Illustrative image. (The Houthis’ Military Media)
The Houthis (Ansar Allah) in Yemen on June 25 vowed to target any Israeli presence in Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland.
“We are closely monitoring developments in Somaliland and the enemy’s attempts to transform it into a foothold to control the Gulf of Aden, the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and the Red Sea,” the group’s leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said in a televised speech carried by the group’s Al-Masirah television.
He called on the Islamic nation and countries bordering the Red Sea “to take a unified stance to prevent the enemy from achieving this.”
“Yemen will neither stand idly in the face of any Israeli presence in Somaliland, nor will it wait for those who fail to act,” he said. “The Houthi group will take the initiative, whenever the enemy establishes any presence, to target it by all available means.”
He also called to “reform the situation in Somalia, care for the brotherly Somali people, and support them in confronting the Israeli enemy’s aggression.”
Israel recognized Somaliland as an independent sovereign state in late last year, triggering a massive wave of condemnation.
Last week, Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi opened the breakaway region’s embassy in Jerusalem during his visit to Israel.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz revealed during a meeting with Abdullahi on June 17 that Israel and Somaliland had been cooperating secretly for years.
“For many years, we cooperated under the radar in a series of operations that will remain classified. Now we are determined to bring our security cooperation to new heights, for the benefit of both peoples and for the benefit of stability in the region,” Katz said.
CNN reported earlier in the month, citing sources familiar with the matter., that Somaliland had provided Israel with an additional military site, potentially allowing Israeli warplanes to stop there to refuel during long-range flights to Iran.
A later report by the Middle East Eye quoted a senior Somali official as saying that Israel deployed a group of 50 soldiers to Somaliland soon after the recognition and the resumption of the war with Iran in late February.
Any Israeli military presence in Somaliland, no matter how limited it is, poses a serious threat to the Houthis. The latest remarks by al-Houthi indicate that the group is planning on addressing this threat. This could easily turn into another conflict in Bab-el-Mandeb Strait.
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