Somalia: Al-Shabaab and Houthis expand military partnership, WSJ reports
MOGADISHU, Somalia — An increasingly sophisticated alliance between Somalia’s Al-Shabaab and Yemen’s Houthi movement is reportedly driving weapons transfers, militant training and cooperation on drone technology, according to an investigative report by The Wall Street Journal.
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At the center of the relationship was Jibril Yahya Ali, a Somali national better known as “Gacaamey.” The longtime intermediary allegedly acquired military-grade weapons from the Houthis and arranged their delivery to Al-Shabaab.
Jibril, 38, was killed on Feb. 12 by a missile strike near Al-Ghaydah in eastern Yemen as he travelled along the coast with his new wife.
Two American sources cited by the WSJ said the United States conducted the strike. U.S. Central Command, however, said the incident was not a military operation, and the CIA did not confirm or deny involvement.
Jibril had studied veterinary medicine in Yemen and ran a charity, a foreign-exchange business and an import-export company in Mogadishu.
The report said the Houthis provided him with a furnished apartment in Sanaa as well as a Yemeni passport issued under an assumed identity. He also attended official events hosted by the movement.
Yemen’s Counter-Terrorism Service described Jibril in an internal assessment as a central figure in deepening Houthi-Al-Shabaab ties, especially in the movement of weapons, military equipment and technical knowledge.
Although Al-Shabaab and the Houthis emerged from religious traditions that have historically opposed one another, Somali, American and Yemeni officials told the WSJ that shared hostility toward the United States and Israel has helped bring the groups together.
The arrangement serves distinct interests on both sides. Al-Shabaab has substantial financial resources but wants more advanced weapons and specialist training. The Houthis have missiles, drones and technical capabilities, while seeking money and a wider operational footprint along the southern shore of the Gulf of Aden.
In 2024, Al-Shabaab reportedly sent Sheikh Ahmed Elmi Samatar to Yemen carrying a list of requested equipment that included shoulder-fired antiaircraft missiles, Katyusha rockets, sniper rifles, attack drones, antitank missiles and night-vision devices.
Yemeni authorities detained Samatar in January 2025. He was subsequently freed in a prisoner exchange involving the Houthis and returned to Somalia, leaving Jibril to represent Al-Shabaab’s interests in Yemen.
Al-Shabaab named a successor after Jibril’s death, indicating that the relationship between the two organizations remains ongoing, according to Matt Bryden, a former United Nations expert who tracked arms flows into Somalia.
The weapons are said to be hidden behind front companies and moved through Yemeni ports. Speedboats and fishing vessels then carry the shipments across the Gulf of Aden, with the cargo unloaded along lightly monitored stretches of Somalia’s northern coast before being transported overland to Al-Shabaab units in the south.
In April 2025, U.S. forces destroyed two unflagged vessels travelling from Yemen toward Somali waters. U.S. Africa Command said the boats were transporting advanced conventional weapons.
It is not known which of the weapons requested by Al-Shabaab have actually arrived in Somalia. Somali and U.S. officials are especially concerned that the group could obtain attack drones or missiles capable of targeting military bases.
The WSJ further reported that at least 100 Al-Shabaab fighters had travelled to Yemen for instruction in bomb-making, antiaircraft tactics and drone assembly.
One contingent reportedly spent three months this year in Yemen’s Sa’dah region. Houthi trainers have also travelled to Somalia to instruct Al-Shabaab militants.
In June, a four-member Houthi delegation travelled by boat from Yemen and continued to Jilib, Al-Shabaab’s principal stronghold in southern Somalia. The delegation reportedly discussed joint efforts to counter Israeli activities in Berbera and pledged to provide the group with more advanced weapons and training.
The Houthis are concerned that Israel might use Berbera as a platform to monitor or attack Yemen. Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi recently warned that any Israeli presence established in North Western State of Somalia would be targeted.
A U.S. intelligence assessment estimates that Al-Shabaab generates at least $100 million each year through extortion, compulsory taxation and roadside checkpoints. Those revenues give the group the means to pay for weapons and training supplied by the Houthis.
The Houthis, for their part, are seeking a position in Somalia from which they could observe commercial shipping moving through the Gulf of Aden and the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
Gen. Dagvin Anderson, commander of U.S. forces in Africa, told the WSJ that the partnership presents a threat beyond Somalia and Yemen, with potential implications for one of the world’s most important trade and energy routes.
The Houthis did not answer the newspaper’s questions about their ties to Al-Shabaab. The specific weapons transferred to the Somali group, as well as the full scope of any planned operations, have not been independently verified.
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