Tehran secretly unifies Shia rebel proxy Houthis with a Sunni al-Qaeda loyalist group in sinister new twist in the war with the US and America steps up deep strike missions inside Iran
America’s war with Iran is set to blow up and drag the entire blighted region into bitter conflict with a terrifying bid by Tehran to link Yemeni rebel forces up with Somali al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabab, The Mirror can reveal.
The shift in tactics can be revealed for the first time as Tehran’s military defied Washington’s threats to step up raids on Iran, saying Iran will attack neighbouring countries and force them back to an “age of camels and sandals.”
Mirror sources have informed us that pro-Iranian Houthis have secretly prepared to link-up with central Somalia group al-Shabab, supplying them with drones, arms and missiles, to try and paralyse the Red Sea waterway Bab al-Mandeb Strait.
One source told the Mirror: “The Houthi rebel group, Tehran’s most capable regional proxy is laying the groundwork to close the strait, quietly extending its reach to the Horn of Africa, according to reports from within Yemen. The Houthis will work with al-Shabab, the Somali militant group to control both sides of the waterway and inflict more pain on the global economy and increase pressure on Donald Trump. There are a lot of indicators showing co-ordination between the Houthis and al-Shabab.
“This is aimed at totally controlling and blocking the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb whenever Iran decides to order it. The Houthis are transferring drone technology to al-Shabab on behalf of Iran, so the Houthis are becoming the lead force in the region. But Iran does not want to show all of its cards as yet.”
If Iran imposes paralysis on Bab el-Mandeb the effect could be catastrophic alongside the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz. The Bab el-Mandeb is a narrow 18-mile-wide strait connecting the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, a vital global trade shortcut.
About 12% of worldwide trade and roughly £3 million worth of barrels of oil pass through it gateway daily. It sits on the direct route between Asia and Europe via the Suez Canal.
One move the Houthis have adapted from Iran’s experience of warfare with the US is to ‘decapitation preparation,’ lining up successors if a leader is killed. Its chief Abdul Malik al-Houthi has pre-designated a family member to replace him as part of a system of “shadow leaders.”
The sinister taking up of arms by the two factions marks a significant dialling up of tensions in the region, drawing Sunni al-Qaeda closer to Iran’s Shia Muslim Houthis and further threatening western economies. It means Iran, though battered militarily by US strikes – with last night’s being the strongest in the recent escalation – could effect control of the two main waterways Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb, crippling trade.
US forces last night launched their most powerful strikes, deep inside Iran, marking a shift in tempo of the war as commanders described the changed mission as a “shaping operation.”
This marks a significant pivot away from “defensive operations” as “shaping ops” are usually launched before a major offensive on the ground, thereby shaping the enemy, degraded its defences and placing it in a position to be attacked. The air force and navy are braced to bombard Iran’s infrastructure, taking out bridges and energy supply depots after a warning from President Donald Trump earlier this week.
But Iran has showed no sign of backing down as on Thursday Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters threatened: “If the United States dares to target Iranian infrastructure we will destroy every last piece of infrastructure in the entire region as if it had never existed and bring the Arabs back to the age of camels and sandals.”
London-based thinktank the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre- BICOM- said in a report today: “Overnight, US forces launched their biggest air operation since the ceasefire went into effect, hitting targets not just on the coastline but also deep in Iran and inside the Tehran metropolitan area, a region avoided entirely in this week’s escalation until now.
“Notably, official CENTCOM statements about the operation used the term “shaping operation,” rather than “self-defence operation. The latter term had been consistently used by the Americans to indicate that they were not intending to depart from the ceasefire framework; the former would seem to indicate that they are taking out targets that could get in the way of a future planned operation.”
