Sammar Khader
New Lines Magazine, July 1, 2025
“… the Houthis’ cooperation with al-Shabab, al Qaeda’s East African affiliate, no longer seems far-fetched.”
On a warm April day on Yemen’s western coast, a barrage of 14 U.S. airstrikes rained down on the Ras Isa oil terminal, killing at least 80 people and wounding scores more. The U.S. campaign had come to a head after more than a year of bombardment in response to Houthi militants’ offensive against vessels transiting the Red Sea, which they claimed was in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Human rights groups called the U.S. attack an apparent war crime. For the Houthis, the charred remains of tankers and infrastructure marked the loss of a crucial revenue stream.
On the other side of the Gulf of Aden and relatively removed from the spotlight, Somalia’s al-Shabab was in the midst of staging a comeback. Locked in a grinding war with Somali, regional and U.S. forces, its fighters — many barefoot and wielding aging AK-47 rifles — advanced to around 120 miles from the capital, Mogadishu.
In mid-April, they stormed the strategic town of Adan Yabal, where residents described deafening explosions followed by gunfire from multiple directions. Joint Somali-U.S. airstrikes killed more than a dozen fighters, but the village, once declared liberated, fell again under al-Shabab’s black flag, as the latter pushed closer toward their goal of surrounding the capital.
The Houthis and al-Shabab operate on opposite shores of one of the world’s most strategic waterways. Their two campaigns were unfolding separately, but behind the scenes were becoming increasingly intertwined. Both needed to acquire resources in the face of military pressure, and they struck a deal: The Houthis would supply al-Shabab with weapons and, in return, al-Shabab’s pirates would divert naval patrols’ attention toward themselves, allowing smuggled weapons and shipments to reach Yemen’s Houthi-controlled ports. ….SOURCE