A senior Somaliland official did not rule out allowing Israel to establish a military presence in the region during a period from 7:45:46 AM to 10:15:42 AM UTC on February 22, 2026, as Somaliland offered the United States rights to exploit its minerals and establish military bases there, according to an AFP report cited by @guyelster on X. The post at https://x.com/guyelster/status/2025500154938212689 quotes AFP directly, stating "Somaliland has offered the United States to exploit its minerals and establish military bases in it," with the senior official's comment on potential Israeli involvement noted separately in the same update over this 2-hour-29-minute window. No additional details on the timing of the official's statement or specific locations for proposed bases were provided in the source.
