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Inside Somaliland: The Israel-Turkey clash coming to the Horn of Africa Submitted by Sean Mathews on Wed, 08/19/2026 - 20:24 Somaliland officials say Yemen's Houthis need to be engaged, but they want to enlist Israel against Turkey and Somalia Muslims pray along a market street before breaking their fast as they commemorate the holy month of Ramadan in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, on 19 February 2026 (Tony Karumba/AFP) Off Israel’s recognition of Somaliland has been framed as giving it a launchpad to strike Yemen’s Houthis across the Red Sea, but Israel could also be on a collision course with an even more strategic foe and US ally in the Horn of Africa: Turkey.  Officials and analysts in Somaliland say their diplomatic normalisation with Israel in January 2026 -widely condemned by the wider Muslim and Arab world - was, in part, motivated by the need to check Turkey’s growing military footprint in Somalia. Somaliland wants Israel to provide air defence systems to counter a build-up of Turkish drones and warplanes next door, officials in Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland’s republic, which is recognised only by Israel, say. “We need air defence systems,” Mohamed Osman Fadal, a senior foreign affairs advisor to Somaliland’s president, said in an interview. “Turkey has F-16s in Mogadishu, and it wants to build a drone base in Somalia.” “We want Israel to support us against Turkey,” he said. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); In half a dozen interviews with this Middle East Eye journalist, officials and analysts in Hergeisa said they believe Somalia, backed by Turkey’s military, can be countered through closer security ties with Israel. 'Engage the Houthis' Mohamed Abdirahman Hassan is the director general of Somaliland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. He cuts a smooth figure in Prada glasses and an olive green suit. We met in his air-conditioned and LED-illuminated office, whose modern design contrasts with the cracked concrete foreign ministry building siting inside a garden of palm trees and bougainvillaea. Hassan said Somaliland had no choice but to “get involved in regional rivalries” when asked about the risks of entering a diplomatic deal with Israel that was so deeply opposed by most Muslim states, with the exception of the UAE. “We have been too good,” he said. “We had been reaching out to Arab and Muslim countries for recognition since 1991. We had to move on. Israel recognised a gap here. We are proud to partner with the Israelis." "We have a good army, but lack materials and equipment,” which he says the government hopes Israel supplies. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Hergeisa is a laid-back East African city; a mix of concrete and corrugated metal shops, many with hand-painted signs. In the afternoon, Somali men gather under acacia trees to sip black tea boiled with camel milk, cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves. Kat, the stimulant leaf chewed across the Gulf of Aden, is ubiquitous. Kat stalls are painted bright green so you can’t miss them. “Kat is our curse,” one Hergeisa businessman who offered me a bunch of leaves said, smiling.  Somaliland military armed vehicles take part in a parade during the self-declared Independence Day, in Hargeisa, the capital of Somalia's breakaway territory of Somaliland, on 19 May 2026 (Reuters) (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Posters of President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi shaking hands with his Israeli counterpart, Isaac Herzog, were still visible in the capital weeks after the Somaliland president’s visit to Jerusalem. When this MEE journalist was in Hargeisa, the city's elite were turning out for a seminar by pro-Israel US academic.  Many ordinary Somalilanders are sceptical of the ties, but when Israel’s recognition was announced, there were celebrations in the street, not protests. “Can someone explain what Muslim country that dealt with Israel has actually benefited? Egypt? Jordan? Has Israel done anything for them? Let’s see,” Abdi, one Somalilander, said. Transactionalism seems to define how most Somalilanders view the deal.  Somaliland is located on the Gulf of Aden. Many analysts see a quid pro quo developing, in which Israel's recognition allows it access to Somaliland's strategic coastline to potentially move against the Houthis. But Hassan and other officials I met were far less hostile to the Houthis than Israel.  “The Houthis are not terrorists like al-Shabab. We reject that label. We are against confrontation in Yemen. The Houthis need to be engaged,” Hassan said. Somalilanders say the common foe they share with Israel is Turkey.  