Across a highly sensitive geographic corridor stretching between Yemen and Sudan, the Muslim Brotherhood has re-emerged at the centre of the scene as an ideological and logistical incubator for two of the world’s most dangerous terrorist organisations: ISIS and Al-Qaeda. Exploiting the chaos produced by the two protracted wars, alongside entangled regional interventions, the groups have reactivated recruitment, financing, and deployment networks — an evolution that threatens maritime security in the Red Sea and signals a widening of conflicts across the region.
This extremist resurgence comes at a critical moment, as the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen faces what observers describe as a strategic failure after nearly a decade of military operations. Despite massive expenditures and alliances with forces aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood, the coalition failed to achieve its primary objective of retaking Sana’a, while the Houthis entrenched their control over the country’s north.
Saudi Arabia managed the northern front, while the United Arab Emirates oversaw the south and, within two years — in alliance with the Southern Resistance — succeeded in liberating roughly 70 percent of Yemeni territory, expelling the Houthis from those areas, and driving Al-Qaeda out of Hadramout Governorate in 2016. None of this was achieved in the north, where Saudi-aligned forces suffered repeated defeats.
This stalemate has opened the door to notable political shifts, with reports pointing to Saudi–Houthi rapprochement — a sharp departure from years of intensive aerial confrontation and a reflection of clear disarray in the management of the Yemeni file.
This confusion is compounded by what local sources describe as punitive responses to the moves of southerners seeking to restore their independent state away from Houthi domination. In December 2025, reports circulated of the suspension of ship entry permits for Aden port for several days, raising fears of disruptions to food and medical supplies.
Meanwhile, Socotra Island has witnessed escalating tensions after Saudi forces closed the airport to air traffic, leaving hundreds of tourists and travellers stranded and sparking widespread local protests. Demonstrators raised banners under the hashtag #Reject_The_Closure_of_Socotra_Airport and staged sit-ins and marches banned by Saudi authorities, demanding an end to what they described as the Saudi “siege” of the island in the Indian Ocean.
The turbulent scene is not confined to Yemen; it extends to Sudan, where Riyadh supports the army led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, allied with Islamist factions linked to the Muslim Brotherhood. Despite Saudi Arabia’s declared role as a mediator at the outset of the crisis, repeated official visits and financial and logistical assistance point to direct backing of the Burhan camp, fuelling growing concerns over the creation of an enabling environment for the expansion of extremist groups.
At the heart of these crises lies the role of the Muslim Brotherhood as an organisational and ideological platform facilitating the activities of ISIS and Al-Qaeda.
In Sudan, Al-Azhar Observatory warned that open borders and security breakdowns provide “strong support” to ISIS branches in the region, including groups such as Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab. In Yemen, the local newspaper Al-Ayyam reported that southern forces affiliated with the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council carried out strikes against ISIS cells in Al-Mahra Governorate and launched a broad military campaign against Al-Qaeda in the governorates of Hadramout and Abyan, while a UN report confirms the continuation of recruitment and coordination operations among the group’s branches in Yemen and Somalia.
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, established in 2009 amid the collapse of state institutions, is considered the most dangerous globally, according to classifications by the European Centre for Counter-Terrorism.
These organisations benefit from complex opportunistic alliances. In Sudan, Islamist militants are fighting alongside al-Burhan’s forces, amid UN reports citing ISIS funding channels through Turkish companies. In Yemen, despite ideological contradictions, a Security Council report points to the existence of “secret cooperation networks” between the Houthis and ISIS elements, mediated by Al-Qaeda.
Researcher Adel al-Ahmadi of the Nashwan Centre for Studies summarises the situation:
“The prevailing assumption was that Al-Qaeda would engage in open confrontation with the Houthis, but in reality, it aligned itself with the Iranian project.”
The ramifications of this reality extend beyond the region, as between 12 and 15 percent of global trade passes through the Red Sea, making any security escalation a direct threat to global oil and food supply chains.
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