Taking advantage of the instability created by the Tigray war, the goal of the operation was to establish a presence for the group within southern Ethiopia.

During 1992, the Ethiopian government attacked Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya (AIAI), a rising Islamist political-military group in the Ogaden that was a registered political party; in a bid to crush the movement.

[23] By the time of the ENDF withdrawal in early 2009, Al-Shabaab's forces had grown significantly in numbers, swelling from just six hundred to several thousand fighters strong since the invasion began.

[14] After Ayro's early 2007 incursion, the group's leader Ahmed Godane set up the "Ethiopian Front" to organize terrorist attacks, but this force failed to make an impact.

[14] Researcher James Barnett argued that the Liyu police in particular had organized "effective—if controversial—counterterrorism operations" which had prevented insurgents from establishing a lasting presence in Ethiopia.

[14] In 2021, it seemed as if the Ethiopian government might collapse due to the Tigray war; security analyst Matt Bryden argued that al-Shabaab began to plan an invasion in this period.

[3] During April 2022, the Ethiopian government announced it had arrested dozens of Al-Shabaab members in Elekere district as they were planning to strike targets in the capital Addis Ababa, and within the Oromia and Somali regions.

[28] Later that month the insurgents launched a series of attacks to weaken the Ethiopian and Somali pro-government presence at the border, possibly to prepare for the following invasion.

[9] In early July, Osman Abu Abdi Rahman, al-Shabaab governor of the Somali gobol Bakool, declared war on the Liyu police.

[6] Five days before the invasion, Ethiopian security forces conducted a raid in El Kari, killing a local cleric who was identified as an "al-Shabab commander".

[8] One al-Shabaab unit[8] then launched a surprise attack on four settlements on the Somali side of the border,[9] including the towns Aato and Yeed as well as the village of Washaaqo.

[6] According to Voice of America journalist Harun Maruf,[6] Critical Threats analysts Liam Karr and Emily Estelle,[9] as well as Somali regional and intelligence officials, this first attack was a diversionary operation designed to facilitate an invasion into Ethiopian territory by another al-Shabaab force.

[4] At this point, Ethiopian officials argued that all invaders had been eliminated, though security analysts cautioned that some rebels might had slipped through the pro-government defensive lines.

[11][5] Fu'ad Mohamed Khalaf was initially reportedly among the dead, as was al-Shabaab's chief border commander, Ubeda Nur Isse, and a spokesman.

He further stated that al Shabaab would continue to attack the Somali Regional Liyu police [5] Local civilians organized ad hoc self-defense groups to hunt for rebel stragglers.

[3][2] Somali Region officials claimed that the al-Shabaab invaders had planned to advance up to Oromia to coordinate with the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA).

[3] The Long War Journal speculated that al-Shabaab was intending to exploit the local tensions and fighting between various groups at Bale Mountains, including by OLA, to set up their own bases there.

[11] A number of Somali Region officials informed VOA that the al-Shabaab had inflicted heavy losses on the Ethiopians, and captured several local administrators before their main force was defeated.

[7] Deeply concerned by the invasion, the ENDF increased troop deployments in the buffer zone it maintains between the border and areas where Al-Shabaab is active.

[30] Initially it was reported about 100 Al-Shabaab fighters had reached their target of the Bale Mountains, though Ethiopian officials claimed that they were too few in number to establish a viable presence.

[1] On 5 August 2022 it was reported that, "Hundreds of al-Shabab fighters were able to slip into Ethiopia last week alone", with their presence detected in numerous local communities in the Somali Region.

For instance, the Bale Mountains-based battalion had attacked the Liyu police in August 2023 to divert attention from the border in order to enable fresh troops from Somalia to launch another incursion.

[33] In December 2023, the Ethiopian National Intelligence and Security Service claimed it had foiled a series of attacks planned by Al-Shabaab in Jigjiga and several other cities in Somali Region.

[34] During March 2024, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission released a report asserting al-Shabaab forces were operating in Bale and had killed several police officers.