Eritrea in Iran’s Crosshairs

JERUSALEM—Eritrea’s extensive weapons and human trafficking industry is operating with the full support of the Eritrean government, according to a United Nations report that was leaked to a British newspaper this week.

“An investigation by the Somalia and Eritrea monitoring group has uncovered a trafficking highway running from the Eritrean highlands through Sudan’s refugee camps into the Sinai desert, delivering arms to militant groups, and Eritrean asylum-seekers to Bedouin gangs,” London’s Guardian reported (July 17).

As we reported Tuesday, the Sinai Peninsula is fast becoming a hotbed of terrorist cells that are arming themselves with smuggled weapons and actively training for war. According to witness testimony cited in the UN report, the arms from Eritrea are delivered to Palestinians in Gaza as well as to radical Islamists and Bedouin gangs in the Sinai. The trafficking ring is so extensive that it is believed to involve several high-ranking Eritrean officials and military personnel.

This is the real significance behind the Eritrean weapons smuggling operation—that it may reach the very highest levels of government in the African nation. Earlier this year, we predicted the radicalization of Eritrea and that it would soon become a “blockbuster headline” to hit newspapers.

“[R]adical Islamist forces have gotten a foothold in Eritrea, Ethiopia’s regional adversary and a nation strategically situated at the gateway of the Red Sea,” we wrote in February.

In 2006, the United Nations accused Iran, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Hezbollah of providing arms, training and financing to Islamic militants in Somalia via Eritrea. In December 2008, reports emerged that Iranian naval vessels had visited the Eritrean port of Assab and deposited an undisclosed number of Iranian troops and weapons there …. Eritrea’s support … of Islamic terrorism in general is so serious that the UN Security Council last November imposed sanctions on the country. The sanctions, stated U.S. ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, will send the message to Eritrea “that it will pay an ever higher price” for its support of Iran and radical Islamist groups.

When it comes to the spread of radical Islam, Iran is always there hard at work behind the scenes. It already controls the Strait of Hormuz, and with the radicalization of Egypt now in full swing, you can be sure its sights are set on the Suez Canal as well. Throw in Eritrea and eventually Ethiopia, and Iran will have devoured the Red Sea. When that happens, as we wrote in that February article, Iran will then have the power and resources to lock down virtually the entire Middle East!

For more on this trend, read “Ethiopia in the Crosshairs.”