JOHANNESBURG: A strategically important air base and port have been offered to the U.S. as a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz begins and Iran-backed threats target the key Red Sea chokepoint of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Top U.S. military officials, including the Commander of U.S. Forces in Africa, Gen. Dagvin Anderson, recently visited facilities being offered in Somaliland. Somaliland is a pro-U.S. outpost, having broken away from war-torn Somalia in 1991.

Bab-el-Mandeb, which is Arabic for ‘gate of tears’, has become the main route for oil to ship out of the Middle East to Asia since the Strait of Hormuz was effectively closed.  Bloomberg News reported that Saudi Arabia has switched to shipping potentially up to seven million barrels of oil a day from its port at Yanbu on the Red Sea through the strait. It’s reported that up to 14% of the world’s shipping passes through the 16-mile-wide strait.

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Enter the controversial offer to the U.S. of an air and naval base at Berbera in Somaliland. The official Republic of Somaliland site on X extolled Berbera’s virtues last month, boasting that it has «a deep water port along the artery connecting the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean», and «one of Africa’s longest runways, originally developed as a NASA emergency landing site.»

«Berbera obviously has huge strategic potential,» for sea and air operations, Edmund Fitton-Brown, a former U.K. ambassador to Yemen and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told Fox News Digital.

BAB-EL-MANDEB, YEMEN – 22 OCTOBER 2020 : An aerial view of The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is a sea route connecting the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal. (Gallo Images/Orbital Horizon/Copernicus Sentinel Data 2021)

The U.S. does have another Red Sea base in Djibouti, but Fitton-Brown told Fox News Digital the government there is increasingly uncomfortable with some of the Administration’s policies: «Djibouti becomes an increasingly reluctant, unwilling ally to the U.S. in helping enforce sanctions on the Houthis. Somaliland, which is almost equally well-placed to address issues on the western and southwestern coasts of Yemen, can help the U.S., Israel and the UAE combat the Houthis.»

The controversy comes over the question of U.S. recognition of Somaliland.

U.S. Air Force Gen. Dagvin Anderson, commander, U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), meets with President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, president of Somaliland, in Hargeisa, Somaliland, on Nov. 26, 2025. The meeting was part of Gen. Anderson’s trip in East Africa to meet with government and defense leaders to strengthen America’s strategic approach to confronting terrorism through mutual engagement, stronger cooperation, and aligned security priorities. (U.S. Army photo by Cpt. Ubon Mendie)

President Trump, in the Oval Office last August, told reporters, «We’re looking into that right now,» when asked about the recognition of Somaliland and the possible resettlement of Gazans there, adding, «We’re working on that right now, Somaliland.»

But this past week, a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, «the United States continues to recognize the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Somalia, which includes the territory of Somaliland.»

Last year Israel became the first country to recognize Somaliland.

TRUMP SEEKS WARSHIPS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES TO HELP SECURE STRAIT OF HORMUZ

In this image provided by the U.S. Navy, the amphibious dock landing ship USS Carter Hall and amphibious assault ship USS Bataan transit the Bab al-Mandeb strait on Aug. 9, 2023. (Mass Communications Spc. 2nd Class Moises Sandoval/U.S. Navy via AP)

Iran is pushing the Houthis to take action in the Red Sea. «Insecurity in other straits, including the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Red Sea, is one of the options of the Resistance Front, and the situation will become much more complicated than it is today for the Americans,» the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)-linked Tasmin news agency warned on March 21.

Baraa Shaiban, an expert on the Houthis at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), says the recognition of Somaliland is problematic, as it «will upset the U.S. relationship with the Arab countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt, many of which are U.S. allies. It would be unwise for the United States to upset its allies in the region just to gain access to Somaliland ports.»

This handout screen grab captured from a video shows Yemen’s Houthi fighters’ takeover of the Galaxy Leader Cargo on the Red Sea coast off Hudaydah, on November 20, 2023, in the Red Sea, Yemen. (Houthi Movement/Getty Images)

A spokesperson for the U.S. military in Africa (AFRICOM), told Fox News Digital, «The U.S. is not seeking to establish new basing, as such actions do not align with the America First security framework articulated by the President and Secretary of War.»

While publicly both the use of bases and recognition of Somaliland are no-go areas, analysts say that with Somaliland offering the use of its bases without immediate recognition by the administration, the issue is perhaps privately not off the table.

