[HIGHLIGHTS] Zakat is its most important resource.. How did the Somali Al-Shabaab movement build its financial network?

The Al-Shabaab Mujahideen Movement in Somalia has been able to build a financial network that intertwines economics, security, and the use of modern technologies. The movement's financial network not only ensured its ability to continue, but also transformed it into the richest and most important branch of Al-Qaeda in the world, according to Stephen Townsend, the former commander of US forces in Africa (AFRICOM) The US Treasury Department estimates that the movement generates more than $100 million annually, a remarkable figure considering that the Somali government's local revenues in 2022 amounted to $250 million.