EXCLUSIVE | Intelligence Sources: Recent Red Sea and Gulf of Aden Attacks Carried Out Through Houthi–Al-Shabaab Operational Coordination

    Intelligence sources have told Sheba Intelligence that several recent maritime attacks targeting vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden were conducted through operational coordination between Yemen’s Houthi movement and Somalia’s Al-Shabaab, indicating that cooperation between the two groups has entered an active operational phase.

According to the sources, intelligence monitoring detected direct communications between senior Houthi operatives and Al-Shabaab through an external intelligence coordination station responsible for managing Houthi activities outside Yemen. The contacts reportedly focused on planning maritime operations, selecting targets, and assigning operational responsibilities between both sides.

The sources said the Houthis have begun employing an operational maritime network that had previously been organized and prepared to monitor vessels linked to Saudi Arabia, track commercial shipping movements across the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, provide targeting intelligence to operational units, and participate in attacks against both commercial and military vessels.

According to the sources, this operational model relies on a combination of attack capabilities, including armed drones, guided missiles, naval mines, explosive-laden boats, unmanned surface vessels (USVs) carrying explosives, and other maritime strike assets deployed according to the nature of each mission and target.

The sources further stated that the network’s operational objective is to establish a parallel maritime front along the African coast opposite the Bab al-Mandab Strait, operating in coordination with attacks launched from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen. Such an arrangement would expand the geographic scope of the maritime threat, increase pressure on international shipping lanes, and complicate surveillance, attribution, and interdiction efforts by international naval forces operating in the region.

Sheba Intelligence has obtained additional information regarding the structure of the network, its command architecture, and the recent maritime operations believed to have been conducted through it. These findings will be presented in a forthcoming investigative report.