By Faisal Abu Bakr | 2024-09-12

ADEN -- The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is directing a large arms smuggling network that operates between Yemen and various African countries along the Red Sea, with the help of the Houthis, per a new report.

The Houthis smuggle weapons across the Red Sea into Africa, and the flow of arms also goes in the other direction, according to the Platform for Tracking Organized Crime and Money Laundering in Yemen (PTOC).

Weapons are delivered to Somalia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Sudan from Iran, then shipped to the Houthis via Yemen's al-Hodeidah port.

The IRGC has been cultivating local leaders in African countries such as Djibouti, which has become a transit point for weapons smuggling, per the report, in order to facilitate smuggling operations to the Houthis.

In some cases, arms dealers transport Iranian weapons by sea from Sudan to al-Hodeidah port via the Eritrean islands.

The Iranian ports of Bandar Abbas and Jask are meanwhile used to smuggle weapons to the Houthis via Yemen's al-Mahrah province, and from there to Somalia and Djibouti and across the Red Sea to al-Hodeidah.

Weapons also are shipped from Iran to East Asian countries, and onward to ports in Yemen's Hadramaut province, the report said, as smugglers face less scrutiny using this method.

Once arms shipments arrive on the Yemeni shores, they are transferred to secret warehouses, after which they are transported by land to the Houthis in Sanaa and Saada provinces.

Prominent figures involved in the arms smuggling operations include IRGC Quds Force commander Abdul Reza Shahlaei, who is based in Yemen.

They also include Yemeni nationals Ibrahim Hassan Halwan, Ahmed Mohammed Halas, and a number of sailors who receive weapons shipments from Iran and smuggle them to the Houthis in Sanaa, the report said.

'A weapons depot for Iran'

Iran has made Yemen a staging point for arms smuggling to both Yemen and Africa, and "Yemeni islands have become weapon depots for Iran," Abaad Center for Strategic Studies researcher Abdul Salam Mohammed told Al-Fassel.

"This has made Yemen seem like it is at the heart of the Iranian project for Africa and also the Iranian project for the Gulf," he added.

The IRGC benefits from the arms trade and the transport of weapons through multiple locations to arm its militias in the region, Mohammed said.

He warned that Iran plans to "remain in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb for a long time" and has developed ties with al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab in Somalia.

"It is clear that Iran wants the Houthis to play a major role" in the arms trade, Yemen's Deputy Minister of Justice Faisal al-Majeedi told Al-Fassel.

"The Houthis have become a repository for weapons coming from Africa and also from East Asia," he said.