Taqwa Media

The aftermath of a car bomb at a checkpoint near Somalia’s Parliament in Mogadishu on Jan. 8. At least four people were killed in the attack by al-Shabab. (Said Yusuf Warsame NAIROBI — Just as soon as the U.S. military closed out a year in which it struck al-Shabab militants more times than ever — at a pace of just over one airstrike per week — the Somali militant group carried out its most  brazen and successful attack  on U.S. forces in its history, killing one soldier and two private contractors, and destroying six aircraft at an airstrip in Kenya. It was symbolic of the greater U.S. effort against al-Shabab: Since the Trump administration loosened rules of engagement in Somalia in March 2017, leading to a more aggressive use of airstrikes, the group has staged nearly 900 attacks on civilians alone, not counting hundreds more against U.S., Somali, Kenyan and other armed forces. “The rate of al-Shabab’s attacks, at least against civilians, is higher now than before,” said Hu...