Houthis vow to strike any Israeli presence in Somaliland

Yemeni group warns against foreign footprints near the Red Sea after Somaliland opens an embassy in Jerusalem.

Yemen’s Houthi movement has pledged to launch targeted military strikes against any Israeli presence established within the breakaway region of Somaliland.

In a televised address broadcast by the Al-Masirah network, Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi asserted that his forces are vigilantly monitoring the territory. He accused Israel of attempting to secure a strategic foothold to dominate the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea, and the critical Bab al-Mandab Strait.

The Houthi leader urged Red Sea coastal states and the wider Islamic world to adopt a unified stance to block these regional ambitions.

He declared that Yemen would not remain passive, warning that the group intends to take the immediate initiative to attack any Israeli installations using all available military assets. He also appealed to global governments to assist in stabilising the situation in Somalia and to support the Somali public against foreign aggression.

This development follows a recent official visit by Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi to Israel, where he inaugurated the breakaway territory’s new embassy in Jerusalem.

Tel Aviv formally recognised Somaliland as a sovereign nation in late December 2025, a decision that sparked widespread international condemnation.

Somaliland has functioned as a self-governing political and security entity since fracturing from Somalia in 1991, though it lacks broad global recognition. The federal government in Mogadishu continues to reject Somaliland’s independence claims, maintaining that any external diplomatic engagement with the territory directly violates Somalia’s territorial integrity.