Another cause for concern is the possibly dangerous connections between al-Qaeda-linked militants in the country and al-Shabab militant jihadists in Somalia. The Yemeni coast
line stretches for 2,000 kilometers from the Red Sea town of Midi in the northwest to Hof in the southwest corner of the Bab al-Mandab (Gate of Tears), and from there it is only a 25-kilometer sail across the strait to the coast of Djibouti. If Yemen falls apart, it would mean collapsed states on both sides of the intersection of the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, and the resulting chaos would likely exacerbate and extend the turbulence already generated by Somalia’s collapse.