Aden (South24 Center)

The United States has warned that growing cooperation between Yemen’s Houthis and Somalia’s Al-Shabaab could increase security threats in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, as the Houthis consolidate gains along Yemen’s western coast near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

A spokesperson for US Africa Command described the relationship as “a highly concerning, escalatory threat to regional stability,” according to a Financial Times report published on Tuesday (September 29). Citing security and military experts, the newspaper reported that the Houthis had sold weapons to Al-Shabaab and trained fighters in the use of drones and explosives.

The warning follows the Houthis’ capture of the port of Al-Mokha this month and their advance towards Bab al-Mandeb, the strait connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. US officials fear that closer cooperation could strengthen Al-Shabaab’s capabilities in Somalia while giving the Houthis greater scope to monitor and threaten shipping from the African side of the waterway. These are assessments of an emerging risk, rather than evidence that the two groups can jointly control maritime traffic.

The relationship predates the Houthis’ latest advance. A UN monitoring report published in February 2025 described contacts between the groups as transactional rather than ideological. It reported meetings in Somalia during 2024 at which Al-Shabaab sought advanced weapons and training in exchange for increasing piracy and disrupting shipping. The report also documented transfers of small arms, ammunition and technical expertise from Yemen.

A subsequent UN panel report documented increased arms smuggling and cooperation between the groups. Citing confidential sources, it described Houthi training for Al-Shabaab members in improvised explosives and drone technology. The panel also examined an account from a liaison who said he had facilitated travel for nearly 400 Somalis to train in Houthi-controlled areas. Separately, Somalia specialist Matt Bryden told the Financial Times that as many as 1,500 fighters from Al-Shabaab and other Somali factions may have trained with the Houthis in Yemen.

Bryden and another expert said Al-Shabaab had sought more sophisticated weapons, including Iranian S358 surface-to-air missiles, but that these systems had not appeared on Somali battlefields. Bryden also reported more frequent visits by Houthi envoys to Jilib in southern Somalia and efforts to install equipment to monitor shipping from the African coast.

The Africa Center for Strategic Studies warned last week that a transfer of military-grade drones or missile systems to Al-Shabaab could increase risks to shipping and intensify the conflict in Somalia. It presented such transfers as a possibility, while identifying arms shipments and training as existing elements of the cooperation. That distinction matters as fighting in Yemen draws closer to Bab al-Mandeb and scrutiny grows over what the groups have already done and what they may be able to do next.