{"id":24532,"date":"2026-03-05T10:39:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T10:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/?p=24532"},"modified":"2026-03-05T10:39:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T10:39:16","slug":"israel-and-somaliland-size-matters-so-does-location","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/05\/israel-and-somaliland-size-matters-so-does-location\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel and Somaliland: Size Matters… So Does Location"},"content":{"rendered":"

Israel’s initiative in recognizing Somaliland potentially raises the level of threat from the Houthis, an Iranian-supported terrorist militia that occupies most of northern Yemen. Somaliland is located directly across from Yemen. The Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah (“Friends of Allah”), have proven their durability by having survived many US and Israeli airstrikes. If Somaliland allows Israel or the US to construct air and naval facilities on its Red Sea coast, the prevalence of terrorism throughout the Middle East — including Houthi aggression against oil and gas shipping could enjoy a welcome revision.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The November 2025 visit to Somaliland by US Africa Command head General Dagvin Anderson suggests that Washington is also fed up with Houthi terrorist operations. Possible future joint US-Somaliland military projects could include an upgrade to the Red Sea deep port of Berbera.<\/em><\/p>\n

Most of the outrage by international organizations and regional institutions consists of the typical virtue signaling. The opposition to the recognition of Somaliland by the African Union may reflect concern that Israel’s initiative has set an impertinent international diplomatic precedent.<\/em><\/p>\n

By contrast, some pro-Western African states, such as Ethiopia and Kenya, could actually benefit from increased regional security. Ethiopia, a landlocked northeast African state, might explore the possibility of lobbying the government to construct a canal across Somaliland allow Ethiopia access to Red Sea shipping lanes.<\/em><\/p>\n

Currently, Ethiopia, like Israel itself, is surrounded by hostile Islamic countries. In Ethiopia’s case, it is bounded by Eritrea and Somalia. By allying with Somaliland, Ethiopia would give its majority Christian people an opportunity to end their cultural isolation.<\/em><\/p>\n

Kenya’s national sovereignty is also under threat by Islamic terrorist penetration of its national borders, and the country’s pro-Western orientation is already highlighted by its participation in US-sponsored counterterrorist operations against Al Shabaab.<\/em><\/p>\n

Israel’s December 2025 diplomatic\u00a0recognition<\/a>\u00a0of Somaliland as an independent state may indicate significant improvements in Middle East security.<\/em><\/p>\n

Somaliland, which originally\u00a0seceded<\/a>\u00a0from Somalia in 1991, had not been granted diplomatic status by any other member of the United Nations prior to Israel’s recognition.<\/em><\/p>\n

Israel’s initiative in recognizing Somaliland potentially raises the level of threat from the Houthis, an Iranian-supported terrorist militia that\u00a0occupies<\/a>\u00a0most of northern Yemen. Somaliland is\u00a0located<\/a>\u00a0directly across from Yemen. The Houthis, also known as\u00a0Ansar Allah<\/a>\u00a0(“Friends of Allah”), have proven their durability by having survived many US and Israeli airstrikes. If Somaliland allows Israel or the US to construct air and naval facilities on its Red Sea coast, the prevalence of terrorism throughout the Middle East — including Houthi aggression against oil and gas shipping — could enjoy a welcome\u00a0revision<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

It is certain that any resumption of Houthi drone and\u00a0missile attacks<\/a>\u00a0on Israel will invite punishing retaliatory IDF attacks from any future Somaliland-based launch sites.<\/em><\/p>\n

The November 2025 visit to Somaliland by\u00a0US Africa Command<\/a>\u00a0head General Dagvin Anderson suggests that Washington is also fed up with Houthi terrorist operations. Possible future joint US-Somaliland military projects could include an upgrade to the Red Sea deep port of\u00a0Berbera<\/a>. Anderson also toured the Red Sea\u00a0port of Boasso<\/a>\u00a0in neighboring Somalia’s autonomous state of Puntland.<\/em><\/p>\n

High-level American and Israeli diplomatic and military interests appear to indicate a joint commitment to protect the region, as well as its vital commercial checkpoints, such as the Strait of\u00a0Bab al-Mandeb<\/a>, a chokepoint at the mouth of the Red Sea, separating Africa and Asia.<\/em><\/p>\n

Israel’s diplomatic initiative in recognizing Somaliland independence elicited the expected negative criticism. In Somalia, the most offended party, the\u00a0response<\/a>\u00a0has been mostly rhetorical. Somalia has long sought to deny the legitimacy of Somaliland’s secession.<\/em><\/p>\n

Somalia’s indignation will most likely not move beyond rhetoric. Somalia is already under threat from the Islamic terrorist network,\u00a0al-Shabaab<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Most of the outrage by international organizations and regional institutions consists of the typical virtue signaling. The\u00a0opposition<\/a>\u00a0to the recognition of Somaliland by the African Union may reflect concern that Israel’s initiative has set an impertinent international diplomatic precedent.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Israeli initiative is particularly irksome to African countries that are merely\u00a0colonial constructs<\/a>\u00a0of ethnically diverse societies, which may feel threatened by the rise of irredentist violence within their own societies.<\/em><\/p>\n

By contrast, some pro-Western African states, such as Ethiopia and Kenya, could actually benefit from increased regional security. Ethiopia, a landlocked northeast African state, might explore the possibility of lobbying the government to\u00a0construct a canal<\/a>\u00a0across Somaliland allow Ethiopia access to Red Sea shipping lanes.<\/em><\/p>\n

Currently, Ethiopia, like Israel itself, is surrounded by hostile Islamic countries. In Ethiopia’s case, it is bounded by\u00a0Eritrea and Somalia<\/a>. By allying with Somaliland, Ethiopia would give its majority Christian people an opportunity to end their cultural isolation.<\/em><\/p>\n

Kenya’s national sovereignty is also under threat by Islamic terrorist penetration of its national borders, and the country’s pro-Western orientation is already highlighted by its\u00a0participation<\/a>\u00a0in US-sponsored counterterrorist operations against Al Shabaab.<\/em><\/p>\n

Israel’s search for regional allies such as Somaliland serves as a hedge against any sudden dissolution of the\u00a0Abraham Accords<\/a>, a fate not improbable in the Middle East’s mercurial environment. Israel’s “small state alliance” model offers it an alternative to its “eternal alliance” with the US, as there may exist instances where Washington and Jerusalem’s national interests do not fully coincide.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0egretnewseditor@gmail.com\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Israel’s initiative in recognizing Somaliland potentially raises the level of threat from the Houthis, an Iranian-supported terrorist militia that occupies most of northern Yemen. Somaliland is located directly across from Yemen. The Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah (“Friends of Allah”), have proven their durability by having survived many US and Israeli airstrikes. If Somaliland<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47471,"featured_media":24533,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[198,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-slider","category-top-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47471"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24532"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24534,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24532\/revisions\/24534"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/egretnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}