The Battle of Kismayo was an offensive led by the Kenya Defence Forces, under the codename Operation Sledge Hammer, to seize the port city of Kismayo, Somalia from Al-Shabaab from 28 September 2012. Fighting alongside the Kenya Army were Raskamboni movement militia and the Somali Army.

The Somali Armed Forces are the military forces of the Federal Republic of Somalia. Headed by the President as Commander in Chief, they are constitutionally mandated to ensure the nation's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.The SAF was initially made up of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Police Force. In the post-independence period, it grew to become among the larger militaries in Africa. Due to Barre's increasing reliance on his own clans, repressive policies, and the Somali Rebellion, the military had by 1988 begun to disintegrate. By the time President Siad Barre fled Mogadishu in January 1991, the last cohesive army grouping, the 'Red Berets,' had deteriorated into a clan militia. An unsteady rebuilding process began after 2000. In January 2014, the security sector was overseen by the Federal Government of Somalia's Ministry of Defence, Ministry of National Security, and Ministry of Interior and Federalism. The northeastern region of Puntland maintains its own separate military force.