Israel has turned Somaliland into a permanent liability and the Houthis have now declared any Israeli presence there will be treated as a military target. Right, so Israel is now stuck with a problem it can’t walk away from, and it created all by itself. By recognising Somaliland, Israel didn’t score a quiet diplomatic win, it handed the Houthis a standing justification to widen the fight. Because this isn’t just about one recognition announcement or one angry response from Yemen. It’s about a pattern Israel keeps repeating, where symbolic moves are treated as cost-free, and then someone else prices them in properly. Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi has now said, plainly and without caveat, that any Israeli presence in Somaliland will be treated as a military target. Not bases. Not troops. Presence. That single word locks Israel into a conditi ...