For more than a decade, the Houthis have inflicted immense suffering on Yemen and sown instability across the Middle East. Since taking control of the country’s north in 2014, the Iranian-backed rebels have deprived large segments of the population of basic services, launched projectiles into neighbouring countries and turned the Bab Al Mandeb strait into one of the world’s most dangerous shipping lanes.
Now, a report from the Century Foundation, a US-based non-partisan think tank, details how the group’s nefarious ambitions have extended far beyond the region’s shores. This should concentrate minds in the western, Middle Eastern and African capitals.
The report details how the Houthis have been building smuggling and training networks that stretch across the Red Sea into the Horn of Africa and Sudan, as they deepen ties with Al Shabab, a terrorist group in Somalia, and the Sudanese Armed Forces.
These connections are largely transactional – at least for now. But as the report warns, they can develop into something considerably more durable. The potential consequences of this happening are serious.
Al Shabab, a group with links to Al Qaeda, has sought Houthi assistance in acquiring anti-aircraft weapons and drones to counter aerial attacks. While advanced weaponry hasn’t appeared in Somali battlefields, such a possibility could be a matter of when – not if. Several Al Shabab operatives have either been killed or arrested in Yemen, one of whom confessed to organising training camps with Houthi fighters.
The Houthis’ relationship with the SAF is comparatively more advanced, with the Yemeni group having arranged shipments of small arms and light weapons on Tehran’s behalf since 2024. Sudan’s state-owned Military Industrial Corporation, with close ties to the SAF, has developed an attack drone that resembles an Iranian model. Houthi engineers and operatives have also trained SAF personnel alongside Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
What’s more, there are indications of Houthi activity in Eritrea – where they are seeking to create a logistical network along the African coast of the Red Sea. This means a Houthi-linked logistics corridor running from northern Sudan to the Horn of Africa could knit together three conflicts – Sudan’s civil war, the insurgency in Somalia and the Red Sea shipping crisis.
Not only would this arrangement end up putting greater firepower into the hands of Al Shabab fighters, enabling them to launch even deadlier attacks than they previously have, but it could also provide the Iranian regime with new sources of influence at a time when it is waging a protracted and debilitating war against the US.
The Houthis resumed attacks on Red Sea shipping just weeks ago, ending a year-long pause. Allowing the group’s networks to entrench further in Africa would be a strategic failure with consequences that extend far beyond the Yemen’s borders. For Yemen itself, this external focus distracts from the rebels’ failure to govern, leaving millions of their countrymen unpaid, under-fed and repressed.
But containing the Houthis within that country’s borders won’t be enough. The international community will need to exert co-ordinated pressure on smuggling routes, ensure tighter scrutiny of dual-use technology transfers and renew diplomatic efforts to isolate the group’s external patrons. Failing to do so has already had severe consequences, and even more detrimental outcomes for Yemen and the Horn of Africa may be ahead.
