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Africa Horn

Al-Shabaab and Houthis deepen arms cooperation — WSJ

2026-09-02

[GaroweOnline] al-Shabaab
... the personification of Somali state failure...
and Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
’s Iran's Houthi sock puppets
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him...
movement have developed a growing partnership involving arms transfers, murderous Moslem training and drone technology, according to an investigative report published by The Wall Street Journal.

The report identified Jibril Yahya Ali, a Somali man known as "Gacaamey," as a longtime liaison between the two groups who purchased military-grade weapons from the Houthis and smuggled them to al-Shabaab. Jibril was killed on Feb. 12 in a missile strike near al-Ghaydah in eastern Yemen while driving along the coast with his new wife.

Two American sources told the WSJ that the United States carried out the strike. However,
man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them...
U.S. Central Command said it was not a military operation, while the CIA declined to confirm whether it was responsible.

Jibril, 38, had studied veterinary medicine in Yemen and operated a charity, a foreign-exchange outlet and an import-export company in Mogadishu.

A busy and ambitious man. It would be admirable were he not so evil.

According to the report, the Houthis provided him with a furnished apartment in Sanaa and a Yemeni passport issued under an assumed name. He also attended official Houthi functions.

Bet he loved going to functions and rubbing elbows with the Houthi bigshots. I’m not sue what benefit there is to having a fake Yemeni passport…

An internal assessment by Yemen’s Counter-Terrorism Service described Jibril as a key figure in strengthening relations between the Houthis and al-Shabaab, particularly in transferring weapons, military equipment and technical expertise.

Al-Shabaab and the Houthis belong to movements rooted in historically opposing religious traditions, but Somali, American and Yemeni officials told the WSJ that hostility toward the United States and Israel has brought them together.

We were recently discussing whether Sunni jihadis and Shiite jihadis could team up, and here’s the answer. The internet is generous.

The partnership benefits both sides. al-Shabaab has considerable financial resources but is seeking more sophisticated weapons and training. The Houthis possess missiles, drones and technical expertise but want cash and an expanded operational presence on the southern side of the Gulf of Aden.

Not getting the green stuff from Iran any more? How sad.

In 2024, al-Shabaab sent Sheikh Ahmed Elmi Samatar to Yemen with a weapons wish list that reportedly included shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles, Katyusha rockets, sniper rifles, attack drones, antitank missiles and night-vision equipment.

Yemeni authorities arrested Samatar in January 2025, but he was later released in a prisoner exchange with the Houthis. He returned to Somalia, leaving Jibril to continue representing al-Shabaab’s interests in Yemen.

After Jibril’s death, al-Shabaab appointed a replacement, suggesting that cooperation between the two groups remains active, according to Matt Bryden, a former United Nations
...boodling on the grand scale...
expert who monitored arms flows into Somalia.

The weapons are reportedly concealed by front companies and shipped through Yemeni ports before being transported across the Gulf of Aden aboard speedboats or fishing vessels. They are unloaded along poorly monitored sections of Somalia’s northern coastline and moved overland to al-Shabaab units in the south.

In April 2025, U.S. forces destroyed two unflagged vessels travelling from Yemen toward Somali waters. U.S. Africa Command said the boats were carrying advanced conventional weapons.

It remains unclear which weapons sought by al-Shabaab have reached Somalia. Somali and American officials are particularly concerned that the group could acquire attack drones or missiles capable of striking military bases.

The WSJ also reported that at least 100 al-Shabaab fighters had travelled to Yemen for training in bomb-making, antiaircraft operations and drone assembly.

One group reportedly spent three months this year in Yemen’s Sa’dah region, while Houthi instructors have also travelled to Somalia to train al-Shabaab murderous Moslems.

In June, a four-member Houthi delegation crossed from Yemen by boat and travelled to Jilib, al-Shabaab’s main stronghold in southern Somalia. The delegation reportedly discussed cooperation aimed at countering Israeli activities in Berbera and promised the group more advanced weapons and training.

The Houthis fear that Israel could use Berbera as a base from which to monitor or attack Yemen.

Ya think?

Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi recently threatened to strike any Israeli presence established in Somaliland

...Republic of Somaliland is an unrecognised sovereign state in the Horn of Africa, recognised internationally as a de jure part of Somalia. It is located in the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden with approximately 5.7 million residents as of 2021. The capital and largest city is Hargeisa. The government regards itself as the successor state to British Somaliland, which united from 1960 to 1991 with the Trust Territory of Somaliland (the former Italian Somaliland) to form the Somali Republic. Under the Siad Barre regime, Somaliadestroyed ninety percent of Hargeisa Per international law, once you're in, you gotta stay in, no matter how bad it smells....
Al-Shabaab collects at least $100 million annually through extortion, compulsory taxation and roadside checkpoints, according to a U.S. intelligence assessment. That revenue allows the group to purchase weapons and training from the Houthis.

The Houthis, meanwhile, are seeking a foothold in Somalia from which they could monitor commercial shipping through the Gulf of Aden and the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

Gen. Dagvin Anderson, commander of U.S. forces in Africa, told the WSJ that the relationship poses a threat extending beyond Somalia and Yemen because it could affect one of the world’s most important trade and energy corridors.

The Houthis did not respond to the newspaper’s questions about their relationship with al-Shabaab. The precise weapons transferred to the Somali group and the full extent of the operations being planned have not been independently verified.

Posted by:trailing wife

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