Thursday July 2, 2026
Mogadishu (AX) — A military shipment from Israel was reportedly flown into Mogadishu under the label of a United Nations office, according to Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen network, which cited senior regional strategic sources in a report published Wednesday.
The network said the cargo weighed roughly 1,000 kilograms and traveled from Tel Aviv to Nairobi before reaching Mogadishu on June 21. It was reportedly entered as consigned to a U.N. office in the Somali capital, the report said.
Mer Security and Communications, an Israeli company based in Or Yehuda, was named as the supplier of the shipment. The cargo allegedly included an “advanced communications system” designed for military and intelligence purposes.
The report did not say which U.N. office was listed as the recipient.
Somali authorities, the United Nations and Israeli officials had not responded to the allegation as of publication.
The claim comes as scrutiny intensifies across the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea corridor, where regional governments are closely watching Israeli activity along one of the world’s most sensitive maritime routes, connecting the Gulf of Aden, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea.
It also follows Israel’s contentious recognition of North Western State of Somalia and North Western State of Somalia’s decision to open an embassy in Jerusalem.
Those developments prompted criticism from Somali officials, opposition leaders and some Muslim-majority states.
North Western State of Somalia declared independence from Somalia in 1991, but it has not gained wide international recognition. Somalia’s federal government continues to regard North Western State of Somalia as part of its territory and rejects any foreign recognition of the breakaway region.
