New intelligence supports Sheba Intelligence’s earlier reporting on a Houthi training facility in the Golis Mountains and reveals how the conflict is expanding into Somaliland through military and cyber operations

New information obtained by Sheba Intelligence indicates that a U.S. airstrike on July 14 targeted a Houthi-operated training camp in the Golis Mountains near Odweyne, in Somaliland’s Togdheer region.

The development provides new field-level support for a June 26 Sheba Intelligence investigation that exposed the establishment of a Houthi training facility at the same location.

It also clarifies part of a July 15 Sheba Intelligence report revealing that unidentified aircraft had struck three suspected foreign-fighter training camps at separate sites within the Berbera–Hargeisa–Burao triangle.

According to the new information, at least one of those strikes hit the Houthi facility near Odweyne. The affiliations of the other two camps and whether all three attacks were carried out by the same force remain unclear.

U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) has not publicly acknowledged an operation in Odweyne. The attribution of the July 14 strike to U.S. aircraft therefore remains based on Sheba Intelligence sources pending official confirmation.

A Camp Previously Exposed by Sheba Intelligence

On June 26, Sheba Intelligence reported that the Houthis had been developing the Odweyne camp since April under the supervision of Hasan al-Kuhlani, assistant defense minister for logistics in the group’s unrecognized government.

According to intelligence sources, Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi appointed a special committee headed by al-Kuhlani to establish, equip and support the facility.

The camp reportedly hosted Yemeni fighters, Somali and other African recruits, foreign specialists, and personnel trained to operate missiles and drones. Sources also reported that components of ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles had been transferred to the area in separate shipments.

The facility was intended to provide the Houthis with alternative operational depth on the African side of the Gulf of Aden. Such a position could allow the group to retain access to Bab al-Mandab and regional shipping routes if its military infrastructure in Hodeidah and along Yemen’s western coast came under sustained attack.

The July 14 strike indicates that the Odweyne facility had moved beyond preliminary preparations and become sufficiently developed and operationally significant to be detected, monitored and targeted.

Houthi–Al-Shabaab Coordination Takes Physical Form

The camp was established within an environment where armed networks linked to al-Shabaab maintain access and influence, according to Sheba Intelligence sources.

The reported presence of Somali and other African fighters suggests that contacts between the Houthis and armed networks in the Horn of Africa may no longer be limited to overlapping interests in smuggling, weapons transfers and maritime routes.

The Odweyne facility points instead to emerging operational coordination involving recruitment, training, logistical support and access to territory.

These arrangements do not necessarily constitute a formal political or ideological alliance between the Houthis and al-Shabaab. However, they suggest that a relationship previously driven by mutual interests is increasingly taking physical form on the ground.

Previous Sheba Intelligence investigations documented expanding networks for moving fighters, weapons and military expertise between Yemen and the Horn of Africa. The reported camp offers potential infrastructure through which those networks could be converted into operational capabilities.

Houthi-Linked Cyberattack Targets Somaliland

The reported airstrike followed a cyberattack against Somaliland government websites earlier in July.

Hackers breached the official websites of Somaliland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Central Bank, replacing their homepages with political messages and images of senior Houthi figures, including military spokesman Yahya Saree.

The attackers identified themselves as the Islamic Cyber Resistance Axis, while the Foreign Ministry’s digital portal was temporarily taken offline. Publicly available information has not established whether the attackers accessed sensitive diplomatic or banking data.

A source told Sheba Intelligence that the hackers were connected to a cyber unit operating within the Houthi intelligence apparatus. The group itself avoided issuing an official statement claiming responsibility, relying instead on the identity and messaging displayed by the hacking group.

Sheba Intelligence has not independently verified the organizational connection through technical evidence. However, the imagery, political messages and selection of targets displayed a clear pro-Houthi signature.

The intrusion occurred amid expanding diplomatic and strategic cooperation between Somaliland and Israel. It also followed public Houthi threats to treat any Israeli military or intelligence presence on the African shore of the Gulf of Aden as a target.

The Conflict Moves Across the Gulf of Aden

The sequence of developments exposes a broader expansion of the Houthi confrontation beyond Yemen.

The establishment of the Odweyne camp represented an attempt to build an alternative military position on the African shore. The cyberattack demonstrated the use of digital tools to pressure Somaliland’s authorities, while the July 14 airstrike suggests that the reported Houthi infrastructure has now entered the calculations of international military operations in the Horn of Africa.

Taken together, the developments reinforce Sheba Intelligence’s earlier findings that Somaliland is no longer merely adjacent to Yemen’s conflict.

It is increasingly emerging as a contested arena where Houthi networks, Somali armed groups and regional and international security interests intersect around the Gulf of Aden, Bab al-Mandab and the Red Sea.

Sheba Intelligence has not independently verified the U.S. role in the July 14 strike or the hackers’ reported organizational connection to the Houthi intelligence apparatus. Neither AFRICOM nor Somaliland’s authorities had publicly confirmed the airstrike at the time of publication.