The escalating conflict in West Asia pitting Iran against Israel, the United States, and a wary Arab world, has effectively turned the Horn of Africa into a secondary front in a burgeoning global struggle. Geographically separated only by the narrow Bab al-Mandab Strait, the Horn of Africa states (Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Djibouti) find themselves caught in a geopolitical vice where local rivalries are being fueled, funded, and transformed by West Asian power dynamics.

The most immediate impact is the total militarization of the Red Sea corridor. For decades, this waterway was viewed primarily as a commercial artery. Today, it is a combat zone. The persistent Houthi insurgency in Yemen, backed by Iranian intelligence and hardware, has forced a permanent Western naval presence led by the United States. This has trickled over to the African coast, where states are now pressured to “pick a side.”

Djibouti, which hosts the highest density of foreign military bases in the world, finds itself in a precarious........

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