article_snippet.sent: In February 2012, the group's leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane, and al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri released a video announcing the alliance of other organizations.
article_snippet.sent: Working together, the Islamic Courts Union and Al-Shabaab gained control of Mogadishu in 2006.
article_snippet.sent: Ethiopian troops has a sophisticated public relations arm that includes a Twitter account and video production abilities.
article_snippet.sent: Al-Shabaab has even made a video that's as slickly produced as a reality TV show, complete with a hip-hop jihad voice and a startling message: .
article_snippet.sent: The once-ragtag al Qaeda affiliate has grown into an economic powerhouse, raising tens of millions of dollars in cash from schemes that have involved extortion, illegal taxation and other "fees," according to the report.
article_snippet.sent: The United States believed then that Al-Shabaab was coordinating with al Qaeda groups in Yemen and might have been plotting attacks in Yemen and abroad.
article_snippet.sent: In 2011, it was generating "between $70 million and $100 million per year, from duties and fees levied at airports and seaports, taxes on goods and services, taxes in kind on domestic produce, 'jihad contributions,' checkpoints and various forms of extortion justified in terms of religious obligation," according to the report from Al-Shabaab on southern Somalia and Eritrea.
article_snippet.sent: The United States has supported U.N.-backed African forces fighting Al-Shabaab and strengthened The United States counterterrorism efforts against Al-Shabaab.
article_snippet.sent: The United States has also donated millions of dollars in aid.