Al-Shabaab, the Somalia-based, Al-Qaeda-linked terrorist organization, vowed on Saturday to fight any attempt by Israel “to claim or use parts of Somaliland” following its recognition of the breakaway territory.
“We will not accept it, and we will fight against it,” the group said in a statement quoted by AFP.
The terrorist organization said Israel’s recognition of Somaliland as a sovereign state showed it “has decided to expand into parts of the Somali territories” to support “the apostate administration in the northwest regions.”
Al-Shabaab has been fighting Somalia’s internationally recognized government for years, having carried out several deadly attacks in that country and elsewhere in the region, including the September 21, 2013, attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, that killed 67 people.
The leader of Al-Shabaab, Ahmed Godane, was killed in a US airstrike in 2014.
Somalia, January’s president of the UN Security Council, on Saturday requested an urgent session on the issue of Israel's recognition of Somaliland. The discussion is expected to take place on Monday.
The European Union criticized Israel's recognition of Somaliland as an independent state, insisting that recognition of Somalia's territorial integrity is "key for peace and stability" in the region.
Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia in 1991, has enjoyed effective autonomy and relative peace and stability, but to date has failed to receive recognition from any other country besides Israel.