DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A new airstrip is being built on a volcanic Red Sea island off the coast of Yemen, satellite images show probably the latest project of the allied forces to those opposed to Iran-backed Houthi rebels in the country.
The airstrip on Zuqar Island provides another link in a network of coastal bases in a region key to international shipping, where the Houthis have already attacked more than 100 ships, sinking four vessels and killing at least nine sailors. war between Israel and Hamas.
It could give the military the ability to conduct aerial surveillance over the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the strategic narrow Bab el-Mandeb strait connecting two waterways off East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
It is still unclear what would trigger the use of the airstrip for a military campaign. The United Arab Emirates, which has built additional runways in the region, did not respond to requests for comment. Nor did Yemen’s anti-Houthi forces, divided by warring interests and unable to launch a coordinated offensive against the rebels even after intense american and Israeli bombing campaigns which focused on them.
In recent months, anti-Houthi forces have done just that prohibit further cargo bound for the Houthissomething that a presence on Zuqar could help with.
“The possibility of a new Yemeni offensive against the Houthis, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, cannot be ruled out, although I do not see it as imminent,” said Eleonora Ardemagni, an analyst at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies who has studied Yemen for a long time.
“In my opinion, there is a more important point regarding the construction in Zuqar: the fight against the smuggling activities of the Houthis, especially when it comes to weapons,” she said.
Satellite images from PBC’s Planet Labs analyzed by The Associated Press show the construction of a nearly 2,000-meter-long airstrip on Zuqar Island, about 90 kilometers southeast of the Houthi-held port city of Hodeida, a key transportation hub.
The images show that work began in April to build a dock on the island and then clear land along the runway site. In late August, what appeared to be asphalt was being laid across the runway. Images from October show work continuing, with runway markings painted mid-month.
No one applied for the construction. But ship-tracking data analyzed by the AP show that the Batsa, a Togolese-flagged bulk carrier registered to a Dubai-based shipping firm, spent nearly a week alongside the new dock on Zuqar Island after arriving from Berbera in Somaliland, where DP World’s port is located. DP World declined to comment.
Dubai-based shipping company Saif Shipping and Marine Services has confirmed the receipt of an order to supply asphalt to the island, likely to be used in the construction of the runway, on behalf of other UAE-based firms. Other Emirati-based maritime firms were linked to other airstrip construction projects in Yemen, which were later linked to the United Arab Emirates.
The UAE is believed to be behind several runway projects in Yemen in recent years. In Mocha by the Red Sea, a project to expand the city’s airport now allows much larger planes to land. Local officials attributed the project to the United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven sheikhdoms, including Abu Dhabi and Dubai. There is now also an airstrip at nearby Dhubab.
The next runway is on Abd al-Kuri Islandin the Indian Ocean near the mouth of the Gulf of Aden. And in the strait of Bab el-Mandeb itself, another runway built by the UAE is on Mayun Island. An anti-Houthi separatist force in Yemen known as the Southern Transitional Council, which has long been supported by the UAE, controls the island and has acknowledged the UAE’s role in building the airport.
Zuqar Island is a strategic location in the Red Sea. Eritrea captured the island in 1995 after fighting Yemeni forces. In 1998, the International Court of Justice formally placed the island under the care of Yemen.
The island was once again at war after the Houthis seized the Yemeni capital Sana’a in 2014 and began a march south as the rebels captured Zuqar.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates entered the war in 2015 on behalf of the country’s government-in-exile and halted the Houthi advance. They also defeated the Houthis of Zuqar and recaptured the island, which became a haven for naval forces loyal to Tariq Saleh, the nephew of the late Yemeni leader Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The younger Saleh, once an ally of the Houthis his uncle switched sides and was killed by the rebelswas supported by the United Arab Emirates.
From then on, the front lines of the war were static for years.
That changed when the Houthis began their campaign to attack ships globally in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. This continued after a week-long campaign of intense airstrikes known as Operation Rough Rider launched by the United States and continued strikes by Israel, which appears to be growing closer to the Houthis’ top leadership despite the rebels’ penchant for secrecy.
“The Houthis, like any rebel group, win by not losing,” Gregory D. Johnsen, an expert on Yemen, wrote in June. “This is how the group has survived and grown from each of its wars.
While there is a loose confederation of anti-Houthi groups, it remains fragmented and has not launched any attacks during the US airstrikes. But the growing network of air bases around Yemen comes as anti-Houthi forces have made several significant seizures of weapons believed to be bound for the rebels — including one major haul that was hailed by the U.S. military’s top command.
“A possible Emirates airstrip at Zuqar could serve to improve surveillance and monitoring off the coast of Hodeida to better support Yemeni forces in the fight against smuggling,” Ardemagni said.
