to support Somali security forces and transfer greater security responsibility to Somali authorities.
Sources: ATMIS Home
Somalia's government and aligned local clan militias opened a renewed offensive against al-Shabaab from August 2022, retaking areas while also triggering retaliatory attacks and pressure on civilians in contested districts.
Sources: Crisis Group Sustaining Gains, ACLED Somalia April 2023 Update, EUAA Somalia Security Situation 2025
The Security Council endorsed the African Union Support and Stabilisation Mission in Somalia as the successor to ATMIS, with the new mission taking effect at the start of 2025.
Sources: AUSSOM UN Security Council Resolutions, ATMIS Home
The Security Council reauthorized AUSSOM through the end of 2026, keeping the AU mission central to external support for Somalia's campaign against al-Shabaab.
Sources: AUSSOM UN Security Council Resolutions
Phases
The defeat of the Islamic Courts Union and the deployment of Ethiopian, Somali transitional, and African Union forces produced an insurgency centered on Mogadishu, roadside bombs, assassinations, crew-served weapons, and attacks on government and peacekeeping targets.
After losing fixed control in Mogadishu, al-Shabaab retained influence across rural south-central Somalia, staged bombings and raids, and remained resilient despite AMISOM-backed clearing operations and U.S. counterterrorism support.
ATMIS replaced AMISOM as Somali forces, local clan militias, and partners pursued renewed offensives from 2022, with al-Shabaab adapting through rural withdrawals, attacks on military sites, improvised explosives, and pressure on civilians.
AUSSOM now anchors the AU mission while Somali authorities continue to rely on federal, local, AU, and external support against an insurgency that remains active in central and southern Somalia.
External Support
External support is central to this conflict archive. AMISOM, ATMIS, and AUSSOM represent successive African Union missions backing Somali authorities, while CFR describes United Nations and African Union peacekeeping, U.S. involvement, and East African states as active parts of the fight against al-Shabaab. The transition to AUSSOM in 2025 keeps outside military support, training, stabilization, and drawdown politics tied directly to the equipment record.
Images
Category
Systems that contest aircraft, missiles, helicopters, and drones.
Category
Portable weapons used by soldiers and small units.
Conflict Sources
Conflict-level sources are suitable for chronology, geography, AU mission transitions, al-Shabaab activity patterns, and external-support context. Individual weapon pages still need direct system-specific conflict-use sourcing because Somalia reporting often relies on monitoring reports, captured materiel, low-resolution imagery, or contested battlefield claims.
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