'Israel is here because of Turkey' Israel and Turkey are wrestling for control in different spheres of the Middle East in the wake of the failed US-Israeli war on Iran. Their feud is escalating in hotspots like Syria, where Israel has pursued an expansionist agenda since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad government. Somaliland’s rift with Mogadishu predates the tussle, but its entanglement underscores the complex web of alliances and rivalries reshaping the wider Red Sea. “A lot of people think Israel and Turkey are gearing up for a fight, but there are too many eyes on Syria. The Horn could be where they test each other because it’s so out of the way. A big reason Israel has come to Somaliland is because of Turkey,” a former senior western diplomat in the region explained. Israeli and Somaliland flags flying alongside each other at the entrance to a fruit farm between Hargeisa and the Port city of Berbera, on 19 February 2026 (Tony Karumba/AFP)  In his Cold War-era classic, War Clouds in the Horn of Africa, American academic Tom Farer summarised how the region lends itself to such competition, when the Horn of Africa was a battlefield between the US and Soviet Union. At the time, Somaliland was united with Somalia, which had just fought a brutal war with neighbouring Ethiopia. That conflict saw one of the great Cold War alliance flip-flops of all time when Moscow switched backing Mogadishu in favour of Addis Ababa, and the US reciprocated. Somaliland has governed itself independently from Somalia since the end of the Cold War. Regional rivalries have only become more convoluted since then. Somaliland is aligned with the UAE, which is expanding its air and naval bases in Somaliland’s port city of Berbera, where the Gulf state also has the majority stake in a commercial port. Somaliland’s close ties with the UAE make it a logical partner for Israel. Israel and the UAE have deepened their cooperation in the wake of the US-Israeli war on Iran. On the opposite side, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey have signed a joint defence agreement that is seen as a rival to their smaller neighbours’ bloc. 'Venue for confrontation by proxy' The Somalis, a historically nomadic people who live across a swath of the Horn of Africa, are no strangers to outside powers trampling across their homeland as they jostle to control a key trade corridor. The Ottomans and Portuguese battled for control of what is today’s Somaliland’s coast in the 16th century. The Ottomans were succeeded here by another Islamic empire, Khedival Egypt, which abandoned the region when its other colonial position, Sudan, erupted in a revolt led by Muhammad Ahmad, known as the Mahdi. Egypt’s retreat left a vacuum, and the land Somalis call home was carved up. Britain swooped in and declared a protectorate in modern-day Somaliland. Not to be outdone, the French cemented their control of the Gulf of Tadjoura, where modern-day Djibouti lies, and Italy grabbed a Somali colony centred around Mogadishu. Menelik II, the future king of Ethiopia, took his own swath of land inhabited by Somalis, bringing them into a Christian kingdom. That history still informs how officials in Hargeisa portray Somaliland to the outside world. 16th century Turkish painting depicting the Ottoman fleet protecting shipping in the Gulf of Aden now displayed in the Bridgeman Art Library (Wikimedia) Ahmed Muse is an affable academic turned government advisor. He has a trim goatee, a wide smile, and a sharp grey suit whose working buttonholes betray it as custom. We met at the Sarovar, a sleek hilltop hotel favoured by visiting Gulf investors, western diplomats and, I was later told, Mossad. Muse chafed at Arab and Muslim states’ criticism of Somaliland’s diplomatic deal with Israel. “We [Somalis] lost the Somali region of Ethiopia to Menelik because the Egyptians and Turks - two Islamic powers-abandoned it,” he said, referring to the Ethiopian king. “If Turkey came to Hergaisa, would the Arab powers boycott Turkey?” Somaliland remains bitter at Turkey for brokering a compromise that blocked Ethiopia from recognising Somaliland in exchange for access to the port of Berbera and a military base in the Gulf of Aden. Visiting Addis Ababa in February, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Israel’s recognition “does not benefit Somaliland or the Horn of Africa”. 'The Gulf states copied Turkey' Turkey has emerged as Somalia’s most important external backer. The relationship goes back to 2011 when then-Prime Minister Erdogan became the first non-African leader to visit Somalia in two decades during a devastating drought.  Turkey started building hospitals, roads, and even clearing garbage in the war-ravaged state. As the relationship matured, Turkey gained outsized influence over Somalia’s economy and its security institutions. Somalia is home to Turkey’s largest overseas base and a sprawling beachfront embassy. Muse is at loggerheads with Mogadishu, but credits the “Turkish aid model” for transforming Africa’s relationship to rising powers. “After the Cold War, the West only saw Africa through the prism of aid. Turkey saw a land with a lot of potential that had been neglected. It approached aid and security together. The Gulf states came and copied Turkey. The UAE was the first,” he said, referring to Somaliland’s closest Arab partner. Somaliland’s history of independence long predates modern Turkey and the Arab Gulf’s interest in the Horn of Africa. The outskirts of Hargeisa, Somaliland, on 21 May 2024 (Tiksa Negeri/Reuters) Somaliland won its independence in 1960, five days before neighbouring Somalia. From the start, the two suffered from an uneasy union that culminated in Somali ruler Mohamed Siad Barre overseeing a military onslaught against Somaliland in the late 1980s. The Sarovar Hotel offers a stunning view of Hergeisa, which sits in a valley of the Ogo mountains, 4,300 feet above sea level. This old camel caravan town is a mushrooming metropolis of corrugated red iron roofs. Shanties and modern villas - that sell for upwards of $300,000 - are inching upwards to the surrounding hills. Hergeisa's chaotic revival is something Somalilanders are proud of given that Barre flattened the entire city in a 1988 bombardment. A Soviet MiG-17 Jet marks the onslaught in a downtown war memorial. The Sarovar is pricey, but not too stuffy. Teenagers and families mingle in the cliffside garden snapping photos of Hergeisa at dusk. “We have a middle class here. The people you see aren’t just rich families,” a friend of Muse’s at our table told me, gesturing to the crowd. Somalilanders say one reason they avoided the civil conflict that engulfed Somalia is that about 80 percent of their self-declared republic is comprised of one Somali clan, the Isaaq. The Somali people identify by clan, not tribe. There are five main Somali clans.  