[7] On 7 February 2009, Hizbul announced that it would continue to oppose the new government led by President Sharif Sheik Ahmed and the African Union forces in Mogadishu.

Omar Iman, the group's first chairman, said, "the so-called government led by Sharif Sheikh Ahmed is not different from the one of Abdullahi Yusuf" and that they would continue the struggle.

Sheik Da'ud Mohamed Abtidon, who claimed to be the new spokesperson for the group accused Omar Iman of refusing to accept the Islamic scholars' calls for a ceasefire, in return for AMISOM's withdrawal.

Sheikh Mohamed Hassan Ahmed declared a ceasefire and entered negotiations for implementation of sharia law and AMISOM's withdrawal in return for joining the government.

[13] On 21 April 2009, Anole and the Ras Kamboni Brigades fought each other in a village called Abdalla Birole, which lies 40 km west of Kismayo.

This happened after Anole fighters invaded a village called Bulo Haji, while Ras Kamboni Brigade militia arrived in Abdalla Birole and they clashed.

ARS-A and JABISO, which were aligned with Al-Shabaab in Mogadishu and the central Somalia Hiran region, refused to support the Ras Kamboni Brigades, meanwhile Anole remained neutral.

[17] In the battles that followed, in November 2009, Sheikh Madobe's militia was overpowered by Al-Shabaab and local allies and forced to withdraw from the Lower Juba region and most of Southern Somalia.

[1] In late September 2012, after Al-Shabab had suffered a number of military setbacks as well as criticism as the presumed hand behind the shooting of parliamentarian Mustafa Haji Maalim, Hizbul Islam announced that it was going to pull its former members out of Al Shabaab and regroup.

[24] The spokesperson said it still wanted the African Union mission to leave Somalia but welcomed the new president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and parliament as a "positive development".