Combat rules to protect Somali civilians eased

Trump grants Pentagon’s request for greater flexibility in executing counterterrorism strikes

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has relaxed some of the rules for preventing civilian casualties when the U.S. military carries out counterterrorism strikes in Somalia, laying the groundwork for an escalating campaign against Islamist militants in the Horn of Africa.

The decision, according to officials familiar with internal deliberations, gives commanders at the U.S. Africa Command greater latitude to carry out offensive airstrikes and raids by ground troops against militants with alQaida-linked Islamist group alShabab. That sets the stage for an intensified pace of combat there, while increasing the risk U.S. forces could kill civilians.

Trump signed a directive Wednesday declaring parts of Somalia an “area of active hostilities,” where war-zone targeting rules will apply for at least 180 days, the officials said.

The New York Times reported the Pentagon’s request for the expanded targeting authority March 12, and Gen. Thomas D. Waldhauser, the top officer at Africa Command, acknowledged he was seeking it at a news conference last Friday.

“It’s very important and very helpful for us to have a little more flexibility, a little bit more timeliness, in terms of decision-making process,” Waldhauser said. “It allows us to prosecute targets in a more rapid fashion.”

In a statement issued several hours after the New York Times first published news of the directive, Capt. Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, acknowledged that Trump had approved the Pentagon’s proposal to expand its targeting authority “to defeat al-Shabab in Somalia” in partnership with African Union and Somali forces.

“The additional support provided by this authority will help deny al-Shabab safe havens from which it could attack U.S. citizens or U.S. interests in the region,” he said.

Some civilian bystander deaths would be permitted if deemed necessary and proportionate. Trump’s decision to exempt much of Somalia from the 2013 rules follows a similar decision he made for parts of Yemen shortly after taking office.

The loosening of the rules in Somalia comes against the backdrop of a broader, continuing Trump administration policy review about whether to scrap the 2013 rules.

The decision was described by officials familiar with the new directive who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military planning.