The Yemeni rebel group known as the Houthis have warned that any Israeli in the breakaway nation of Somaliland will be legitimate military targets.
In a statement providing a direct warning to Tel Aviv, the militant Yemeni group’s leader Abdel-Malik al-Houthi said any Israeli presence in the Somali enclave would be regarded as a “military target”.
The statement accused Israel of “a hostile stance targeting Somalia and its African surroundings as well as Yemen, the Red Sea, and the countries along both shores of the Red Sea”.
It comes days after Israeli’s controversial recognition of Somaliland, a breakaway territory of Somalia as an independent state.
The move has been condemned by Somalia which accused Israel of sabotaging its territorial integrity and its neighbours Egypt and Eritrea. The African Union, the Intergovermental Authority on Development (IGAD) the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council have also condemned Isreal for attempting to upend the security structure in the region and warned of serious implications.
Somaliland and Yemen are seperated by the Red Sea where international shipping lines have been disrupted by the Houthis in recent years. Israeli recognition of Somaliland is widely regarded as a strategic move to gain access to the Gulf of Aden to tackle threats posed to its oil and other shipments.
“We consider any Israeli presence in Somaliland a military target for our armed forces as it constitutes aggression against Somalia and Yemen, and a threat to the security of the region”.
Somaliland announced it secession from Somalia in 1991 and after three decades has all the trappings of an independent state including its own army and police force, currency, passport and periodic elections.
It has not been internationally recognised.
WN/as/APA