Britain’s colonial legacy is also remembered differently here because it was so light-touch. The region was policed by the legendary Camel Corps whose main job was deferring to tribal law, called Xeer. Irish writer Gerald Hanley colourfully hinted at an explanation for Britain’s limited interest in Somaliland in his memoir, Warriors: Life and Death Among the Somalis, about serving in the Camel Corps during WWII. “[The Somalis], with their great vanity, and their touching bravery in the way which they try and cope with their difficult life have no palm oil, no cocoa, no coffee, gold, no diamonds to sell, only their camels”. For him, the Somali interior was an “arid world” where “nobody could remain sane”. If Somaliland avoided the worst ravages of colonialism, its independence movement was also fortunate, Muse said. Somaliland declared independence in 1991, as the Soviet Union collapsed. At the time, interventionists in the US were honing their sights on Mogadishu for a new military adventure abroad.  “The global powers focused on Mogadishu, and Hergaisa was spared intervention,” Muse said. “Independence came during the ‘unipolar moment’. If Somaliland had claimed independence today, things would be totally different because of all these competing powers,” he added. Somali military forces stand near the Turkish Navy Ship F514 docked at the Mogadishu Sea Port, on 23 April 2024 (Feisal Omar/Reuters) For two decades, Somaliland’s relative stability, and even free elections, contrasted with the instability in Somalia. But that is starting to change and, long term, could complicate Somaliland's bid for global recognition.  “Mogadishu is becoming a walkable city again. The kidnapping and bombing characterisation is an orientalist mischaracterisation," one Hergeisa resident who travels to the city told me. Somalia took a major step in 2023 when the World Bank and International Monetary Fund forgave $4.5bn in loans, bringing Mogadishu’s debt-to-GDP close to zero. The United Nations’ political mission in Somalia will close in October. “It’s Mogadishu that wants us out. They don’t like the idea of us advising them. They see themselves as a proper sovereign state,” one UN diplomat told MEE. Somalia’s turn of fortune has come with Turkey entrenching itself in the poorer country’s security and defence institutions. Turkey is training Somali commandos and coordinating strikes on al-Shabab with the country’s intelligence agency. Turkey has also deployed TB2 Bayraktar drones, F-16 fighter jets, and ATAK attack helicopters. In 2024, Turkey signed a 10-year defence bill to build and train a Somali navy. The agreement places Somalia’s territorial waters - which include unrecognised Somaliland - under Turkey’s security umbrella. Turkey has secured economic deals that some critics say lean on the extractive, given the imbalance between the two states.  Ankara has a twenty-year lease to manage Mogadishu’s seaport and airport. Somalia has also pledged Turkey 30 percent of the revenue from any marine resources found in its exclusive economic zone. Ankara has a foothold in Somalia’s fisheries and is exploring for oil. The agreement gives Turkey the option to exploit waters Somaliland considers its own.  “Turkey is a newcomer to the region. We have no issue with them. They have exploited Mogadishu’s resources,” Hassan, the director general of Somaliland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, said. “[But] Mogadishu is thinking of an [invasion], and Turkey would back them. We need to position ourselves for the future,” he added. Somalilanders would not be the first looking to shore up their security by aligning with Israel. When the UAE came under Iranian attacks earlier this year, Israel sent Iron Dome defence batteries to protect its Gulf ally. Greece, an old foe of Turkey, recently signed a $3.5bn deal to purchase a layered Israeli air defence system.  The risk for Somaliland, of course, is that inviting Israel in makes it a target, jeopardising the very stability Hargeisa prides itself on. Somaliland is now surrounded by regional wars whose battle lines have descended into rival blocks that include Israel.  Ethiopia, which has close ties to Israel and the UAE, is battling rebel groups that it says are backed by Egypt and Eritrea. Asmara and Cairo deny the allegation, but both are wary of Ethiopia's military links to Israel.  Meanwhile, the Houthis have swept down Yemen's Red Sea coast, taking control of the Arabian Gulf side of the Bab el-Mandeb. Israel still has a score to settle with the group.  These are just some of the risks to being Israel's bridgehead in the Horn of Africa.  Horn of Africa Hergeisa News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0

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