Al Shabaab fighters are changing their tactics and mode of operations in the face of growing attacks on their forces, including US airstrikes. Al Shabaab has started training large forces in one site, and then immediately attacking a forward operating base of African Union Mission to Somalia forces, which have caused the loss of “significant people,” said Army Gen. David Rodriguez, commander of US Africa Command, in a Thursday briefing at the Pentagon. US aircraft have repeatedly hammered al Shabaab fighters in Somalia, including a March 31 strike that killed senior leader Hassan Ali Dhoore and a March 5 strike on a training camp. Al Shabaab is gathering and training a “significant number of people” and then dispersing for an attack, limiting the time to target them. Rodriguez has said continued strikes are possible in Somalia to combat the growth of al Shabaab in the country.
The U.S., South Korea, and Japan flew an unusual trilateral flight with two U.S. B-52H Stratofortress bombers escorted by two Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-2s, and two ROK Air Force KF-16 fighters—both countries’ respective variants of the F-16—July 11. That same weekend, the top military officers of the three nations…