Israel saw a Red Sea security dividend in recognising Somaliland. Then the Houthis captured Perim.

Israel’s recognition in December 2025 of the breakaway republic of Somaliland raised the prospect of a strategic dividend: access to the port city of Berbera for intelligence-gathering and operations against Yemen’s Houthis. The Iran-backed rebels’ capture of Perim and other strategic Red Sea islands in September provides an occasion to examine whether any intelligence, logistical or military capability arising from Israel’s relationship with Somaliland had become publicly observable at Berbera.