Yemen's Foreign Minister: The Houthis Lead a 'Terrorism Axis' Extending to the Horn of Africa

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Yemeni Foreign Minister Afrah Al-Zouba revealed the emergence of a "terrorist axis" led by the Houthi militia supported by the Iranian regime, extending along the shores of the Red Sea to the Horn of Africa, considered as a single interconnected network. She called for enhancing support for the Yemeni government to confront its threats to regional security and international navigation.

She proposed four measures to help Yemen protect the future of global shipping.

Al-Zouba, in a statement published by the official Yemeni news agency, relied on reports from the UN expert team on Yemen, which documented cooperation between the Houthi terrorist militias and Al-Shabaab in Somalia. She stated that this cooperation "goes beyond arms smuggling to include the transfer of expertise, operational coordination, and sending engineers from the militias to Somalia for training on modifying drones, as well as training fighters from the group in Houthi camps."

The Yemeni Foreign Minister confirmed that the cooperation between the Houthi militias and Al-Shabaab represents a strategy to expand regional influence, and that the threat to Bab al-Mandab provides the militias with a means of extortion and imposes increasing costs on global trade. She pointed out that these threats have led to the rerouting of shipping around the Cape of Good Hope and increased transportation and insurance costs, confirming that their repercussions extend to the global economy.

The Somali intelligence has intercepted communications between the Houthis, Al-Shabaab, and ISIS, and noted the cooperation of elements from Al-Qaeda with the militias' intelligence, emphasizing that sectarian and ideological differences have not prevented these groups from collaborating to achieve common goals.

The Yemeni official identified four priorities for international action, including recognizing the interconnectedness of this network within legal frameworks and sanctions lists, which would allow for the pursuit of intermediaries, facilitators, and financiers; enhancing intelligence sharing regarding their activities in Yemen and the Horn of Africa; supporting government forces that continue to confront the militia domestically; and ending the treatment of the Yemeni government and an armed terrorist group as equals.

The Yemeni Foreign Minister confirmed that confronting this threat requires capabilities that exceed the resources available to Yemen alone, in areas such as continuous monitoring and tracking of financiers, shipping agents, and cross-border networks.

She emphasized the need for a clear distinction in international approaches between the state and its institutions and armed terrorist militias, asserting that developments in Bab al-Mandab have revealed the cost of ignoring this distinction and its implications for regional security and the safety of international navigation.

The Yemeni Foreign Minister reviewed the efforts of the coast guard and the Yemeni naval forces in intercepting shipments during the current year, which included guidance systems for drones, components for explosive-laden boats, and anti-tank missiles. She noted the seizure of a ship in August that was coming from Djibouti carrying components for drones, explaining that the seizure operation revealed a network managed by Tehran to transport shipments through the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.