The Battle of Berbera was an engagement of the Royal Navy and East India Company against the Habr Awal clan. It was the culmination of previous British punitive expeditions against the Habr Awal.

The Habr Awal, also contemporarily known as the Awal, and alternately known as the Zubeyr Awal is a major Northern Somali clan of the wider Isaaq clan family, and is further divided into eight sub-clans of whom the two largest and most prominent are the Issa Musa and Sa'ad Musa sub-clans. Its members form a part of the Habar Magadle confederation.