In a region crucial to global trade, ideological rivals may now be working together. United Nations and American intelligence reports suggest that Yemen’s Houthi insurgents and the Somali group Al-Shabaab — considered Al-Qaeda’s strongest affiliate — are exchanging logistical and military resources, despite having no formal alliance.
These reported exchanges involve military technology, potentially expanding Al-Shabaab’s operational reach beyond Somalia and further destabilizing an already fragile region.