A spokesperson for the United States' Africa Command warned that growing cooperation between Yemen's Houthi rebels and al Qaeda's Somali affiliate al Shabaab posed "escalatory threats to regional stability," the Financial Times reported on Sept. 29. The Financial Times quoted former United Nations expert Matt Bryden as saying that up to 1,500 fighters from al Shabaab and other Somali factions had received training by the Houthis and that there was evidence al Shabaab had requested surface-to-air missiles, such as the 358, from the Houthis.