Somali Terror Group Consolidates Power, Builds Ties to Houthis
Al-Shabaab’s gains have come as a 13,000-strong African Union peacekeeping force has gone without funding since January.
Photographer: Mohamed Abdiwahab/AFP/Getty Images
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Terrorist group al-Shabaab is expanding territory across Somalia and increasingly working with Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen to disrupt Red Sea trade, in a stunning revival of an insurgency that the US has spent billions of dollars fighting.
The two groups’ growing links — including training and weapons smuggling — come as al-Shabaab has seized several military bases and key arteries leading toward the capital, Mogadishu, according to three western officials. Last month, it almost killed Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.