The Somali Armed Forces are the military forces of the Federal Republic of Somalia. Headed by the president as commander-in-chief,they are constitutionally mandated to ensure the nation's sovereignty,independence and territorial integrity.
Mohamed Farrah Hasan Garad,popularly known as General Aidid or Aideed,was a Somali military officer and warlord.
The Western Somali Liberation Front was a Somali movement fighting in eastern Ethiopia to liberate the Somali inhabited Ogaden region from Ethiopian control. It played a major role in the Ogaden War of 1977–78,assisting the invading Somali Army.
The Habar Yoonis alternatively spelled as Habr Yunis is a major clan part of the wider Isaaq clan. As descendants of Ismail bin Sheikh Isaaq,its members form a part of the wider Habar Magaadle confederation which constitutes the largest sub-clan of the Isaaq.
The Ogaden War,also known as the Ethio-Somali War,was a military conflict fought between Somalia and Ethiopia from July 1977 to March 1978 over the sovereignty of Ogaden. Somalia's invasion of the region,precursor to the wider war,met with the Soviet Union's disapproval,leading the superpower to end its support for Somalia and to fully support Ethiopia instead.
The Isaaq is a major Somali clan. It is one of the largest Somali clan families in the Horn of Africa,with a large and densely populated traditional territory.
Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud,known by his nickname Silanyo,was a Somaliland politician who served as the President of Somaliland from 2010 to 2017. He was a long-time member of the government in Mogadishu,having served as Minister of Commerce of Somalia in the 1960s,and among other Cabinet positions. During the 1980s,he also served as the Chairman of the Somali National Movement.
Mohammad Ali Samatar. was a Somali military officer,politician,former Commander-in-Chief of the Somali National Army,former Minister of Defence,former Vice President (1971-1990),former Deputy General Secretary of the Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party,and former Prime Minister. He was known for his intelligent military tactics in the 1964 Ethiopian–Somali Border War,Ogaden War and 1982 Ethiopian–Somali Border War.
The Somali National Movement was one of the first and most important organized guerilla groups and Mujahideen groups that opposed the Siad Barre regime in the 1980s to the 1990s,as well as being the main anti-government faction during the Somaliland War of Independence. The organisation was founded in London,England,on April 6,1981 by Hassan Isse Jama,Hassan Adan Wadadid,and Ahmed Mohamed Gulaid and other former Somali diplomats,who stated that initially the group's purpose was to overthrow the Siad Barre regime.
The Somali National Alliance was a major politico-military faction formed on 16 June 1992 by four different rebel groups that had been in opposition to the regime of former Somali President Mohamed Siad Barre. The SNA was the first major inter-clan and inter-factional political alliance and was considered to be among the most powerful factions of the Somali Civil War. The alliance would most notably face off against the second phase of the United Nations Operation in Somalia in the latter half of 1993.
The Somali Rebellion was the start of the Somali Civil War that began in the 1970s and resulted in the collapse of the Somali Democratic Republic in 1991. The rebellion effectively began in 1978 following a failed coup d’état and President Siad Barre began using his special forces,the "Red Berets",to attack clan-based dissident groups opposed to his regime. Backed by Ethiopia,the two earliest rebel factions,the Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF) and the Somali National Movement (SNM) began attacks during the against government forces during the early 1980s.
Over the course of the Somali Civil War,there have been many revolutionary movements and militia groups run by competing rebel leaders which have held de facto control over vast areas within Somalia.
The Ethiopian–Somali Border War occurred from June 1982 to August 1983 when Ethiopia,sending a 10,000-man invasion force backed by warplanes and armoured units,supported by thousands of Somali Salvation Democratic Front (SSDF) rebels,invaded central Somalia.
Abdullahi Ahmed Irro,also known as Abdullahi Ahmed Yusuf Irro,was a prominent Somali military professor and general. He helped establish the National Academy for Strategy.
The Isaaq genocide,also known as the Hargeisa Holocaust,was the systematic,state-sponsored genocide of Isaaq civilians between 1987 and 1989 by the Somali Democratic Republic,under the dictatorship of Siad Barre,during the Somaliland War of Independence. The number of civilian deaths in this massacre is estimated to be between 50,000 and 100,000,according to various sources,whilst local reports estimate the total civilian deaths to be upwards of 200,000 Isaaq civilians. The genocide,which escalated after the Somali National Movement (SNM)'s 1988 Northern Somalia offensive,also included the levelling and complete destruction of the second and third largest cities in the Somali Republic,Hargeisa and Burao,respectively,and had caused up to 500,000 Somalis of the region,primarily of the Isaaq clan,to flee their land and cross the border to Hartasheikh in Ethiopia as refugees in what was described as "one of the fastest and largest forced movements of people recorded in Africa",which resulted in the creation of the world's largest refugee camp then (1988),with another 400,000 being displaced. The scale of destruction led to Hargeisa being known as the 'Dresden of Africa'. The killings happened during the Somali Civil War and have been referred to as a "forgotten genocide".
Hassan Adan Wadadid was a Somali politician and diplomat. He was the Somali Republic ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan during the 60s. He was one of the founders of the Somali National Movement and served as the movement's first Vice-Chairman. Hassan belonged to the Rer Ainanshe sub-division of the Habr Yunis Garhajis clan.
Mohamed Hashi Dirie,commonly known as Lihle was a Somali military leader,colonel of the Somali National Army and later the commander of the military wing of the Somali National Movement. He belonged to the Farah Mohamed branch of the Musa Abdallah subclan of the Habr Yunis. Garxajis
The Somaliland War of Independence was a rebellion waged by the Somali National Movement (SNM) against the ruling military junta in Somalia led by General Siad Barre lasting from its founding on 6 April 1981 and ended on 18 May 1991 when the SNM declared what was then northern Somalia independent as the Republic of Somaliland. The conflict served as the main theater of the larger Somali Rebellion that started in 1978. The conflict was in response to the harsh policies enacted by the Barre regime against the main clan family in Somaliland,the Isaaq,including a declaration of economic warfare on the clan-family. These harsh policies were put into effect shortly after the conclusion of the disastrous Ogaden War in 1978.
The 1988 Hargeisa Burao offensive was a major offensive conducted during the Somaliland War of Independence in May 1988 by the Somali National Movement on the cities of Hargeisa and Burao,then the second and third largest cities of Somalia. The SNM captured Burao on 27 May within two hours,while the SNM entered Hargeisa on 29 May,overrunning most of the city apart from its airport by 1 June. During the offensive the Somali National Army committed gross human rights violations,including attacking the civilian population using heavy artillery and tanks.
The Burco-Duuray offensive was a confrontation during the Somaliland War of Independence,fought on 17 October 1984 between the Somali National Movement and the Somali National Army near Burco-duuray in the Jarar Zone of Ethiopia. The SNM,led by Mohammed Hashi Lihle,launched an offensive with around 400 fighters against a heavily armed SNA garrison of 1,000 soldiers and 70 technical vehicles. Despite being outnumbered,the SNM achieved a decisive victory,killing 170 SNA troops and destroying 17 vehicles,though they lost 27 fighters,including their commander.
