Not a dumb question. Media reports indicate that the aircraft flew from a base in Djibouti. The latter is well within range and more or less friendly despite being heavily influenced by the French.
Kenya is another possibility. AC-130s that supported the 1993 operation in Somalia (before Clinton withdrew them to appease the media) flew from the Kenyan base at Mombasa. Their absense was a critical factor in the October 3 1993 "Blackhawk Down" battle in Mogadishu.
We have a Special Forces base (with AC-130's) in Djibouti.
isn't it amazing..ethiopian troops kick the ass*s of the islamists in 3 days and not a word out of the MSM, but let our guys get involved and suddenly it's big news..
Where we have a bunch of Marines, most of them Reservists. My wife's former student spent a year or so there, starting just a few months before he was to get out of the Marine Reserve. He hated it, called it the armpit of the world. Now he's a teacher at a Jesuit run school.