RED SEA — United Nations and American intelligence reports indicate that Yemen’s Houthi insurgents and Somalia’s Al-Shabaab are exchanging logistical and military resources, including drone technology and arms, as of 2024–2025. The first reports of cooperation between the two groups emerged in 2024.
The UN Panel of Experts on Yemen has warned about growing arms trafficking between the coasts of Somalia and Yemen and raised concerns about increasing logistical and operational ties between the Houthis and Al-Shabaab. According to the United Nations, Al-Shabaab militants have reportedly received training in Yemen in drone operations and the manufacture of sophisticated explosive devices.
The Houthis are believed to have supplied armed drones to Al-Shabaab militants, and Al-Shabaab has reportedly requested guided missiles from the Houthis. These exchanges occur despite the groups’ divergent religious ideologies: the Houthis are affiliated with Zaydi Shiism, while Al-Shabaab adheres to a hard-line Sunni doctrine that is strongly anti-Shia.
Houthi leaders are believed to have traveled to Somalia to establish direct ties with Al-Shabaab, and intermediaries linked to criminal networks connected to both groups may have facilitated initial contacts. Smuggling, including arms trafficking, has long flourished along the coasts of the Horn of Africa and Yemen, providing an established corridor for such exchanges.
The Houthi movement, which controls part of northern Yemen, seeks to expand its regional influence and diversify its sources of revenue. Al-Shabaab, which controls large swaths of central and southern Somalia and continues to wage an insurgency against the Somali government, aims to strengthen its military arsenal. Since emerging in the mid-2000s, Al-Shabaab has become an Al-Qaeda affiliate, exploiting rivalries between Somalia’s federal army and regional forces.
Between 2023 and 2025, the Houthis carried out attacks on commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, launching drones and missiles from areas under their control. These attacks, carried out in support of Palestinians, contributed to severe instability in the Red Sea. Nearly 30% of global container traffic passes through the Gulf of Aden, and the Houthi campaign diverted the attention and resources of international forces in the region, contributing to a resurgence of pirate attacks off the Somali coast.