Posted by
on Monday, January 01, 2007 4:01:55 PM
They've given up the ghost, and have pulled back from the advancing Ethiopian forces, according to the Washington Times. The Islamicists have been routed, and are fleeing to Kenya:Islamist fighters abandoned the last major town they held early today and were seen heading south toward the Kenyan border while government forces approached slowly because of land mines, residents and a government spokesman said.
The Islamist forces began to disintegrate after a night of artillery attacks at the front line and following a mutiny within its ranks, witnesses said. Government spokesman Abdirahman Dinari said he had information that Islamist forces were moving south toward the Kenyan border.
"The Islamists have fled Kismayu, and our troops are on the way," Mr. Dinari said.
Leila Ali, a local radio journalist, confirmed that forces of the Islamic Courts Union had left the city and that no guerrillas were on the streets.
Yesterday in Kismayu, Somalia's third-largest city, an estimated 3,000 Islamist fighters were preparing for a bloody showdown, but guerrilla Rabi Ahmed told the Associated Press that about 50 militiamen in the city were refusing to go to the front and fight.
Since Ethiopia and the Somali government forces began this campaign, the Islamicists have not won a single encounter, and have been forced to retreat each time. Now there's word that there are those in their ranks that are refusing to fight, and I sincerely doubt that it's more than fifty. If it were only fifty, they would have held the line against the advancing forces. I'm guessing it's more like a couple hundred that have mutinied. It doesn't really matter though because they lost Somalia. Their fight is over right now.
The Islamicists will be back. There's no doubt about it, and we shouldn't think that their retreat is anything but temporary. Once out of Somalia, and once they've regrouped, they'll wage that guerilla campaign against a liberated Somalia. Will it be as bad as the guerilla warfare in Iraq? Possibly, but at least with both the Ethiopians and pro-government Somali forces there now there's a better chance that they can turn back the type of attacks that the Islamicists will launch.
Publius II