Iran recruited Somalia’s Al-Shabab to smuggle weapons to Houthis: Study
The US military says it has
carried out air raids against al-Shabab in Somalia, killing at least 34
suspected fighters, while another raid killed 28.
Iraqi political analyst Firas
Ilyas has conducted a study entitled “Iran and Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen
in Somalia, Exchange of Roles and Interests” to clarify how Iran is using the
Horn of Africa to smuggle weapons to the Houthi militias in Yemen.
According to the study, the
relation between Iran and armed organizations and groups, with their various
ideological and sectarian shades, has formed a general strategy that Iran has
been following since 1979 for the supreme interests and aspirations of Iran to
take control over the region and tamper
with the international scale of powers.
The study further pointed out that Iran’s ambitions in the region
extended far than mere sponsorship to certain active and armed movements like
the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Muslim Brotherhood. Iran’s support to armed
groups has been also including other movements that are labelled as “an enemy,’
to achieve mutual security interests.
Founded in 2004, Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen, more commonly known
as al-Shabaab, is a jihadist fundamentalist group based in East Africa. In
2012, it pledged allegiance to the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda.
Al-Shabab was founded at a time when Somalia was mired in a civil war
that had already been raging for about 15 years.
Ilyas also shed the light on a
number of points of ideological similarities between the father of Salafi
jihadism Sayyid Qutb and the revolution that was led by Ali Khamenei and the
methods of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps. These similarities are what allowed
the Iranian regime to take advantage of Al-Shabab movement within its regional
strategies to achieve its political schemes.
The author of the study revealed
that Iran exists in countries of the Horn of Africa, especially in Eretria and
Djibouti, to hinder any roles by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or Israel there,
in addition to other countries like Tanzania and Comoros; and the Turkish
influence in Mogadishu as well. In addition, Iran seeks to create some sort of
balance with Israel, which has been supporting Ethiopia, by providing support
to Eritrea, while using it for security and intelligence purposes.
Moreover, Iran is using these
countries as transit points to smuggle arms, military equipment and aid to the
Houthi rebels group in Yemen through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Eden.
The Iranian regime has also been supporting Al-Shabab movement to keep
on threatening the international maritime navigation to force the United States
to move part of its marine fleet in Strait of Hormuz to secure these areas. It
also smuggles weapons to the Islamic
Jihad Movement and Sabireen in Palestine, after Egypt closed down most of the
border crossings with Gaza.
The study also affirms that after the UN banned exports of Somali
charcoal in 2012, Iran dedicated its ships to export banned cargos under the
Iranian flag, in exchange, the movement smuggles uranium to Iran for its
nuclear activities. As the movement is considered one of the biggest uranium
suppliers to Tehran.
Iran’s policies in Africa has been growing its influence in the region
since the 1990s, that matter which paved the way for establishing connections
with many armed groups in countries of conflicts.
Iran is sponsoring many armed
groups and militias in the Middle East, the matter that affirms that the defeat
of the Houthi militias is considered a hard slap on Khamenei’s face.