The Red Sea, a vital artery of global trade and a strategic nexus for international security, is increasingly imperiled by the reckless adventurism of the Houthi rebels. While global attention rightly condemns their aggressive attacks on international shipping, a less-reported but equally insidious dimension of their operations casts a long shadow: the alleged use of Eritrean territory, particularly the Dahlak Archipelago, for training and logistical support.
This purported cooperation bears a chilling correlation with the ongoing, brutal persecution of Eritrean Christians within the secretive nation. For Israel, a nation deeply invested in regional stability, freedom of navigation, and protecting religious minorities, this unholy alliance represents a profound and multifaceted threat.
Reports and intelligence assessments have long circulated, albeit often through unofficial channels due to the Eritrean regime’s notorious opacity, about Iranian-backed Houthi fighters receiving training and logistical support in Eritrea. While concrete, verifiable evidence remains difficult to obtain, the consistency of these accounts from various regional and international sources is concerning. Eritrea’s strategic location, with its extensive coastline along the Red Sea and the numerous islands of the Dahlak Archipelago, makes it an attractive, albeit ethically compromised, staging ground for groups seeking to project power across this critical waterway.
If the Dahlak Islands are indeed serving as a covert training hub for Houthi militants, it implicates Eritrea directly in the Houthis’ destabilizing actions, including their explicit anti-Israel and anti-Western rhetoric, encapsulated in their chilling slogan: “Death to America, Death to Israel, a curse upon the Jews.”
The Human Cost
This alleged partnership is not merely a matter of geopolitical maneuvering; it has a deeply disturbing human cost.
Eritrea is frequently dubbed the “North Korea of Africa” due to its repressive authoritarian regime and egregious human rights record. Among the most brutally suppressed groups are Christians who do not belong to the few state-sanctioned denominations (Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Roman Catholic Church, and Evangelical Lutheran Church of Eritrea). Thousands are imprisoned without charge or trial, held in horrific conditions in underground cells and metal shipping containers, subjected to torture, and denied basic freedoms and medical care. Reports from human rights organizations like the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and the United Nations highlight mass arrests at prayer meetings, indefinite detention, and deaths in custody. The government’s paranoia about “nonindigenous” Christian faiths fuels a relentless crackdown, driven by the belief that such groups pose an existential threat to national cohesion and state control. Many are reportedly pressured to renounce their faith as a condition for release.
The link between these two seemingly disparate issues – covert Houthi training and overt Christian persecution – might not be immediately obvious, but it is deeply troubling. A regime that is willing to provide sanctuary and training to a terror group openly hostile to international norms and Israel is a regime that has clearly abrogated its responsibilities to its own people. The international community’s often muted response to Eritrea’s widespread human rights abuses, perhaps due to its strategic importance or its extreme secrecy, inadvertently emboldens its rulers to engage in illicit activities on the regional stage. The tacit acceptance of Eritrea’s repression at home may be seen by Asmara as a green light for its more nefarious regional collaborations, fostering a climate of impunity that extends beyond its borders.
For Israel, the implications are stark and immediate. The Houthis’ rhetoric and actions, including their drone and missile attacks directly targeting Israeli assets or ships bound for Israeli ports, leave no doubt about their profound animosity toward the Jewish state. Any facilitation of their capabilities, whether through training, intelligence sharing, or logistical support, directly imperils Israeli shipping lanes, overall security, and broader interests in the Red Sea.
Furthermore, a regime that so wantonly abuses its own citizens, particularly on religious grounds, aligns itself with the very forces that seek to undermine the universal values of freedom, tolerance, and human dignity that Israel champions. The persecution of Christians in Eritrea, therefore, is not a distant, unrelated tragedy; it is a symptom of the same moral bankruptcy and authoritarian impulse that fuels Houthi aggression and destabilization efforts.
Amine Ayoub is a policy analyst and writer based in Morocco.
