Source: French to English Tester Published on: 2026-05-07
Source: The Conversation – in French– By Brendon Novel, PhD candidate in political science, University of Montreal
In a region strategic for global trade, ideological enemies could today cooperate. The Houthi insurgents of Yemen and the Somali group Al-Shabaab, Al-Qaeda’s most powerful branch in the world, would be exchanging logistical and military resources according to several reports from the UN and U.S. intelligence, without, however, it being a question of a formal alliance.
Theseexchangesconcern mainly military technologies, including drones, which could increase Al-Shabab’s ability to operate far beyond Somali territory, in an area already marked by strong security tensions.
The Ansar Allah movement (whose supporters are the “Houthis”) controls part of northern Yemen and has military capabilities allowing it to disrupt navigation in the Red Sea. Al-Shabaab, on its side, controls large portions of Somali territory and conducts an armed insurgency against the central government.
As part of my doctoral research in political science at the University of Montreal, I was led to take an interest in security issues in the Horn of Africa, and more broadly in the Red Sea basin, which constitutes one of the main trade routes between Asia and Europe via the Suez Canal.
Opportunistic links
Thefirst mentions of a cooperationbetween the two groups date back to 2024. The UN panel of experts on Yemen is the first to have raised an alert about aexpanding arms traffickingbetween the Somali and Yemeni coasts, both of which have been plagued by conflicts since 1991 and 2014 respectively. This same panel has also expressed concern about agrowing cooperationbetween the two organizations, both operationally and logistically.
Houthi cadres are said to have indeed gone to Somalia to establish direct links there. It is also likely that connections were established by individuals external to the two groups but integrated intocriminal networks linked to them. Smuggling flows of all kinds — including arms — have indeed long thrived along the coasts of the Horn of Africa and Yemen.
At first glance, it may seem counterintuitive that these two organizations cooperate. The Houthis follow the Zaydi Shia sect, whereas Al-Shabaab adheres to a strict current of Sunni Islam that is particularly anti-Shia.
The existence ofcircumstantial material interestsbetween two ideologically opposed forces, however, is nothing unprecedented. The Houthi movement seeks to gain regional influence and diversify its sources of income, while Al-Shabab aims to enrich its military arsenal.
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Somaliland, a source of tensions in the Horn of Africa
Al-Shabab in search of drones
Also according to the UN, Al-Shabab militants are believed to have been trained in Yemen in drone technologies and the manufacture of sophisticated explosive devices. Through this, Al-Shabab seeks to make its assaults more effective and deadly against Somali government forces and their international supporters.
In doing so, the Houthis would have alreadysupplied armed dronesto Somali militants who alsocalled for guided missiles. Widely used during Houthi attacks against ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden between 2023 and 2025, this equipment would give Al-Shabab an even greater disruptive capability, in Somalia and beyond.
Until now, the organization has been using drones mainly for surveillance and intelligence activities. The acquisition of offensive drones would give its militants an additional leverage against an already struggling Somali army.
An almost continuous territorial expansion
Since its emergence in the mid-2000s, Al-Shabaab has established itself as the most powerful Al-Qaeda branch in the world. The organization currently controls large portions of Somali territory, in the central and southern parts of the country. Its strength primarily relies on the military, political, and economic failures of the Somali government and its foreign supporters.
Al-Shabaab is indeed thrivingon the failure of the Somali state reconstruction process according to a federal model. The organization exploits in particular the rivalries — sometimes violent — between the federal army and the regional forces seeking autonomy. Its militants take advantage of these increasingly significant dissensions, while the central power in Mogadishu, the capital, strives to centralize the power and economic resources of the country.
Like the Somali army, the international forces engaged alongside them since the mid-2000s — notably those of the African Union — are being challenged by Al-Shabab.
The United States is also struggling. In 2025, the number of US strikes in Somalia has notnever been so important. While they have helped weaken the Islamic State group in the north of the country (also suspected of links with the Houthis), they have had little effect on Al-Shabab’s territorial control.
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Risks of increased regional instability
After Operation Hilaac (“lightning”), conducted with Washington’s support against the Islamic State in the autonomous Puntland province in the north, a new operation, Onkod (“thunder”), is being prepared against Al-Shabaab in a coastal region to the west of Puntland. The organization’s militants are therefore strengthening their positions there. Their actions — for now limited — could then spill over into the Gulf of Aden, which handles nearly 30% of the world’s container traffic.
Between 2023 and 2025 already, this maritime passage experienced a period of strong instability due to Houthi attacks in the Red Sea insupport for the Palestinian people. These operations have engaged the attention and resources of the international forces present in the region, contributing to aresurgence of piracy attacks off the Somali coast. If these attacks have decreased today, aa return of instability is not excluded.
A more pronounced presence of Al-Shabab in northern Somalia could contribute to this. At the same time, theHouthis could also contribute to the instability of this maritime area, in a context of open war between Iran, the United States, and Israel since February. The global economy, already exposed to disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, would then be all the more weakened.
Brendon Novel does not work for, advise, own shares in, or receive funds from any organization that could benefit from this article, and has declared no other affiliations than his research institution.
–ref. Yemen–Somalia: the worrying cooperation between ideological enemies threatens global trade –https://theconversation.com/yemen-somalia-the-worrying-cooperation-between-ideological-enemies-threatens-global-trade-278176