{"id":449143,"date":"2026-03-31T12:14:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T10:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/03\/31\/somaliland-per-contrastare-gli-houti-filo-iraniani-israele-puo-estendere-il-fronte-del-conflitto\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T12:58:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T10:58:02","slug":"israel-may-widen-the-conflict-to-somaliland-to-counter-iran%e2%80%91aligned-houthis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/03\/31\/israel-may-widen-the-conflict-to-somaliland-to-counter-iran%e2%80%91aligned-houthis\/","title":{"rendered":"Israel may widen the conflict to Somaliland to counter Iran\u2011aligned Houthis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 The Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula: a war against Iran that threatens to engulf three regions, two continents, and three seas. Israel’s military strikes come after having moved quietly on the international stage in Africa. Somalia has never recognised Israel as an independent and sovereign state, and Tel Aviv took its revenge on 26 December 2025 by recognising Somaliland, a territory that has declared independendence from Somalia but which Somalia considers one of the country\u2019s federal republics.<\/strong>  It is not just about wanting to retaliate against Mogadishu, seen as too pro\u2011Palestinian, but also about the desire to gain ground on a continent where other powers are pulling the strings.<\/p>\n

Situated on the Gulf of Aden, at the gateway to the Red Sea and on the threshold of the Indian Ocean, Somaliland lies opposite Yemen, from where the Houthi rebels \u2013 Shi\u2019ites with close ties to Iran\u2019s Ayatollah regime and, as such, enemies of Israel \u2013 operate. Israel regards the secessionist territories of Somalia as its outpost in the fight against Yemeni terrorists <\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Somaliland, a territory that has declared independendence from Somalia, is shown in green<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n

Indeed, the Houthis have fired two missiles at Israel in recent days<\/a>, in the midst of a war that has spiralled out of control and could see a new front open up. Diplomatic relations between Israel and Somaliland are such that they have prompted the Jewish state to consider setting up military bases in the Horn of Africa<\/a><\/strong>, a prospect that has infuriated the states in the region and the African Union. However, EU military vessels engaged in the Aspides and Atalanta naval missions are also stationed and operating along the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea<\/a>, and the opening of a new military front risks having serious implications. Europe could, in essence, find itself drawn into a war it doesn’t want<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Israel has certainly embarked on a new policy of expanding its influence in Africa, raising the usual questions. The recognition of Somaliland \u2013 the first by a UN member state \u2013 is contributing to tensions with Somalia<\/strong>, in a region in which the EU nevertheless has strategic interests. Also, Egypt and Sudan are on alert<\/strong>: the two countries fear that the recognition of Somaliland could prompt Ethiopia to claim the waters of the Blue Nile for itself and manage the Ethiopian Grand Renaissance Dam without being accountable to anyone. In addition, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Egypt have begun coordinating<\/strong> to counter what they consider a destabilising “Axis of Secession.” These countries view secessionist movements as disruptive tools of geopolitical strategy in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa, and as a threat, and intend to counter them. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s moves in Africa thus add yet another player to a continent where diverse interests converge. China, Russia, the United States, France, and Turkey are among the many active players in Africa, including Iran, the Islamic Republic. On 10 March 2023, Tehran hosted the first Iran-West Africa economic summit<\/strong>, further evidence of the Ayatollahs\u2019 regime\u2019s growing influence on the continent. Iran\u2019s repositioning is also shaping Israel\u2019s, with the EU seemingly struggling to carve out a role for itself.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Tel Aviv government has recognised the Somali terrritory as an independent and sovereign state, and is considering setting up military bases from which to launch strikes in Yemen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":449106,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25707],"tags":[25890,28763,26928,33309,27569,26285,33613,33394],"class_list":["post-449143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-politics","tag-africa-en-2","tag-aspides-en","tag-atalanta","tag-iran-in-2","tag-mar-rosso-en","tag-somaliland","tag-ue"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449143"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":449144,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449143\/revisions\/449144"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}