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world news Diaranson 26 Mei 2021

Mysterious air base being built on volcanic island off Yemen

(AP) — A mysterious air base is
being built on a volcanic island
off Yemen that sits in one of the
world’s crucial maritime choke-
points for both energy shipments
and commercial cargo.

While no country has claimed the
Mayun Island air base in the Bab el-
Mandeb Strait, shipping traffic asso-
ciated with a prior attempt to build a
massive runway across the 5.6-kilo-
meter (3.5 mile)-long island years ago
links back to the United Arab Emir-
ates.

Officials in Yemen’s internationally
recognized government now say the
Emiratis are behind this latest effort
as well, even though the UAE an-
nounced in 2019 it was withdrawing
its troops from a Saudi-led military
campaign battling Yemen’s Houthi
rebels.

“This does seem to be a longer-term
strategic aim to establish a relatively
permanent presence,” said Jeremy
Binnie, the Mideast editor at the
open-source intelligence company
Janes who has followed construction
on Mayun for years. It’s “possibly not
just about the Yemen war and you’ve
got to see the shipping situation as
fairly key there.” anonymity as they didn’t have autho- nearby off Yemen before being appar-
rization to brief journalists, say Emi- Construction initially stopped in ently targeted by an Israeli attack.
Emirati officials in Abu Dhabi and rati ships transported military weap- 2017, likely when engineers realized
the UAE’s Embassy in Washington ons, equipment and troops to Mayun they couldn’t dig through a portion Mayun, also known as Perim Island,
did not respond to requests for com- Island in recent weeks. of the volcanic island’s craggy fea- sits some 3.5 kilometers (2 miles)
ment. U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, a tures to incorporate the site of the off the southwestern edge of Yemen.
Democrat from Connecticut, called The military officials said recent ten- island’s old runway. The building re- World powers have recognized the is-
the base “a reminder that the UAE is sion between the UAE and Yemeni started in earnest on the new runway land’s strategic location for hundreds
not actually out of Yemen.” President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi site around Feb. 22, satellite photos of years, especially with the opening
came in part from an Emirati demand show, several weeks after President of the Suez Canal linking the Medi-
The runway on Mayun Island allows for his government to sign a 20-year Joe Biden announced he would end terranean and Red Seas.
whoever controls it to project power lease agreement for Mayun. Emirati U.S. support for the Saudi-led offen-
into the strait and easily launch air- officials have not acknowledged any sive against the Houthis. The British kept the island up until
strikes into mainland Yemen, con- disagreement. their departure from Yemen in 1967.
vulsed by a yearslong bloody war. It The apparent decision by the Emiratis The Soviet Union, allied with South
also provides a base for any opera- The initial, failed construction proj- to resume building the air base comes Yemen’s Marxist government, up-
tions into the Red Sea, the Gulf of ect came after Emirati and allied after the UAE dismantled parts of a graded Mayun’s naval facilities but
Aden and nearby East Africa. forces retook the island from Irani- military base it ran in the East African used them “only infrequently,” ac-
an-backed Houthi militants in 2015. nation of Eritrea as a staging ground cording a 1981 CIA analysis. That’s
Satellite images from Planet Labs Inc. By late 2016, satellite images showed for its Yemen campaign. likely due to needing to bring water
obtained by The Associated Press construction underway there. and supplies onto the island. That
showed dump trucks and graders While the Horn of Africa “has be- will affect the new air base as well as
building a 1.85 kilometer (6,070- Tugboats associated with Dubai- come a dangerous place” for the Emi- Mayun has no modern port, said Bin-
foot) runway on the island on April based Echo Cargo & Shipping LLC ratis due to competitors and local war nie, the Janes analyst.
11. By May 18, that work appeared and landing craft and carriers from risks, Mayun has a small population
complete, with three hangars con- Abu Dhabi-based Bin Nawi Marine and offers a valuable site for moni- The base still may interest American
structed on a tarmac just south of the Services LLC helped bring equip- toring the Red Sea, said Eleonora forces, however. U.S. troops oper-
runway. ment to the island in that first at- Ardemagni, an analyst at the Italian ated from Yemen’s al-Anad Air Base
tempt, according to tracking signals Institute for International Political running a campaign of drone strikes
A runway of that length can accom- recorded by data firm Refinitiv. Sat- Studies. The region has seen a rise in targeting al-Qaida in the Arabian
modate attack, surveillance and trans- ellite photos at the time show they attacks and incidents. Peninsula until the Houthi advance
port aircraft. An earlier effort begun offloaded the gear and vehicles at a forced them to withdraw in 2015.
toward the end of 2016 and later temporary beachside port. “The Emiratis have been shifting The Defense Department later ac-
abandoned had workers try to build from a power-projection foreign knowledged on-the-ground Ameri-
an even-larger runway over 3 kilome- Echo Cargo & Shipping declined to policy to a power-protection foreign can troops supported the Saudi-led
ters (9,800 feet) long, which would comment, while Bin Nawi Marine policy,” Ardemagni said. It increases coalition around Mukalla in 2016.
allow for the heaviest bombers. Services did not respond to a request “their capacity to monitor what hap- Special forces raids and drones also
for comment. Recent shipping data pens and to prevent possible threats have targeted the country.
Military officials with Yemen’s in- shows no recorded vessels around by non-state actors close to Iran.”
ternationally recognized govern- Mayun, suggesting whoever provid- The U.S. military’s Central Com-
ment, which the Saudi-led coalition ed the sealift for the latest construc- The expeditionary Quds Force of mand did not respond to a request
has backed since 2015, say the UAE tion turned off their boats’ Automatic Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary for comment. The CIA declined to
is building the runway. The officials, Identification System tracking devic- Guard was said to run a similar op- comment.
speaking to the AP on condition of es to avoid being identified. eration on a cargo ship long stationed