Report: Houthis Established Training Camp In Somaliland
On June 27, 2026, the Aden-based daily Al-Ayyam published an article claiming that Yemen’s Iran-backed Ansar Allah movement (the Houthis) has established a training camp in the Togdheer region of the Somaliland breakaway state.[1]
Based on an “exclusive” report published the previous day by the UK-based Sheba Intelligence,[2] the article said that Houthi leader ‘Abdul-Malik Badreddin Al-Houthi tasked a special committee, headed by assistant defense minister for logistics Ahsan Al-Kuhlani, with establishing the camp. The committee reportedly transferred Somalis and other Africans who had trained at Houthi-run camps, as well as Yemeni fighters and foreign experts, to Somaliland. Since April, Al-Kuhlani has allegedly gathered “large numbers” of fighters at a camp in a mountainous area with dense tree growth, located near Odweyne in the Golis Mountains.
Citing an “exclusive” report published the previous day by the UK-based Sheba Intelligence, the article Houthi leader ‘Abdul-Malik Badreddin Al-Houthi had tasked a special committee, headed by assistant defense minister for logistics Ahsan Al-Kuhlani, with establishing the camp.
Sheba’s sources claimed that among those sent to the camp were experts in operating drones and missiles and that the Houthis had transported parts of ballistic missiles and drones to the area in separate shipments. According to the report, the camp’s main purpose is to give the Houthis an “alternative operational depth” on the African side of the Gulf of Aden, so the group can maintain pressure on Bab-el-Mandeb and the Gulf of Aden in case its military sites on Yemen’s western coast are attacked.
Sheba Intelligence further noted that it had received information that forces of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)-backed Southern Transitional Council had opened their own training camp in Somaliland and that over 150 fighters from the Shabwah and Hadramaut Elite Forces had recently arrived at the camp. The UK-based intelligence group stressed that it was unable to “independently verify all field details related to the exact locations of the camps or the nature of the reported weapons transfers.”
The Somali Memo website, linked to Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Somalia, Harakat Al-Shabab Al-Mujahideen (Al-Shabab), published a Somali-language article based on the Al-Ayyam report on June 29. Noting that Israel and Somaliland recently signed security agreements that “threaten the region,” the Somali Memo article claimed that “it has been confirmed that the Jewish state has established a military base inside Somaliland.”[3]
Following Israel’s recognition of Somaliland’s independence in December 2025, the Houthi leader declared that his group would view any Israeli presence in the breakaway state as a legitimate target.[4] Al-Houthi repeated similar threats in a June 25 speech.[5]
An anti-Houthi Yemeni outlet claimed in April 2025 that the Iran-backed group was recruiting migrants from the Horn of Africa as fighters.[6]