Islamic Courts Union in the context of "Transitional Federal Government of Somalia"

Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujāhideen, simply known as Al-Shabaab, or by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Somalia, is a Sunni Islamist militant and political movement based in Somalia. It is involved in the ongoing Somali Civil War as an Islamist group, regularly invoking takfir to rationalize its terrorist attacks on Somali civilians and civil servants. Allied to the pan-Islamist militant organization al-Qaeda, it is also in a more limited capacity active elsewhere in East Africa, and has forged ties with other insurgent groups like AQIM and AQAP.

Formed in the mid-2000s as a youth militia within the wider military wing of the Islamic Courts Union, Al-Shabaab came to prominence during the 2006–2009 Ethiopian invasion and occupation of Somalia, during which it presented itself as a vehicle for the waging of armed resistance against the occupying Ethiopian army. In subsequent years, it gained popular support from Somalis and became a dominant force in south and central Somalia, defending large swathes of territory by fighting against the African Union Mission to Somalia and the Federal Government of Somalia, as well as the latter's transitional predecessor. Al-Shabaab gained international prominence due to its recruitment of foreign fighters, including fighters who are from Western countries. Countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates have designated it as a terrorist organization, and the United States has militarily intervened in order to fight against the group.

The Ethiopian invasion of Somalia, also known as the Ethiopian occupation of Somalia or the Ethiopian intervention in the Somali Civil War, was an armed conflict that lasted from mid-2006 to early 2009. It began when military forces from Ethiopia, supported by the United States, invaded Somalia to depose the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) and install the Transitional Federal Government (TFG). The conflict continued after the invasion when an anti-Ethiopian insurgency emerged and rapidly escalated. During 2007 and 2008, the insurgents had recaptured the majority of territory lost by the ICU during the invasion.

Ethiopian military involvement began in response to the rising power of the Islamic Courts Union, which operated as the de facto government in the majority of southern and central Somalia. In order to reinforce the weak Ethiopian backed TFG, troops from the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) began deploying into Somalia during June 2006. Six months later during December 2006 the combined ENDF/TFG coalition, alongside a covert US military contingent, launched a full-scale invasion to topple the Islamic Courts. The ICU's organizational structure disintegrated, ENDF/TFG forces entered Mogadishu in the last days of December.