File image.
Yemen’s Houthis (Ansar Allah) are working to establish a training camp in Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland, Sheba Intelligence reported on June 26.
Intelligence sources told the United Kingdom-based news website that Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi assigned a special committee headed by Ahsan al-Kuhlani, the assistant defense minister for logistics in the Houthi-run government in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, to oversee the establishment and support of the camp.
The committee arranged the transfer of trained fighters, most of them Somalis and other Africans who had been recruited and trained in Houthi-run camps, alongside Yemeni fighters and foreign experts, according to the sources.
Since last April, al-Kuhlani has managed to gather large numbers of fighters at a camp located in the Golis Mountains area, near Odweyne in Somaliland’s Togdheer region, according to the report.
The sources who spoke to Sheba intelligence described the area as “mountainous, with small hills and dense trees, making it suitable for training, concealment and movement away from direct coastal surveillance.”
Among those sent to the camp were experts in operating drones and missiles, the sources said, adding that the Houthis had managed to move parts of ballistic missiles and drones to the area in separate shipments.
According to the report, the main objective is to build an alternative operational depth on the African side of the Gulf of Aden, allowing the group to maintain pressure on Bab al-Mandab and the Gulf of Aden if its military sites in Hodeidah and along Yemen’s western coast come under wider attack.
Israel recognized Somaliland as an independent sovereign state in late last year, triggering a massive wave of condemnation.
One June 25, al-Houthi vowed to target any Israeli presence in Somaliland, saying that his group is closely monitoring the region.
“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.
CNN reported earlier in the month that Somaliland had provided Israel with a 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 said that Israel deployed a group of 50 soldiers to Somaliland soon after the recognition and the resumption of the war with the Islamic Republic in late February.
The latest report by Sheba Intelligence suggests that the Houthis are attempting to challenge Israel’s growing influence in Somaliland from within the region. If true, this could lead to a serious escalation. Recent Hebrew media reports already suggest that Israel could soon resume strikes against Yemen.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned on June 25 that the Houthi leadership is not immune, vowing to target it if possible.
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