The Obama and Trump administrations conducted drone and fighter aircraft strikes, advisory missions, and training; provided intelligence; and attacked al-Shabaab militants.

Robert Moore, a public policy advisor, has outlined various justifications for US intervention in Somalia, including the 2001 AUMF which authorizes the President to use force against the perpetrators of the September 11th attacks and their allies (al-Shabbab declared an alliance with al-Qaeda in 2012).

In May 2022, President Joe Biden accepted a Department of Defense request to redeploy US soldiers to Somalia to combat al-Shabaab insurgents, as reported by a government spokesman.

[34] Channel 4 acquired a leaked document detailing a confidential meeting between senior American and Ethiopian officials in Addis Ababa six months prior to the full scale December 2006 invasion.

[37] According to Ted Dagne, an Africa specialist for the US Congressional Research Service, the Islamic Courts had committed no act or provocation to initiate the Ethiopian invasion.

[39] Approximately 50,000 to 60,000 Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) troops backed by tanks, helicopter gunships and jets had been involved in the offensive against the Islamic Courts Union during December 2006.

"[44] In an interview with Al-Jazeera, head of the Islamic Courts Sharif Sheikh Ahmed later reported that after achieving a string of battlefield victories, ICU troops had come under unexpected bombardment from US aircraft.

[46] During January 2007, American gunships, including helicopters and the AC-130, flew out of Dire Dawa and Diego Garcia to provide air support for Ethiopian troops.

[52] American forces reportedly killed hundreds of Somali fighters and civilians in a 'killing zone' between the Kenyan border, the Indian Ocean and advancing US backed Ethiopian troops.

[61] In March 2007, a White House study found that 'despite the ouster' of the Islamic Court Union, Somalia was a growing regional security threat and 'safe haven for terrorists'.

[63] Many Islamic Courts Union affiliates had been killed during the invasion, leaving a vacuum for the small group of several hundred youth that served as the ICU's Shabaab militia to gain prominence.

Heavy handed tactics and blatant disregard for civilian life by Ethiopian troops rallied many Somalis to support the Al-Shabaab as it successfully branded itself as the most determined and uncompromising resistance faction.

[66][67] A sharp increase in radical recruitment in Somali diaspora in Europe and the United States since 2007 has been linked with the overthrow of the ICU and the Ethiopian military occupation.

[77] The move proved to be damaging as it isolated moderate voices among the Islamist resistance movement and gave Al-Shabaab further reason to push against peace talks.

[78] A month later on 1 May 2008, US Tomahawk missiles bombarded Dhusamareb resulting in the assassination of Al-Shabaab leader Aden Hashi Ayro - along with another senior commander and several civilians.

This change in leadership was facilitated by American intervention and had significant effect on Shabaab's future decision making regarding the usage of tactics such as suicide bombing.

[66] Several months after the ENDF withdrawal, Foreign Affairs noted that Al-Qaeda's foothold in Somalia post-occupation was in significant part the result of the invasion.

[81] By the end of the occupation, the majority of the territory seized from the Islamic Courts Union during the December 2006 and January 2007 invasion had fallen under the control of various Islamist and nationalist resistance groups.

[82][66] The invasion failed to empower the Transitional Federal Government, which only controlled parts of Mogadishu and its original 2006 capital of Baidoa by the last weeks of the military occupation.

[86] During 2007 and 2008, Somalia plunged into severe levels of armed conflict, marked by frequent assassinations, political meltdown, radicalization, and the growth of an intense anti-American sentiment.

[78] A Royal Institute of International Affairs report observed that Ethiopian/American support for the TFG instead of the more popular Islamic Courts administration presented an obstacle, not contribution, to the reconstruction of Somalia.

[87] For the Americans the invasion had resulted in nearly the complete opposite of what had been expected, as it had failed to isolate the Islamic movement while solidifying Somali anger to both the United States and Ethiopia.

A 2007 study commissioned by United States Department of Defense warned that American participation in the war was, "...plagued by a failure to define the parameters of the conflict or its aims; an overemphasis on military measures without a clear definition of the optimal military strategy;"[89] Operation Celestial Balance – After several strikes by warplanes, U.S. commandos launch a helicopter raid near the southern coastal town of Barawa, killing Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan after his convoy was tracked as it left Mogadishu to attend a meeting between Islamic militants.

[56] In the first reported lethal drone strike conducted in Somalia, U.S. forces struck a training camp south of Kismayo, which was said to have resulted in the death of senior al-Shabaab leader, Ibrahim al-Afghani.

[56] US drone strike targeted a vehicle carrying a senior commander killed seven militants in Lower Shabelle, including a prominent Moroccan, and a deputy of Bilah, al-Berjawi.

[93] Forty-five to sixty al-Shabaab members were reportedly killed in a US drone strike in Lower Shabelle, after explosions rocked a training camp, a house, and several armored vehicles.

[56] Adan Garaar, senior member of al-Shabaab and suspect in the Kenyan Westgate shopping mall attack, was killed in a drone strike that destroyed two vehicles.

[170] Self-Defence strike in support of Somali National Security Forces in Malayle, Lower Juba Region, killed three al-Shabaab militants according to an AFRICOM press release.

[175] Airstrike killed nine suspected militants and injured another, after al-Shabaab attacked Somali government forces about 40 kilometers northeast of Kismayo in Lower Juba Province.

[220] Puntland military spokersperson claimed that U.S. airstrikes against ISIS have killed fourty-six fighters of in the Cal Miskaad mountains, a remote area in northeastern region Bari.