Somali takes on Israel and Iran
A special issue on how Somalis—from government halls to Reddit threads—are reacting to Israel’s strike on Iran.
We don’t usually do mid-week newsletters. But with the Middle East blowing up—and the significant interest—we’re making an exception. And yes, breaking news: Israel’s hit Iran, and the two countries are now basically at war. We aren’t sure how many Somalis live in Iran, but apparently enough to make the Somali embassy in Ankara tell its citizens to get out—fast. (Somalia hasn’t had an embassy in Iran since 2016 and reportedly received aid from Saudi Arabia, Iran’s regional rival, that very day. They agreed to restore ties last year.)
Somalis keep a close eye on the Middle East for plenty of obvious reasons. The Red Sea is the only thing standing between them and the region, a big Somali diaspora stretches from Egypt to the UAE, and shared faith adds another strong link. So when the Middle East’s future is being determined, as it is now, Somalis are all ears and opinions.
On Middle East issues, the Somali government usually marches in lockstep with the big regional players like Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey and coordinate closely with the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation—both forums where it counts some of its closest allies. Most Arab countries have been extremely critical of Israel’s attack on Iran. At the UN security council—where Somalia currently holds a non-permanent seat—its rep said the country was “gravely concerned” by Israel’s strike on Iran, adding that Mogadishu recognises the right to self-defence but called on both sides to settle things at the table, not with missiles.
Somaliland’s president, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi (Irro), warned the world not to complete the trilogy of global conflicts—invoking World War I and II and urging leaders to steer clear of a third. Speaking at an event in Hargeisa, Irro struck a neutral tone, taking no clear side, but said Somaliland should start preparing for what this could mean. “We may not be a recognised country,” he said, “but we still have a voice—and we’ll use it to call for peace.” Somaliland’s been playing an interesting foreign policy hand lately—cosying up to the UAE and pitching itself as a potential US ally in the Red Sea neighbourhood. As we send this out, a US delegation is in Hargeisa. Irro wouldn’t call himself a great friend of Iran—and the Iranians likely wouldn’t think of him that way either.
Brigadier General Ahmed Abdullahi Sheikh—of the American-trained Danab unit in the Somali army—offered his own take on where the world’s headed after the strikes. In today’s geopolitical climate, he said, “idealism is a liability,” arguing that the global security order tends validate the belief that might is right. Sheikh kept his comments broad and didn’t name either Iran or Israel, but said that in a world of increasingly unconventional warfare, outcomes hinge on more than just firepower. For him, the real test of military success is how strong—and self-reliant—a country’s war economy and finances are.
Adam Aw Hirsi, a director of the Mogadishu based thinktank, Foresight for Practical Solutions, told The Pulse Somalia that the world’s shifted—from one where international law was something you could mostly count on, to one where countries can lob missiles at each other (and civilians) with abandon. “There is nothing left,” he added, referring to the international order.
Over on Somali Reddit, a thread quickly popped up dissecting what Israel’s strike might mean for Somalia. One user echoed Hirsi’s take, bluntly declaring it the “death of all international political norms.” Amoeba_Critical, who wrote the post, added: “This isn't good news for a country like Somalia who's current survival depends on said organisations.” Top-Distribution4739 looked for the silver-lining and said the war could be an opportunity for Somalia to “fly under the radar and grow”.
Much of Somali Twitter has leaned sympathetic to Iran, framing the strike as part of a broader, long-running strategy—led by Israel and the West—that began with the so-called War on Terror, ran through Gaza, and now targets Tehran: demolish, destabilise, dominate. @EIshmael_, one of the more prominent Somali Twitter users posted:
Somali analyst and long-time West-sceptic Abdiwahab Sheikh Abdisamad had a message for Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian: pick a mode for resisting the US and its allies—North Korea or Libya. In a grim warning, he said Gaddafi’s downfall came from trusting the West, which smiled, shook hands, and then dismantled him. “History doesn’t remember the obedient. It remembers the defiant,” he posted.
A piece on Horn Pulse noted that Somalia is in a unique spot—it has no diplomatic ties with either side. Mogadishu rejects Israel on ideological grounds in solidarity with Palestine, and keeps its distance from Tehran, which, according to Horn Pulse, it sees as a “regional security threat” thanks to Iran’s proxy network. There is some truth to this. In an article for Asharq Al-Awsat, Somalia’s president said his country’s intelligence service had detected ties between the Houthis, an Iranian ally, and al-Shabaab and IS-Somalia. In that case, Somalia does indeed see Tehran as a problem for its own security. “Remaining outside this geopolitical tug-of-war helps Somalia focus on internal stability and national development,” the Horn Pulse article adds.
Elsewhere, that old clip of General Wesley Clark has been making the rounds again—the one where he rattles off a list of countries the US supposedly had lined up for regime change: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Iran. Analysts are split on whether Israel is aiming for regime change in Tehran or trying to spark a civil war but the salience of that clip suggests that some Somalis are inclined to the former.
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