A report published at the UAE outlet Al-Ain media says Iran deployed radar systems on Yemen's western coast and used the coastal strip to smuggle military equipment from Somalia after field visits by Iranian experts. The Jerusalem Post, which reported the Al-Ain findings on September 19, 2026, said the Houthis captured Mokha and areas along the Bab el-Mandab Strait on September 11 in a rapid offensive up the coast.
Al-Ain report says Iran deployed radar on Yemeni coast after Houthi offensive
A report published at the UAE outlet Al-Ain media says Iran deployed radar systems on Yemen's western coast and used the coastal strip to smuggle military equipment from Somalia after field visits by Iranian experts. The Jerusalem Post, which reported the Al-Ain findings on September 19, 2026, said the Houthis captured Mokha and areas along the Bab el-Mandab Strait on September 11 in a rapid offensive up the coast.
Al-Ain said the steps came less than 10 days after the Houthis seized control of Yemen's west coast. The report says security and media sources revealed radar systems had been deployed in the commanding heights on the western coast, and that the shipments were unloaded along the coastal strip. Al-Ain does not say what type of radar may have been placed nearby.
The Al-Ain report says shipments arriving from the coasts of Somalia were supervised by Hassan Al-Attas, described as head of the Fisheries Authority in the Red Sea, based in Hodeidah. It says Attas runs a smuggling network that it calls a model of an integrated functional hierarchical structure closely linked to the leader Ibrahim Hassan Ismail Al-Madani, while the leader Shaher Al-Qahoum, who trained in Iran, provides it with security cover. The report also says Attas is responsible for recruiting fishermen and those with deep maritime experience for the militias, managing smuggling operations from Iran by sea to the shores of Hodeidah, receiving shipments on arrival and delivering them to the Houthi militias.
The Jerusalem Post article says this type of name-dropping is typical of Al-Ain stories on Yemen and illustrates the messaging and sourcing behind the report. It says the UAE and its media outlets have good contacts in Aden and southern Yemen, and that the UAE backed the Southern Transitional Council against the Houthis for years.
The article says the Houthis have increased attacks on Saudi Arabia since the mid-September offensive, and that Iranian-backed militias in Iraq also attacked Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline. It says Iranians previously smuggled missiles and drone parts into Yemen by sea, that Iran recently tried to reopen an air corridor to Yemen in July and that the Saudis opposed this, and that the US maintains a maritime blockade of Iran.
Al-Ain says activity was also reported on Zuqar Island, also known as Jazirat Jebel Zuqar, near the Hanish island chain in the Red Sea. It says the steps came as an outcome of visits and field tours by Iranian experts to vital sites, including Bab el-Mandab and the port and airport of Mokha, where it says they met with engineers of the Houthi missile force. The Jerusalem Post says the goal of the Houthis is to create a new reality along the Red Sea, that they are digging trenches in the mountains to prevent government forces from retaking the area, and that they are increasing activity on the coastline.
- The source does not state what type of radar may have been placed; Al-Ain itself does not specify it.
- The source does not name the security and media sources Al-Ain cites, and cites no confirmation of the radar deployment or the smuggling beyond that account.
- The source does not state how Iran would move equipment to Yemen given the US maritime blockade, saying only that it is unclear.
- The source does not cite any response from Iran or from the Houthis to the Al-Ain report.
- The source does not state when the radar installations or the reported field visits by Iranian experts took place.
- The source does not state the year of the Houthi capture of Mokha and the Bab el-Mandab area, which it dates to September 11.
Read the original at The Jerusalem Post