Strategic Intelligence News has obtained intelligence on the much sought after union between Al-Shabaab and Al-Qaeda early February, 2012. This newfound unity is apparently a bid to reinvent strategy, increase fighting capacity, and boost morale of disfranchised Al-Shabaab fighters. Al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahri made an announcement on Thursday 9th 2012 informing the global jihadist community of the official integration of Somali Al-Shabaab into the Al-Qaeda outfit.
Analysis
Al-Shabaab in the month of January and February has sought the help of Al-Qaeda, desperately. In one of the communications, Al-Shabaab informed Al-Qaeda chiefs that the fighting units were weak, outgunned, and hardly matching the firepower of KDF. Al-Shabaab was specific that KDF strategy was too difficult to counter even using guerrilla warfare. Al-Shabaab is not worried about AMISOM or Ethiopian troops which it has a record of killing at every opportunity rather the permanent displacement of its troops and leadership in its stronghold of Southern Somalia by the KDF, a novice army.
In other communications, Al-Shabaab admitted hefty troop losses to KDF besides loss of troop vehicles, artillery units, and bomb-making crews. Al-Shabaab is running short of crucial skills, technical capability, troop numbers, local support, and the morale is at its lowest ever. It is estimated Al-Shabaab has lost more than 1500 troops to KDF since the Kenyan Army went into Southern Somalia
The video announcement of the union is nothing new rather a renewed call by al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahri for jihadists to rally against the crusader. This development signals the indirect acceptance of defeat by Al-Shabaab and the direct outsourcing of foreign help to reinvigorate the Somali jihadists. Al-Shabaab has not successfully made any significant gain against KDF rather steadily losing to them.
