CBRN event in Djibouti on Sat 16th August 2025

The crew of the recently seized ship "Al-Sharwa" by the National Resistance, carrying 750 tons of strategic weapons, revealed critical and unprecedented information about Iran’s supply line to its proxies in Yemen, the role of the Revolutionary Guard and Hezbollah in infiltrating Arab, Asian, and African countries, managing smuggling routes, the types of strategic and chemical weapons, Houthi militia camps in the Iranian capital Tehran, the names of their leaders, the recruitment of Somalis and Indians in smuggling cells, and the exploitation of Yemeni sailors’ conditions for recruitment. The cell consists of seven members. According to their documented confessions, recorded in audio and video and distributed by the National Resistance’s military media, broadcast by Al-Jumhuriya channel, four of them (Amer Ahmed Yahya Masawi, Ali Ahmed Abdo Qasir, Issa Ahmed Abdo Qasir, Abdullah Mohammed Maqbool Afifi) traveled to Iran as part of several cells and participated in smuggling multiple shipments from Bandar Abbas port to Al-Salif port in Hodeidah, including shipments containing chemical materials. They also participated in smuggling from Iran’s boat off the Somali coast to Al-Salif port. The other three (Mohammed Abdo Talhi, Mohammed Suleiman Muzjaji, Ashraf Bakri Ahmed Zain Abdullah) were involved in smuggling several shipments through Djibouti. The four main members of the cell explained the methods used by the Houthi militia to recruit them for arms smuggling and the routes to reach Iran by air and sea, pointing out that the militia exploited flights from Sana’a airport to Jordan to smuggle cells to Lebanon, where Hezbollah receives them and transfers them to Syria and then to Tehran, in addition to another route through Oman. The cell members stated that those transported by air to Iran are required to stay in a Houthi militia camp in Tehran, led by an individual named “Mohammed Jaafar Al-Talabi,” who is responsible for coordination between the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the militia, before being moved to smaller camps in Bandar Abbas. Those traveling by sea head directly to Bandar Abbas. The cell members revealed the existence of three smuggling routes: the first is direct from Bandar Abbas port to Al-Salif port; the second involves the Iranian Revolutionary Guard transporting weapons via boat to the Somali coast; and the third operates under a commercial cover through Djibouti, where local elements handle the transfer to Al-Salif port. Four cell members confirmed their participation in smuggling shipments in refrigerated containers from Bandar Abbas port under specific temperature conditions set by Iranian specialists, shedding light on Iran’s smuggling of sensitive chemical materials used in manufacturing rockets and explosives, such as hydrazine and liquid nitrogen. Regarding the latest shipment, which was seized and falls under the third route, where the Iranian Revolutionary Guard transports weapons to Djibouti and ships them under a commercial cover, the cell members confirmed it was the 12th shipment of its kind, disguised as workshop equipment, including “generators, electrical transformers, air pumps, and hydraulic columns.” They expressed their shock when the National Resistance navy opened the equipment, revealing disassembled rockets, drones, air defense systems, radars, and other strategic weapons that the Houthi militia claims to manufacture. The cell members noted that international naval patrols showed no interest in intercepting them at sea, and when crossing the Bab al-Mandab Strait at night, they took the western side of the international shipping lane near Eritrea to evade coast guard patrols and the National Resistance navy. The cell members disclosed the names of the Houthi leaders managing smuggling cells in Hodeidah: Hussein Hamed Hamza Mohsen Al-Atas, Mohammed Dirham Qasim Al-Muayyad, known as “Ibrahim Al-Muayyad,” Yahya Mohammed Hassan Qasim Al-Iraqi, known as “Yahya Jinnah,” and Faisal Ahmed Ghalib Al-Hamzi. Meanwhile, Iyad Mohammed Omar Maqbool Atini, Wael Mohammed Saeed Abdulwadud, and Omar Ahmed Omar Haj assist Al-Atas. The cell members concluded their confessions by confirming that the Houthi terrorist militia exploited their living conditions to recruit them for smuggling. They also mocked the militia’s claims of military manufacturing, saying: “It became clear to us that all the shipments we smuggled from Iran directly, or from the Iranian boat in Somalia, or through Djibouti, were weapons. It also became clear to us that we were the Houthi’s military manufacturing.”