Ethiopian Campaign Against Somali Islamists Intensifies

Ethiopian fighter jets bombed two main airports in Somalia on Monday, including Mogadishu International Airport, in the first direct attack on the headquarters of an Islamic movement attempting to wrest power from the internationally recognized government.

Russian-made jets swept low over the capital at midmorning, dropping two bombs on Somalia's main airport, which recently reopened after the Islamic takeover of Mogadishu. An Associated Press reporter who arrived shortly after the strike saw one wounded woman taken away. The runway and one building used by the Islamic forces were damaged.

Shortly afterward, Baledogle Airport, about 60 miles outside Mogadishu, was hit, an Islamic soldier said. There were no reliable casualty reports available for either attack.

"The Ethiopian government is bombing non-civilian targets in Somalia in order to disable and prevent the delivery of arms and supplies to the Islamic courts," said Bereket Simon, an adviser to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Ethiopia and the Somali government have long accused the Islamic council of recruiting foreign fighters into its ranks.

It is always interesting that the world reserves its criticism for this kind of action (bombing airports and other facilities that serve dual purposes - military and civilian) for Israel. Israel was heavily criticized when it bombed the Beirut airport because it was trying to deny Hizbullah the ability to resupply via air. There simply isn't that kind of criticism when Ethiopia takes a page out of the Israeli playbook and goes after the logistical supply routes.

The Ethiopians know what they're up against. The Islamists have called upon their jihadi minions from across the region to come to their aid to fight against Ethiopia and spread Islam by the sword. The problem is that the Islamists can resupply by the ocean. The Ethiopians simply can't patrol 1,800+ miles of Somali coastline to interdict arms supplies and jihadis coming into Somalia to bolster the Islamic courts. However, the Ethiopians can limit the ability of those jihadis to move around Somalia and take them out as their positions become apparent.

UPDATE:
The NYT has a lengthy piece on the war.

The coordinated assault was the first open admission by Ethiopia’s Christian-led government of its military operations inside Somalia, where — with tacit American support — it has been helping a weak interim government threatened by forces loyal to the Islamic clerics who control the longtime capital, Mogadishu, and much of the country.

Ethiopia’s prime minister, Meles Zenawi, said in a televised broadcast that he had ordered the action because he had no choice.

“Ethiopian defense forces were forced to enter into war to protect the sovereignty of the nation,” he said. “We are not trying to set up a government for Somalia, nor do we have an intention to meddle in Somalia’s internal affairs. We have only been forced by the circumstances.”

According to witnesses, Ethiopian fighter jets bombarded several towns, obliterating an Islamist recruitment center and other targets, while Ethiopian tanks rolled into battle. The attacks set off riots in Mogadishu, Somalia’s battle-scarred seaside capital, and fighting on several fronts in southern Somalia.

Ethiopia, which commands the region’s most powerful military, did not disclose how many troops, tanks or planes it had sent into Somalia, but the United Nations has said at least 8,000 Ethiopian soldiers may be in the country. Casualties were reported Sunday, but reliable estimates were impossible to ascertain.

Technorati: somalia, ethiopia, eritrea, african union, council of islamic courts, genocide, crimes against humanity, jihad, failure, and united nations