Israel announced late last year that it would recognize Somaliland as an independent state, immediately sparking anger in Somalia and condemnation across Africa and the Middle East.
Criticism of the move included a warning from Yemen’s Houthis, whose leader Abdelmalik al-Houthi described it as a “hostile posture” and said Israel’s presence in Somaliland would be treated as a military target.
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Those concerns were reinforced this month when Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar visited Somaliland and included the strategic port city of Berbera on his itinerary.
In a reading after his visit, he said security cooperation was on the agenda.
Somaliland officials have since indicated they are open to the possibility of an Israeli military presence in the territory, which would put the group directly across the Gulf of Aden from the Houthis, vindicating the group’s concerns.
This week, al-Houthi said he was “serious” about his earlier threats, adding: “We will not hesitate to target any entrenched Zionist presence that we have access to.”
conflict between Israel and the Houthis
Experts say Israel’s recognition of Somaliland is part of a broader shift in policy from covert engagement between states to fostering relationships with alternative actors in the wake of the country’s long-running conflict with Iran and its regional allies.
When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the move on December 26, he noted the intelligence aspect of the involvement and publicly thanked Mossad Director David Balnea.
Experts say the timing reflects Israel’s growing concern about the Houthi threat in the southern Red Sea region.
During the genocidal war in Gaza, Israel has engaged in gun battles with the Houthis, who have claimed to be in solidarity with the Palestinians and launched missiles and drones from northern Yemen, as well as targeting Israeli-linked ships in the Red Sea.
“Anyone can look at a map and understand what Israel wants here,” Shiri Fein-Grossman, CEO of the Institute for Israel-Africa Relations and a former member of Israel’s National Security Council, recently told Israeli media outlet i24 News.
“Recognition of Somaliland gives Israel a strategic location close to Yemen’s Houthis and comes at a time when Israel needs as many friends as possible.”
Berbera, a city on the coast of the Gulf of Aden at the entrance to the Red Sea in Somaliland, is attracting a lot of attention. Berbera has historically hosted the Ottoman Empire, the Soviet Union during Somalia’s pro-Moscow Cold War alliance, the United States, and, since 2017, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The port is located along one of the world’s busiest shipping routes, across the Gulf of Aden in the Red Sea, about 500 kilometers (300 miles) from Yemen’s Houthi-held territory.
An assessment published by Israel’s National Security Institute in November said the Somaliland territory could serve as a “base for multiple missions, including intelligence and surveillance of the Houthis and their military activities, providing logistical support to Yemen’s legitimate government in its war against the Houthis, and a platform for direct operations against the Houthis.”
Over the past two years, Israeli airstrikes in Yemen have damaged key economic and civilian infrastructure and killed Houthi leaders, but anonymous Israeli officials told The Jerusalem Post that the group remains largely undeterred.
This has prompted calls for a complete review of Israel’s military and security principles, including from the Israeli military’s Dado Center for Interdisciplinary Military Research, citing significant changes in the “characteristics of Israel’s security environment.”
Max Webb, an independent Horn of Africa analyst, told Al Jazeera: “This context has put Somaliland in full force.” “The Houthis are now the largest Iranian proxy that poses a direct threat to Israel,” he said, citing the weakening of Hezbollah in Lebanon and the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria.
“Israel has never been attacked by the Houthis before. This is a new development. So it is not surprising that Israel is willing to work with new actors to counter the Houthi threat,” Webb said.
Asher Lubotsky, a senior fellow at the Institute for Israel-African Relations, an Israeli think tank, told Al Jazeera that while Israeli forces have proven they can attack distant targets, their overall performance against the Houthis was “below the mark” despite launching the longest-range attack Israel has ever carried out.
Meanwhile, the Houthis have threatened to attack Israel’s presence in Somaliland, a move that Somaliland’s former intelligence chief Mostafa Hassan said was tantamount to a declaration of war.
Lubotsky said Somaliland was at great risk, and a November report from an Israeli think tank suggested that other countries take the lead in recognizing Somaliland to reduce the potential impact on both Hargeisa and Israel. “But they wanted recognition and thought it was worth it,” he says.
“Most of the countries that are extremely angry with Israel over this have been angry with Israel before,” he added.
