Aden (South24 Center)

The United Nations Panel of Experts on Yemen in its 2025 final report has revealed significant strengthening of ties between the Houthis and the Al-Shabaab in Somalia and Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) terror groups, as well as severe human rights violations in areas under Houthi control.

The report, presented to the President of the Security Council on 15 October 2025, stated that cooperation between the Houthis and Al-Shabaab has intensified to unprecedented levels, involving weapons smuggling, military training, and the exchange of logistical support.

According to the report, Somali intelligence intercepted direct communications between the Houthis, Da’esh, and Al-Shabaab, while Somali security forces seized shipments of explosives and drones that were en route from Yemen to Somalia, highlighting how ties between the two groups has evolved.

The Panel noted that this cooperation goes beyond transactional or financial motives, forming part of a broader Houthi strategy to expand regional influence. It added that Al-Shabaab fighters received training in Houthi-controlled areas in the manufacture of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and drones, while two Houthi military engineers were dispatched to Jilib, Somalia, to train Al-Shabaab members on drone modification and weapons maintenance.

Official sources cited by the Panel reported that approximately 400 Somali fighters traveled to Yemen for military and ideological training in Houthi camps, while around 70 others are under investigation for involvement in arms smuggling networks between Yemen and Somalia. Weapons, the report said, are transported on traditional dhows from Somali ports such as Qandala, Alula, and Ras Asir to Hadramout and Shabwa, before being transferred to Houthi-held areas.

The report noted that Somalia is increasingly becoming a transit hub for weapons destined for the Houthis, in violation of the arms embargo imposed under Resolution 2216 (2015). It warned that such activities pose a serious threat to the security and stability of Yemen, the Red Sea, and the Horn of Africa. The Panel also confirmed the presence of Al-Shabaab operational cells in Hadramout, composed mainly of Somali nationals tasked with purchasing arms from Houthi-linked dealers and smuggling them back to Somalia, illustrating what it described as a complex and dangerous cross-border nexus between the two groups.

The report said that links between the Houthis and AQAP remain active, including security and intelligence coordination. Intercepted communications showed that members of AQAP coordinated with the Houthi Security and Intelligence Service to their mutual benefit, while multiple confidential sources confirmed growing collaboration that includes the training of AQAP operatives and medical treatment for its members in Houthi-held areas.

The Panel also stated that the agreement to cease hostilities between the Houthis and AQAP remains in effect, with both parties exchanging prisoners on 31 March 2025. It pointed out that the Houthis’ engagement with extremist groups reflects its strategy to maintain territorial control through tactical alliances with armed non-state actors.

It noted that since Sa’ad bin Atef al-Awlaki assumed leadership of AQAP in March 2024, the terror group has intensified operations in Abyan and Shabwa. The group carried out a suicide car bombing in August 2024 that killed 16 soldiers, and has carried out 39 attacks in 2025 so far. The report also noted that AQAP has been using digital wallets and cryptocurrency to collect donations, and using social media for propaganda and recruitment campaigns, issuing calls for jihad against the West in support of Gaza. The group has been attracting a growing number of foreign fighters.

The Panel noted the widespread violation of the arms embargo by the Houthis. It said that arms smuggling and illicit trade have become a primary source of finance for the Houthis, which allows the group to sustain its war economy and is also a means of circumventing the UN sanctions. It stated that the Houthis are the principal actors managing regional smuggling networks in cooperation with Al-Shabaab and AQAP. The report cited a U.S. operation conducted on 14 April 2025 that targeted one such network, killing its leader and several associates.

On the regional dimension, the Panel found that the Houthis continue to receive military assistance from the so-called ‘Axis of Resistance’ led by Iran and Hezbollah. It documented that Hezbollah operatives and Iranian missile and drone experts remain active in Yemen despite the departure of some senior Iranian officers from Sana’a. It also confirmed that Houthi fighters had been killed in Lebanon in the 17 September 2024 Israeli pager strikes, alongside Hezbollah units, underscoring the operational linkages between the groups aligned with Tehran.

The report recorded 403 cases of arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance in Yemen during 2025, 306 of them attributed to the Houthis and 97 to government-affiliated entities. Former detainees reported torture, mistreatment, and sexual violence, including against women. The Panel documented a case of sexual slavery of a woman in Houthi-controlled Sana’a and reported that children were born in detention as a result of rape, qualifying these acts as grave violations of international humanitarian law.

The Panel urged the Security Council to strengthen mechanisms for monitoring sanctions implementation, investigate cross-border terrorist linkages, and ensure accountability for human rights and sexual violence violations. It warned that the Houthis’ expanding network of alliances with extremist and regional armed actors represents a strategic shift that could result in an informal militant corridor stretching from Sana’a to Somalia via the Gulf of Aden, amid continued international inaction and lack of accountability.