LAS ANOD, Somalia [SMN] – Fighting between Somaliland troops and authorities in Las Anod, Sool Regional capital, which continued since January 2023.
Somaliland forces who are attempting to recapture the city from the local militia attacked SSC positions in the mountain areas of Hodon and Sayidka near LasAnod, reports said.
The SSC militia managed to push back the separatists from their defensive bases. Both sides suffered casualties, but the number still remains unclear.
As of late June, the conflict has displaced between 154,000 and 203,000 civilians, and the casualties are reportedly in the hundreds.
Despite local and international calls for a cease-fire, fighting has continued, raising fears of a full-blown humanitarian crisis amid a biting drought that has already affected thousands of people in the contested region.
The U.N. Security Council last month called for a de-escalation of violence in Las Anod, adding to similar calls from the federal government in Mogadishu. Those calls have gone unheeded as both sides continued exchanging heavy fire.
Somaliland, which said broke away from Somalia three decades ago, has controlled the town since 2007, but the local clans support Somalia’s federal government and wish to be governed by it.
