| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Arabia | |
| Historical Back Story on Israeli - UAE - Houthi Mashup re Socotra Island Occupation | |
| 2023-12-31 | |
A UAE-backed construction project is being developed on Yemen's Socotra Island for the purposes of hosting Israeli soldiers, officers, and other military experts and personnel, according to a report by Yemen News Portal on 8 March. The report, citing anonymous sources, states that the joint Emirati-Israeli base on the strategic island will have housing units built for Israeli officers under the auspices of the Khalifa bin Zayed Institute. This is allegedly part of a plan to turn the Yemeni island into a center for regional espionage as well as increasing military control over maritime routes. In September 2021, Yemen News Agency reported that the UAE and Israel were setting up a military outpost on Socotra Island. The purpose of this joint outpost would be to gather intelligence for the Israeli military. Their joint cooperation includes allowing the Israeli air force an intelligence center in Socotra Airport. Socotra Island recently made headlines due to the controversy of Israeli tourists visiting the Yemeni island under a UAE-issued visa. Socotra is a strategic island located near the Bab al-Mandab Strait. The strait is a flashpoint for potential confrontation between Israel and Iran. In December 2020, the Washington Institute published an analysis titled 'Submarine Movements on Iran's Doorstep,' examining how Israeli submarines, which have the capability of being armed with nuclear warheads, are able to pass through the Suez Canal and then, from positions in the Persian Gulf near Yemen and Oman, can strike Iran with conventional or nuclear warheads. | |
| Posted by:Clem Elmish4239 |
| #3 Update from April of this year https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/what-uae-control-over-socotra-island-means-for-india-rest-of-the-world-2357041-2023-04-07 |
| Posted by: Slenter Panda4300 2023-12-31 17:17 |
| #2 Oddly enough, a search of the Rantburg archives for the period 10/2/2019-12/30/2022 using the term Socotra yields only one article about those invading Zionists — from Hodhod Yemen News on 9/2/2022, well after the events supposedly in question. There were two articles in 2020 about the UAE building a military base on the island, but it was then supposed that US Marines would be the beneficiary. At least the Cradle reporter pointed out that the second hand report was based on anonymous sources, the plan being merely alleged. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2023-12-31 14:51 |
| #1 WebMar 9, 2020 · A new batch of US Marines arrived on the Yemeni island of Socotra on Saturday, according to local sources, installing Patriot defence systems. |
| Posted by: Jerens Black9355 2023-12-31 09:19 |