The terror alliance threatening Israel: Houthis and Al-Shabaab join forces

A terror alliance developing between the Houthis in Yemen and Al-Shabaab in Somalia threatens to expand the danger facing Israel and the United States - and to undermine security in one of the world's most important shipping lanes. According to a Wall Street Journal investigation, the two organizations, which were previously rivals due to the religious gap between them, maintain a complex system of arms trafficking, knowledge transfer, and terrorist training - and are jointly preparing to act against a possible Israeli presence in Somaliland.

The focus of the concern is the port city of Berbera. Following Israel's decision in December to recognize the independence of Somaliland, the Houthis fear that Israel will exploit the region's strategic location to establish an outpost for monitoring them and for strikes in Yemen. In Berbera, there is a runway so long that NASA once rented it as an emergency landing site for space shuttles.

In June, a four-member Houthi delegation crossed the Gulf of Aden and arrived in southern Somalia. Its members marched through bush areas to Jilib, the de facto capital of the territory controlled by Al-Shabaab, and met with senior members of the organization. According to the report, the Houthis sought to coordinate steps to disrupt Israeli activity in Berbera and promised in return advanced weapons and additional training.

Michael Milstein, a former senior official in Israeli intelligence, told the newspaper that the Houthi threat was at the center of Israeli considerations when recognizing Somaliland. According to him, "a military deployment in Somaliland gives you a very strong position for dealing with the Houthis." The Israeli government did not provide a response.

The Houthi leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, clarified this month that his organization is monitoring Israel's activity in Somaliland. He claimed that Israel seeks to control the Gulf of Aden, the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and the Red Sea, and threatened: "We will act at any time to attack any activity or presence of the Israeli enemy in Somaliland."

The man who connected the organizations

One of the key figures in establishing the alliance was Jibril Yahya Ali, a Somali citizen known as "the one-armed man." At least since 2023, he served as a liaison between the Houthis and Al-Shabaab, brokered arms deals, and helped smuggle into Somalia weapons purchased in Yemen.

The deal was profitable for both sides. Al-Shabaab, considered the largest and most profitable branch of Al-Qaeda, had money but needed advanced weapons and training. The Houthis had sophisticated weaponry and technological knowledge, accumulated in part with the assistance of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, but sought money and an additional foothold from which they could threaten the West and shipping lanes.

On February 12, four months after marrying Budur Murshid, Jibril went with his wife for a drive along the coast outside the city of Al-Ghaydah in Yemen. Budur's phone rang, and she got out of the car to answer. Moments later, an American missile penetrated the roof of the vehicle and tore it apart. Jibril was killed on the spot, and his wife fled the area.

Two American sources confirmed to the newspaper that Jibril was killed in an American strike. However, the United States Central Command stated that it was not a military operation, and the CIA refused to say if it carried out the assassination.

His death did not stop the cooperation. Al-Shabaab appointed a replacement for him in Yemen and continued the arms deals. Jibril, who studied veterinary medicine and managed a charity in Mogadishu, enjoyed a special status with the Houthis. They provided him with a furnished apartment in Sana'a, invited him to official events, and issued him a fake Yemeni passport under a false name.

In 2024, Al-Shabaab sent another senior representative to Yemen, Sheikh Ahmad Almi Samatar, who presented the Houthis with a procurement list that included shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, Katyusha rockets, sniper rifles, explosive drones, anti-tank missiles, and American night-vision equipment. Samatar was arrested in January 2025 by Yemeni government officials but was later released in a prisoner exchange deal with the Houthis.

Weapons, drones, and terrorist training

The weapons are disguised as civilian products by front companies in Yemen, transferred to Mukalla and other ports, and cross the Gulf of Aden on speedboats or fishing vessels. They are unloaded on poorly monitored beaches in northern Somalia and from there transferred to Al-Shabaab units in the south of the country.

In April 2025, the United States destroyed two flagless boats that arrived from Yemen and carried, according to the United States Africa Command, advanced conventional weapons. It is unclear what means actually reached Al-Shabaab, but the possibility that the organization obtained attack drones or weapons that allow for striking American and Somali bases from the air raises concern.

According to a source in American military intelligence, at least 100 Al-Shabaab personnel were sent to Yemen for training in operating advanced weapons and building explosive devices. Another group spent three months this year in Saada and learned to assemble drones and operate them using cameras. Houthi instructors are simultaneously arriving in Somalia.

Al-Shabaab is capable of financing the activity: according to an American intelligence estimate, the organization brings in at least 100 million dollars a year from extortion of businesses, roadblocks, activity at the Mogadishu port, and exploitation of gold mines.

The importance of the alliance also stems from the location of Yemen and Somalia on both sides of the Gulf of Aden, through which about 12% of the world's oil transported by sea passed before the war in Iran. When the Strait of Hormuz is almost closed, the gulf may serve as an alternative route for transporting oil from the Middle East - but the Houthis are already attacking tankers linked to Saudi Arabia and are seeking to enlist the help of Al-Shabaab in placing radar to monitor ships.

The Shiite Houthis and the Sunni Al-Shabaab overcame the sectarian rivalry thanks to their common enemies. "They hate the West and they hate Israel," said former Somali intelligence chief Abdullahi Mohamed Ali.

The commander of American forces in Africa, General Dwayne Anderson, warned that Al-Shabaab is obtaining advanced weapons and training, while the Houthis are expanding their range of activity and obtaining a foothold near a global economic choke point. "This is not just a regional problem," he said. "It has global implications."