Gulf of Aden Security Review – September 14, 2022

Yemen: Houthis reportedly implement project to monitor Houthi-controlled institutions

Somalia: Al Shabaab kills Kenyan soldiers in mortar and IED attacks in southwestern Somalia; al Shabaab IED attack kills Somali Region Liyu police near the Ethiopian border; US-trained special forces clear al Shabaab courts and taxation infrastructure in southern Somalia; al Shabaab ambush oil tanker convoy in southern Somalia

Yemen Security Brief:

Unspecified local sources told al Mashhad al Yemeni that the Houthi movement implemented an “electronic information monitoring project” in Houthi-controlled state institutions.^[i] The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and Lebanese Hezbollah reportedly supported the project. The system will monitor the Houthi-controlled General Authority for Civil Aviation, Postal Authority, telecommunications, and oil companies. 

Somalia Security Brief:

Al Shabaab mortared a joint Jubbaland State Forces–Kenyan African Union Transitional Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) base in Abdalla Birole, Kismayo district, Lower Jubba region, southwestern Somalia, on September 13.[ii] Al Shabaab claimed the attack killed at least eight Kenyan soldiers.

Al Shabaab detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) targeting a Kenyan ATMIS convoy near Afmadow, Lower Jubba region, southwestern Somalia, on September 13.[iii] Al Shabaab claimed the explosion killed six Kenyan soldiers.

Al Shabaab detonated two IEDs targeting an Ethiopian Somali Region Liyu police patrol near Ato, El Barde district, Bakool region, southwestern Somalia, on September 13.[iv] Al Shabaab claimed the attack killed ten Liyu officers and injured four others.

US-trained Danab forces cleared al Shabaab courts and taxation infrastructure from several forested areas between Gendershe and KM-50 villages, Afgoi district, Lower Shabelle region, southern Somalia, on September 13.[v]

Al Shabaab ambushed an oil tanker convoy near Donka village, Afgoi district, Lower Shabelle region, southern Somalia, on September 13.[vi] Al Shabaab claimed to kill five soldiers in the fighting and captured and subsequently executed a sixth soldier.[vii] The convoy traveling to the Danab base at Balidogle airfield in Wanlaweyn district, Lower Shabelle.