January 14, 2013 -- Updated 1242 GMT (2042 HKT)
An undated TV grab shows Denis Allex, a French hostage allegedly held -- and possibly killed -- by Somali militants.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- President Obama details U.S. military involvement in a hostage rescue in Somalia
- French forces failed to free an intelligence agent held by an al Qaeda-linked group
- French officials say 1 soldier died, 1 is missing, and the hostage is believed dead
- U.S. aircraft were in Somali airspace but didn't fire, Obama told Congressional leaders
Obama detailed the U.S.
military involvement in the Friday night mission in a letter sent to the
leaders of the nation's two legislative chambers. The letter was
released publicly as well.
While U.S. forces
"provided limited technical support," they "took no direct part in the
assault on the compound where it was believed the French citizen was
being held hostage," the president explained.
In addition, U.S. military aircraft were available but were not used.
"United States combat
aircraft briefly entered Somali airspace to support the rescue
operation, if needed," the president wrote. "These aircraft did not
employ weapons during the operation."
French militant operations in Africa
Obama said he directed the U.S. troops' involvement in the operation "in furtherance of U.S. national security interests, and pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct U.S. foreign relations and as commander in chief and chief executive."
By 8 p.m., all U.S. forces were out of Somalia.
The moves came after
French forces engaged in a fierce gunbattle with militants in their
attempt to rescue hostage Denis Allex, who was a member of the DGSE,
France's equivalent of the CIA and a part of its defense ministry.
The skirmish in Bulo
Marer, about 75 miles northwest of the capital Mogadishu, ended with a
French soldier and 17 Islamist fighters dead, according to the French
Defense Ministry. Another French soldier is missing.
French Defense Minister
Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters in Paris on Saturday that "everything
leads us to believe that Denis Allex was gunned down by his captors."
French President Francois Hollande, meanwhile, lamented the "sacrifice"
of the two French soldiers and "maybe the assassination" of the hostage.
But the al-Shabaab
militia, which is affiliated with al Qaeda, claimed Allex is unharmed
and being held in a new location. The group said in a statement that
they'll decide the hostage's fate in the next two days.
Allex was abducted on
July 14, 2009, while on a mission in Mogadishu in support of the
transitional Somali government, the French Defense Ministry said. French
media reports suggest that Denis Allex is a pseudonym for the military
serviceman.
French officials said
they launched the rescue attempt after the terror group failed to
negotiate for the hostage's release for years while holding him in
inhumane conditions.
The U.S. military has
been involved in Somalia before, notably in the ill-fated 1993 Battle of
Mogadishu that ended with 18 American soldiers killed.
U.S. forces were in
Somalia to try to capture powerful Somali warlord Mohammed Aidid from
his stronghold in the war-torn capital and take him to a ship anchored
off the nearby coast. But by the end of the 16-hour battle in which
commandos tried to seize several of Aidid's top lieutenants, 18 elite
Army Rangers and hundreds of Somalis lay dead in the streets of
Mogadishu.
The movie inspired the best-selling book "Black Hawk Down" by Mark Bowden and an eponymous, Oscar Award-winning movie directed by Ridley Scott.
Fourteen years later, the U.S. military re-emerged in Somalia by conducting airstrikes targeting al Qaeda-linked operatives in southern Somalia. Other strikes followed, including one in 2008 that killed an al-Shabaab leader and several other senior leaders of his group, according to local officials.
CNN's Greg Botelho and Pierre Meilhan contributed to this report.
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