“Both sides have little to lose diplomatically,” Webb said.
“Israel is more isolated than ever and Somaliland is unrecognized. Israel can weather this heat and Somaliland can make a breakthrough.”
“A state of necessity”
For Somaliland, Israel’s diplomatic lifeline has reached a similar moment of vulnerability.
In 2023, the region suffered a major military setback, losing the eastern city of Ras Anod and its surrounding area to anti-separatist forces, and Somali Prime Minister Hamza Barre also visited the city in April last year. A new government based on Somalia’s federal system has been inaugurated.
Several senior Somali ministers have arrived in the city this week, and the president is also scheduled to visit over the weekend.
Somalia’s federal government has also increased pressure over the last year through airspace controls, visa restrictions and port regulations.
Sources close to the Somaliland government told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity that the move created a sense of insecurity in Hargeisa and made the need for action more urgent.
“We are in a situation where we need official international recognition,” Hersi Ali Haji Hassan, leader of the ruling Wadani Party, told Al Jazeera Mubashar, adding: “We have no choice but to welcome countries that recognize our right to exist.”
In mid-2025, Somaliland’s Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi government sent a letter to 193 heads of state offering strategic access and cooperation in exchange for diplomatic recognition. The president, known locally as Ciro, said last week that only Israel had responded.
Although the initiative did not bring immediate public progress, Somaliland has won the support of prominent US Republicans in recent years, including Ted Cruz and Scott Perry, and appeared in Project 2025, a document closely aligned with the support base of President Donald Trump, who is seen as guiding the policy.
President Trump has distanced himself from recognizing Somaliland, telling the New York Post that he is unlikely to follow Israel’s lead. However, he said the issue was “under consideration”.
Meanwhile, US Ambassador Tammy Bruce did not condemn Israel’s recognition of Somaliland at the UN Security Council last year, although she maintained that US policy had not changed. The State Department told Al Jazeera it had no role in Israel’s decision to recognize Somaliland.
Somaliland: “Where interests intersect”
Most people in Somaliland appear to support the deal with Israel.
Meanwhile, many of the country’s supporters welcome the country’s position as a potential ally of the West, nurturing ties with Taiwan and deciding to build ties with Israel, while countering regional and global rivals including China, Iran, and a network of regional allies.
“Somaliland has tried to present itself as a place where these interests intersect,” said Jethro Norman, a Somalia expert at the Danish Institute of International Affairs. “In a more transactional global environment, geography becomes more important.”
Mostafa Hassan, Somaliland’s former intelligence chief, told the Jerusalem Center for Security and Diplomacy that Somaliland would protect Israeli and Western interests once recognized.
Former Israeli diplomat Alon Riel told Al Jazeera that Israel’s goals are much larger than simply securing a position to attack Yemen.
“The relationship with Somaliland shows that Israel is prepared for further international challenges and is looking for friends like Somaliland that it can leverage with strategic added value,” Riel said.
He also added that Israel wants to show that despite the fallout from the two-year war in Gaza, it can still win new allies.
Somaliland’s president recently formally accepted Prime Minister Netanyahu’s invitation to visit Israel, during which an embassy is likely to be opened.
Analysts say the relationship is still new and its trajectory uncertain, and both Somaliland and Israel will assess the impact and potential opportunities of the announcement.
After Saar’s visit to Hargeisa this month, Somaliland’s Foreign Minister Abdirahman Dahir Adamu expressed hope to X that the visit marked “the beginning of a promising partnership,” and Saar said Israel was determined to “move the relationship strongly forward.”
Meanwhile, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud appealed to Somaliland’s leaders to reconsider the talks, stressing that broader recognition of independence can only be achieved through negotiations with Mogadishu, and demonstrating commitment to Somaliland’s core demands.
“It would be easy for the federal government to do whatever it can to bring unity,” he said in a national address.
Farhan Isak Yusuf, deputy director of the Mogadishu-based think tank Somali Public Agenda, said talks between the two countries are unlikely at this point as Somaliland’s leaders feel emboldened and vindicated by the diplomatic breakthrough.
He added: “Mogadishu should not take escalatory steps now, as it risks further cornering Somaliland’s leaders and giving them reason to separate.”
