NAIROBI: Guns supplied by Iran to its Houthi allies in Yemen are being smuggled across the Gulf of Aden to Somalia, according to a Geneva-based think tank, where Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabab insurgents are battling a weak and divided government.
The Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime said its study drew on data from more than 400 weapons documented in 13 locations across Somalia over eight months and inventories from 13 dhows intercepted by naval vessels.
It is the first publicly available research into the scale of illicit arms smuggling from Yemen into the Horn of Africa country.
“Weapons originating in the Iran–Yemen arms trade are being trafficked onward into Somalia itself,” said the study, which is due to be published on Wednesday.
“Iran has repeatedly denied any involvement in the trafficking of arms to the Houthis. However, a preponderance of evidence points to Iranian state supply.”
Iran’s foreign ministry and a spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi forces did not respond to a request for comment on the study. Iran has repeatedly denied any involvement in the trafficking of arms to its Houthi allies in Yemen, where the six-year-old civil war has killed tens of thousands.
The Somali government spokesman and the internal security minister did not return calls or messages seeking comment.
The study said the investigators were not able to fully document the buyers and sellers of the weapons.
But it said signs the weapons were originally supplied by the Iranian state included serial numbers that were very close together, indicating they were part of the same shipment, information from satellite navigation systems on seized dhows and human intelligence from trafficking gangs.
One dhow carrying weapons which was seized by a US navy vessel had a GPS with stored points in Iran, southern Yemen and Somalia, the report said, including a small anchorage near Jask port, which hosts an Iranian naval base, and “home” as the Yemeni port of Al-Mukalla, a well-known arms smuggling hub.
The study said the guns end up with commercial smuggling networks whose customers can include armed factions seeking advantage ahead of Somalia’s repeatedly delayed presidential elections, as well as clan militias and rival extremist insurgent groups linked to Al-Qaeda and Daesh.
Iranian-supplied arms smuggled from Yemen into Somalia: Study
https://arab.news/y7d8u
Iranian-supplied arms smuggled from Yemen into Somalia: Study
- “Weapons originating in the Iran–Yemen arms trade are being trafficked onward into Somalia itself,” said the study
- Study said signs weapons were originally supplied by Iran included serial numbers that were very close together
UN chief says those behind ‘unacceptable’ Homs attack must face justice
- France says the "terror" attack is designed to destabilize the country
UNITED NATIONS/PARIS: United Nations chief Antonio Guterres strongly condemned the deadly attack on Friday prayers at a mosque in the Syrian city of Homs, and said the perpetrators should be brought to justice.
“The Secretary-General reiterates that attacks against civilians and places of worship are unacceptable. He stresses that those responsible must be identified and brought to justice,” spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
The explosion killed at least eight worshippers at a mosque in a predominantly Alawite area of Homs, with an Islamist militant group claiming responsibility.
France also condemned the attack, calling it an “act of terrorism” designed to destabilize the country.
The attack “is part of a deliberate strategy aimed at destabilizing Syria and the transition government,” the French foreign ministry said in a statement.
It condemned what it said was an attempt to “compromise ongoing efforts to bring peace and stability.”
The attack, during Friday prayers, was the second blast in a place of worship since Islamist authorities took power a year ago, after a suicide bombing in a Damascus church killed 25 people in June.
In a statement on Telegram, the extremist group Saraya Ansar Al-Sunna said its fighters “detonated a number of explosive devices” in the Imam Ali Bin Abi Talib Mosque in the central Syrian city.
