In an attempt to project dominance throughout the region, the UAE has attempted to make advantage of its substantial financial resources as well as the vast training and expertise it has acquired over decades of security cooperation with the US.

The Horn of Africa, which is located over the Red Sea from Yemen and has been a major target for the Emirates since the Houthi movement, supported by Iran, took control of Sanaa in 2014, is one area of particular concern for the UAE in terms of security. Leaders in the UAE believed that expanding their influence into the Horn of Africa would assist them and Saudi Arabia, their main ally, avoid Iran and the Houthis and weaken Tehran's strategic position in the area. However, Emirati commanders discovered that fighting the Houthis and negotiating the convoluted and tense politics among the many East African nations has proven to be more challenging than they had anticipated.

The Houthis launched ballistic missiles and drones at Abu Dhabi International Airport in January 2022, more than two years after the UAE withdrew its ground intervention against them. This event made Emirati leaders realise the risks associated with their strategy of containing the Islamic Republic of Iran and its numerous regional allies. Additionally, some of the UAE's efforts to strengthen its geopolitical position in the Red Sea have strained relations with Egypt, another ally, which has direct and material economic and political interests in the nations to its south, as well as with Saudi Arabia, its primary Gulf ally that borders those seas. According to some analysts, the UAE's continued support of Southern Hegemonic separatists undermines Saudi efforts to resolve the Yemeni crisis.

The UAE's policy has also placed the nation in danger from terrorist organisations like Al Shabaab and Houthis, who support Iran and constitute a serious threat to Somalia's government as well as that of its neighbours. According to the UAE defence ministry, the threat resurfaced when an attack at a military base in the capital of Somalia claimed the lives of three UAE military personnel as well as a military officer from Bahrain, a significant UAE ally. An affiliate of Al Qaeda named Al Shabaab took credit for the assault.

As part of a resurrected agreement between the UAE and Somalia to combat piracy and terrorist groups, and more generally as a cornerstone of UAE aspirations to expand its influence in the Horn of Africa, UAE officers have been training soldiers from the Somali Armed Forces. An earlier agreement between the UAE and Somalia that included UAE counterterrorism training for Somali forces fell apart in 2018 when the country's officials accused the Emirates of infringing on their sovereignty.