A Somali guerrilla group claimed this week that it killed more than 3,000 Ethiopian soldiers in 2010. The group also vowed to keep fighting until Ethiopia’s Ogaden region becomes an independent Somali state.

The Ogaden National Liberation Front is one of the many Islamist-influenced Somali guerrilla groups active in Ethiopia. The Ethiopians have been sending troops to fight against these groups for years, but according to Somali sources, some of these troops have switched their allegiance to the Islamist side. This means that what is now basically a Somali civil war could escalate into an interstate war between an Islamist-controlled Somalia and its eastern neighbor.

Biblical passages such as Daniel 11:40-43 foretell of an end-time clash between a German-led Holy Roman Empire (the “king of the north”) and an Iranian-led Islamic caliphate (the “king of the south”). This passage in particular reveals that the nations of Egypt, Libya and Ethiopia will be allied with Iran when it is overrun by the European empire.

Substantial population segments in Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Ethiopia and Somalia are already looking to Iran for leadership as it rises up to establish an Islamic caliphate spanning the Middle East and northern Africa.

According to a 2006 United Nations report, Somalia’s Islamists receive arms, training and financing from fellow Islamists in Hezbollah, Libya, Egypt and Iran. This support is only likely to grow if the Muslim Brotherhood is successful in wresting control of the Egyptian government from President Hosni Mubarak. Expect an alignment with Iran to occur not only within Egypt, but also in Libya and Ethiopia.

For more information on the future of Iran and North Africa, read “Al Qaeda’s New Home” and The King of the South.