Yemen's Foreign Minister: Houthi Leads a 'Terrorism Axis' Extending to the Horn of Africa

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The Yemeni Foreign Minister, Afrah Al-Zouba, revealed the emergence of a "terrorist axis" led by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia, extending along the shores of the Red Sea to the Horn of Africa, 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 militia engineers 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 el-Mandeb provides the militias with a means of extortion and imposing 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, highlighting 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, confirming 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 the exchange of intelligence 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 what Yemen alone can provide, 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 Foreign Minister reviewed the efforts of the Yemeni Coast Guard and 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 pointed out 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.