Group · Somalia

Al-Shabaab

Harakat ash-Shabaab al-Mujahideen ("Mujahideen Youth Movement"), better known simply as al-Shabaab ("the Youth"), is a terrorist group determined to depose the Western-backed government of Somalia and establish fundamentalist Islamic rule there.
From the Jihad Intel profile

50 MEF articles
1 MEF profile page

Profiled on MEF Sites

Jihad Intel group profile Origins, leadership, ideology and attacks of the group.

OFAC Designation Status

OFAC Specially Designated Nationals list, data of October 13, 2026. The SDN file carries no listing date.
SDN Name	Entry	Program	Match
AL-SHABAAB	10761	FTO; SDGT; SOMALIA	Exact name match: Al-Shabaab

Source: OFAC SDN List. Check the entry number in OFAC Sanctions List Search.

Latest MEF Articles

MEF articles naming Al-Shabaab, newest first
Date	Article
October 10, 2026	Who Inherits Terrorist Properties Upon Their Military Defeat?
October 6, 2026	Will Turkey Double Down on Somalia as Mogadishu’s African Partners Depart?
August 25, 2026	Is Washington Ready for Another Ethiopia-Eritrea War?
August 6, 2026	Spain's Interior Ministry Dismisses Police Warnings of Jihadis Among Ceuta Migrants
July 31, 2026	China Offered Somaliland More than a Quarter of a Billion Dollars to Drop Taiwan. Somaliland Said No
June 30, 2026	Congressional Testimony from MEF’s Michael Rubin on Turkey’s Occupation of Cyprus
April 29, 2026	Who Owns Somalia’s Coast?
February 27, 2026	How Turkey’s Aggression in the Horn of Africa Could Benefit Al-Shabaab
February 19, 2026	From Yemen to the Horn: How the Houthis Are Expanding the Battlefield into East Africa
January 29, 2026	Turkey’s F-16 Deployment to Somalia Reinforces Danger of Arms Sales to Ankara
January 24, 2026	Israel Has Caused the Collapse of Turkey’s Indian Ocean Monopoly
January 14, 2026	Islamophobiacs Help Incite Leftist Protestors in Minnesota

Showing the 12 most recent of 50 MEF articles naming Al-Shabaab, the earliest dated April 17, 2009.

Spellings Matched

Mentions are counted when one of these spellings appears as a whole word. See the method.

Al-Shabaab

Cite: Middle East Forum, MEF Research by Name, “Al-Shabaab,” accessed October 13, 2026, https://entities.meforum.org/e/al-shabaab/