Hawzah News Agency- At first glance, the establishment of formal ties between the Israeli regime and Somaliland may appear to be an improbable and insignificant development—after all, this is a territory that even the United Nations does not recognize as an independent state. However, to dismiss this as an ordinary diplomatic overture would be to miss the central piece of a much larger puzzle. Tel Aviv has never engaged any region purely on political or economic considerations. Every foreign entanglement pursued by this regime constitutes a piece of a broader security and geopolitical puzzle, and Somaliland is no exception. The critical question is this: What does the Israeli regime stand to gain from cozying up to this territory?
To answer that, one must first understand what Somaliland actually is.
Somaliland: The Country That Exists, Yet Does Not Exist
Following the collapse of Mohamed Siad Barre's government in 1991, Somalia's central state disintegrated, plunging the nation into civil war. Amid the chaos, the northwestern region—a former British colonial possession—unilaterally declared independence, adopting the name the Republic of Somaliland. Since that moment, Somaliland has constructed every feature of a functioning state: an elected government, a parliament, an army, a police force, passports, a national currency, an administrative apparatus, and even relatively regular elections. And yet, not a single UN member state, nor even the African Union, has recognized it as an independent country, continuing to view it as part of Somali territory. This paradoxical status—effectively self-governing yet legally non-existent—has turned Somaliland into fertile ground for foreign power competition.
Bab el-Mandeb: The Chokepoint That Drew Israel to Somaliland
To grasp the Israeli regime's motives, one need only consult a map rather than the headlines. Somaliland sits on the coast of the Gulf of Aden, mere hundreds of kilometers from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait—the critical chokepoint connecting the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean and one of the world's most vital arteries for trade and energy transit. This waterway provides Israel's access route to the port of Eilat and stands as one of the most strategically significant maritime corridors on earth. Any insecurity within it directly impacts the security and economy of the Zionist regime.
Following Operation Al-Aqsa Storm and Yemen's Ansarullah attacks on Israeli-linked vessels, Bab el-Mandeb was transformed from a commercial passageway into a key theater of confrontation between the Axis of Resistance and Tel Aviv. This shift radically altered Israel's strategic calculus regarding the Horn of Africa's coastline. Within this framework, Israeli security think tanks have assessed Somaliland—owing to its proximity to Yemen and its privileged geographic position—as an ideal candidate for boosting intelligence supremacy, logistical support, and surveillance operations over Red Sea developments.
When these analyses are paired with published reports of Tel Aviv's interest in the port of Berbera, a clearer picture emerges: the Israeli regime is pursuing the same playbook that saw it expand its strategic depth in the northern reaches of the region over recent years, now seeking to consolidate a foothold at West Asia's southernmost geopolitical chokepoint. From this vantage point, Somaliland is not merely an autonomous region for Israel; it can serve as a platform for extending security influence over Bab el-Mandeb and as part of a broader strategy to contain the Axis of Resistance in the Red Sea.
Are Israel's Objectives Purely Security-Driven?
The answer is a resounding no. The Israeli regime has always exploited political dossiers to achieve its security objectives. For Somaliland's leaders, formal recognition represents an immense prize, one they have been chasing for decades. In return, Tel Aviv can demand a range of concessions—from intelligence and security cooperation to access to ports, training of security forces, and expanded influence across the Horn of Africa.
Furthermore, some Hebrew-language media outlets have floated the idea of transferring segments of Gaza's Palestinian population to Somaliland. While this scheme has not been implemented or officially confirmed, the mere fact of its discussion reveals that certain Israeli circles view Somaliland as far more than a security partner, eyeing it as part of long-term regional engineering projects.
From Baku to Damascus, and From Damascus to Bab el-Mandeb: Is Israel Completing a Pressure Belt Around the Axis of Resistance?
When regional developments are viewed collectively, Somaliland is no longer an isolated file but rather a link in the chain of Israel's geopolitical reconfiguration across West Asia and the Horn of Africa. In recent years, the Zionist regime and the United States have sought to weaken or eliminate key rings of the Axis of Resistance, constrain the Islamic Republic of Iran's strategic depth, and tilt the regional balance in their favor.
The shift in the balance of power in Syria, the expansion of security cooperation with the Republic of Azerbaijan to Iran's north, and now the push to cement a presence on the strategic coastline of Somaliland—each an independent file in its own right—together paint the picture of a larger grand strategy. Its objective: to increase Israel's intelligence and security supremacy, apply pressure on the Axis of Resistance, and dominate critical chokepoints stretching from the Caucasus to Bab el-Mandeb. Within this framework, Somaliland is not simply an autonomous territory in the Horn of Africa; it is a potential key piece of Israel's security puzzle on the periphery of the Islamic Republic of Iran and its regional allies.
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