Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen, commonly known as al-Shabaab, is a Sunni Islamist military and political organization based in Somalia and active elsewhere in East Africa. It is actively involved in the ongoing Somali Civil War and incorporates elements of Somali nationalism into its Islamist cause. Allegiant to the militant pan-Islamist organization al-Qaeda since 2012, it has also been suspected of forging ties with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is on the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, the Gulf of Aden to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, and Kenya to the southwest. Somalia has the longest coastline on Africa's mainland. Somalia has an estimated population of around 17.1 million, of which over 2 million live in the capital and largest city Mogadishu. Around 85% of its residents are ethnic Somalis. The official languages of Somalia are Somali and Arabic, though the former is the primary language. The people of Somalia are Muslims, the majority of them Sunni.