Mohamed Farah Dalmar Yusuf "Mohamed Ali" ( so, Maxamed Faarax Dalmar Yuusuf "Maxamed Cali", ar, محمد فارح دلمر يوسف "محمد علي") was a Somali military commander and revolutionary. He is known for his leadership within

Western Somali Liberation Front The Western Somali Liberation Front ( so, Jabhadda Xoreynta Somali Galbeed; abbreviated WSLF) was a separatist rebel group fighting in eastern Ethiopia to create an independent state. It played a major role in the Ogaden War of 1977-78 assisting ...

Afraad Afraad (The Fourth Brigade) ( so, Afraad, ar, افراد) was one of the major units of the Western Somali Liberation Front and was composed of officers originating from Somaliland. Afraad's initial objective was to liberate Somalis living in So ...

and later the

Somali National Movement The Somali National Movement ( so, Dhaqdhaqaaqa Wadaniga Soomaaliyeed, ar, الحركة الوطنية الصومالية) was one of the first and most important organized guerilla groups opposed to the Siad Barre regime in the 1980s to the 19 ...

. Yusuf acquired his first military experience in the ranks of the Palestine Liberation Organization. He also had taken part in the

Lebanese Civil War The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...

. Upon his return to the

Somali Republic The Somali Republic ( so, Jamhuuriyadda Soomaaliyeed; it, Repubblica Somala; ar, الجمهورية الصومالية, Jumhūriyyat aṣ-Ṣūmālīyyah) was a sovereign state composed of Somalia and Somaliland, following the unification o ...

he became the military leader of the

and was at the forefront of the 1977 invasion of

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

by Somali forces. In 1979 Mohamed Ali became the head of the Fourth Brigade of the Western Somali Liberation Front known as

. Yusuf's is considered the first military commanders of SNM, and one of the first officers to cross the Somali-Ethiopian border and establish a permanent base for rebels in Ethiopia.

References

{{Somalia-bio-stub Somali nationalists Somalian military leaders People of the Lebanese Civil War