Forces of the Supreme Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC) retreated from a number of strategic cities in central Somalia as Ethiopian troops advanced toward the capital Mogadishu, Somalia’s Shabellenews agency reports.
Ethiopian troops, accompanied by soldiers of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government (TFG), began a full-scale war against the Islamist alliance four days ago.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said he believed his troops would be able to leave Somalia within one week.
"Once we accomplish the mission – half is already over and the rest will not take long – we will leave," Zenawi said, according to AP.
The SCIC conquered the capital, Mogadishu, last June and forced the U.N.-recognized TFG to find refuge in Baidoa, near the Ethiopian border.
Zenawi estimated that, of the approximately 1,000 people who have been killed in the past few days; most of them were not Somalis. The Media Line’s analysts indicate that, according to U.N. reports, thousands of Islamist fighters from around the Muslim world, including Eritrea, Syria and Libya, have arrived in Somalia in the past few months. An unconfirmed report also revealed that Hizbullah fighters were fighting alongside Somalia’s Islamists.
The Islamist leadership announced it was about to begin a "new phase" in its war against Ethiopia, a statement which might be interpreted as a decision to launch suicide attacks.
"We will fight Ethiopia for a very long time, and we expect the war to reach everywhere,” the statement said.
The U.N. envoy to Somalia, Francois Lonseny Fall, urged the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday to call for an immediate halt to the fighting. The Security Council, however, has not yet voted on a resolution on this matter.