2007 2008 2009 2011 2012 2013 2017 The Baraawe raid, code named Operation Celestial Balance, was a helicopter assault by United States Special Operations Forces against the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan and associated al-Shabaab militants near the town of Baraawe in southern Somalia.

Nabhan was the facilitator between al-Qaeda and al-Shabaab, he had been wanted by the United States since 2006, as he was a member of the east-African al-Qaeda cell responsible for several terrorist attacks in East Africa, including the 1998 United States embassy bombings and the 2002 Mombasa attacks.

A team from the ISA began getting a precise location of the target from cell phone intercepts and surveillance from both short-range US Navy Scan Eagle UAVs and long range CIA Predators.

[5] CIA and JSOC planners presented President Obama with 4 options: a Tomahawk cruise missile strike, an airstrike, an attack by Little Bird helicopters or an attempt to capture the target with an assault force of SEALs.

Obama picked the airstrike option as it limited the any potential collateral damage and the chances of US casualties.