And that could be why a recent video shared with Fox News Digital shows AFRICOM Commander Dagvin Anderson and a large group of senior military officials in Somaliland, where he met with its president and appearing to inspect the port in Berbera in November, just 5 months ago.

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That’s not the only reported visit. Somaliland’s top diplomatic representative in Washington, Bashir Goth, told a recent Foreign Policy Research Institute debate, «The war in the Middle East has elevated Somaliland’s strategic importance,» Goth noted. » U.S. Military interest has been very strong. Every month, there has been a delegation from AFRICOM to Hargeisa. (The capital of Somaliland)».

Fox News Digital reached out to the Republic of Somaliland, but they declined to comment.

A leading nonpartisan political handicapper predicts that the Democrats’ path to winning back the Senate majority in this year’s midterm elections is getting wider thanks to a rough political climate for the GOP, but that capturing control of the chamber remains a «tall order.»

The Cook Political Report on Monday shifted the ratings in four key Senate races in favor of the Democrats, but added that Republicans «remain the narrowing favorites to retain the upper chamber.»

Republicans currently control the Senate 53-47 but are battling stiff political headwinds, as the party in power in the nation’s capital traditionally loses seats in the midterms. The GOP faces a rough political climate fueled by economic concerns amid persistent inflation, as well as rising gas prices tied to what polls show is an unpopular war with Iran and President Donald Trump’s underwater approval ratings.

«Right now, we see the likeliest outcome is a one to three seat Democratic pickup — still just out of reach of the four seats the party needs to reclaim the majority,» Cook Report Senate and Governors Editor Jessica Taylor said in a release.

SNUBBED BY TRUMP, THESE GOP CANDIDATES ACT LIKE THEY HAVE HIS ENDORSEMENT ANYWAY

The Cook Report shifted the race to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Thom Tillis in battleground North Carolina from toss-up to lean Democrat. Former two-term Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is facing off against former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley in what will likely be one of the most expensive and competitive Senate showdowns in the nation this autumn.

In battleground Georgia, where Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff is running for a second six-year term, the Cook Report also moved the race from toss-up to lean Democrat. Republicans view Ossoff as the most vulnerable Senate Democrat seeking re-election this year, but he has built a massive war chest while the GOP faces a three-way primary battle for its nomination.

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In red-leaning Ohio, where appointed Republican Sen. Jon Husted will face off in November against former longtime Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, the Cook Report shifted their ranking from lean Republican to toss up, noting that «even recent GOP polling» has indicated the race is all knotted up.

The Cook Report also shifted Nebraska, a red state where GOP Sen. Pete Ricketts will face a general election challenge from independent candidate Dan Osborn, from solid Republican to likely Republican.

President Donald Trump is facing low polling numbers in the wake of the Iran conflict and rising gas prices. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

«We concede that these ratings changes are coming as Trump is at a new polling low and still navigating a yet-to-be-resolved war in Iran. So it’s possible things could rebound for his party or that they could find a rallying cry to get his base out in November — a summer Supreme Court retirement certainly wouldn’t hurt,» Taylor noted.

And she pointed out that «Democrats are still contending with messy primary fights in Maine, Michian, Minnesota and Iowa, where Republicans are rooting for flawed or bruised nominees to emerge. And Republicans will have a significant institutional financial advantage.»

FOX NEWS POLL: AN EARLY LOOK AT THE 2026 MIDTERMS

National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) chair, Sen. Tim Scott, acknowledged in a Fox News Digital interview last month that «there’s no doubt the climate has gotten more and more difficult by the day, it seems like at times.»

But Scott added that he remains «incredibly optimistic» the GOP can not only hold but expand its current majority.

The rival Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), in an email to supporters titled «Democratic Odds of Taking the Senate Increase as Four Ratings Shift in Their Favor,» spotlighted the Cook Report’s ratings shift.

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Earlier this year, DSCC chair Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told Fox News Digital she was «very optimistic that with the quality of candidates that we have, with the recruiting failures and the poor candidates the Republicans have, and this very harmful climate that President Trump is creating, we have all the makings of a blue wave.»

El cruce con el papa León

El posteo de Trump sobre el Papa León XIV. Foto: Truth Social

Las imágenes generadas por IA de Trump