Puntland Defense Forces are reported to be making substantial gains against ISIS positions in Somalia’s Cal Miskaat Mountains as the operation known as Hillaac, or Blitz, continues to push deeper into territory the group has held for years. According to the supplied report, the offensive began in late December 2024 and has maintained momentum despite attempts by ISIS to slow the advance.
The campaign is described as a potentially important turning point in Puntland’s fight against the militant group. The latest developments cited in the report include the neutralization of seven bomb-laden commercial drones, the clearing of ten landmines planted by ISIS, and the destruction of five ISIS bases in the Il and Ameera areas. Puntland forces are now said to be moving toward Jeceel Valley, identified in the report as a strategically important water source for the group.
Those battlefield details suggest a methodical operation rather than a single breakthrough. Clearing drones and landmines points to a force attempting not just to seize ground but also to reduce the hazards that could slow troop movement or impose casualties after the initial assault. Destroying multiple bases in named areas indicates that the offensive is targeting logistical and defensive nodes rather than relying solely on open confrontation.
The report says ISIS launched a suicide attack on New Year’s Eve using foreign fighters from the Middle East and East Africa, but that the attack failed to significantly disrupt the broader campaign. If accurate, that detail illustrates both the seriousness of ISIS resistance and the inability of that resistance, at least in this phase, to reverse Puntland’s operational momentum. The report also notes that military officials have described ISIS resistance as unexpectedly weak overall.
One Puntland military officer quoted in the report said forces had seen men fleeing rather than standing and fighting, with militants retreating toward the larger mountains near Qandala. That description aligns with another central claim in the article: that ISIS may be more stretched or diminished than previously believed. Current intelligence cited in the report suggests fewer than 800 militants remain in the area, and that many may have fled before the operation even began.
The offensive has also reportedly been accompanied by two drone strikes on ISIS positions during the same week. The report states that the source of those strikes remains undisclosed and that the United States government has not claimed responsibility. That matters because it introduces the possibility of external support without establishing who provided it. Based on the supplied evidence, the airstrikes can only be described as apparent external assistance of unknown origin.
The geographic and strategic stakes are central to the story. ISIS has reportedly maintained control of the Cal Miskaat Mountains since 2015, after splitting from al-Shabaab and establishing a base there. Over that period, the group is said to have sustained itself primarily through extortion of Somali businesses. The report further cites UN monitoring findings that 2022 was the group’s most profitable year, with funds allegedly channeled onward to ISIS-Khorasan in Afghanistan. Those details frame the mountain stronghold not merely as a local insurgent refuge, but as part of a wider financial and organizational network.
The report also notes that ISIS’s current retreat raises questions about strategy, because the group now appears squeezed between the mountains and the Red Sea. That positioning is presented as unusual when compared with more familiar guerrilla tactics, which typically rely on ambush, dispersion, and avoidance of fixed vulnerability. If the report’s battlefield assessment is correct, Puntland’s offensive may be forcing ISIS into less flexible terrain and shrinking its operational choices.
What is verified from the supplied evidence is that Puntland’s Hillaac operation has been ongoing since late December 2024, that it has advanced through the Cal Miskaat theater, and that the latest reported gains include destroyed bases, cleared mines, intercepted drones, and movement toward Jeceel Valley. The evidence also supports reporting that outside drone strikes occurred without an identified source and that officials believe ISIS resistance has been weaker than expected.
Taken together, the supplied account depicts one of the strongest recent pressures on ISIS’s long-held mountain sanctuary in Puntland. Whether it becomes the decisive shift the report suggests will depend on whether territorial gains can be consolidated, militant retreat can be prevented from turning into regrouping, and the offensive can sustain pressure on the remaining pockets of ISIS presence in the region.
