Somalia Rejects an Israeli Naval Base at Berbera
President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has said Somalia will not accept an Israeli presence “under any circumstances”, and that Israel is planning a naval base at Berbera and the use of the city’s airport. Berbera lies in Somaliland, the self-declared republic Israel recognised in December and which Mogadishu claims. It faces Yemen across the Gulf of Aden, near the Bab el-Mandeb strait.
Geography is the whole argument. Berbera sits opposite the strait the Houthis have used to blockade Israel-linked shipping, which is why a base there would matter and why Mogadishu reads it as an attempt to pull Somalia into other people’s wars. Mr Mohamud placed the plan under the “Greater Israel” project, the set of proposals for Israeli control beyond its present borders that Benjamin Netanyahu said in an August 2025 interview he felt connected to, and which Israel has never adopted as policy. He called Israel a destabilising force that does not abide by international law, said Somaliland’s own residents are completely opposed to an Israeli presence, and noted that no state other than Israel recognises Somaliland, which has governed itself since 1991. He was markedly softer on his neighbours: relations with Ethiopia are good, and he does not object to landlocked Addis Ababa gaining sea access through a joint agreement to use Somali ports — a pointed contrast with the memorandum Ethiopia signed with Somaliland in January 2024, which Mogadishu called a violation of its sovereignty. He also accused the Houthis of disrupting navigation at Bab el-Mandeb and said they are not in a position to bring peace to Yemen. Watch whether any Gulf state puts its name to the Berbera plan.