By extending diplomatic recognition to the breakaway statelet of Somaliland, on December 26, 2025, Israel has cut a deal aimed at sharing intelligence and securing the strategic waterways of the Red Sea—making the country a player in the Horn of Africa, where Arab countries are jostling for influence…Somaliland, a semidesert territory inside internationally recognized Somali borders, lies just south of the vital Bab al-Mandab Strait that connects the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean…Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia during a civil war in 1991, is a self-declared nation of 6.2 million people—which, if it were a nation state, would be one of the poorest in the world. Its territory is smaller than Missouri.

Somaliland has an underused port and a long runway at Berbera… Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, operating in Yemen, called the recognition a “hostile and illegitimate act” targeting Somalia, Yemen and the Red Sea and warned that any Israeli presence in Somaliland would be considered a military target. Somaliland has in recent years been monitoring a Houthi buildup of arms trade and training to a Somali al Qaeda affiliate called al-Shabaab.

Excerpt from Benoit Faucon, Israel Flexes New Diplomatic Muscle in Recognition of Somaliland, WSJ, Jan. 4, 2025