The Ethiopian regime just armed SNF militias. And the war this time was between SNF and AIAI. The following two years, the war front changed into what was later to become the Mountains War of Gedo. On 18 September 1996, the Ethiopian army invaded Lugh and forced out most of the AIAI forces. Sheikh Aweys settled in Lower Shabelle when some disputes came of light in Lugh's Al-Itahad leadership. At the time, there were other regional military authority Somali National Front (SNF) running parts of Gedo. Gedo district seats of Lugh, Balad Hawo and Burdubo were all run by IAIA forces. From 1991 to 1998, AIAI's Gedo Region branch led by former Somali High Court Judge Mohamed Haji Yusuf maintained formidable forces.

Sheikh Aweys was part of the al-Itihaad al-Islamiya leadership which took over large parts of Somalia immediately following the collapse of the Somali Central Government. Sheikh Aweys later became a leader of Al-Itihaad al-Islamiya, which was destroyed in the late 1990s by a force led by Abdullahi Yusuf and funded by Ethiopia. At an early stage in the fighting, Sheikh Aweys captured Abdullahi Yusuf and put him in jail. He was decorated for bravery for his part in 1977 the war. During the regime of Siad Barre, Aweys was a colonel in the Somali National Army (SNA) during the 1977 Ogaden War against Ethiopia. Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys (English: Hassan Dahir Aweys ( Somali: Xasan Daahir Aweys, ( Arabic: حسن طاهر أويس born 1935) is a Somali political figure from the Habargidir/ Ayr subclan within the Hawiye clan.

الصوت روح by Huda Aweys