The US military told the AP it was not involved in the construction on Abd al-Kuri, nor was there any American “military presence” elsewhere in Yemen. US special forces have launched raids in the past in Yemen, while a two-decade American drone strike campaign has targeted the country’s al-Qaeda affiliate.
There also weren’t any air defence batteries immediately discernible around the Abd al-Kuri island site in satellite imagery. However, what appear to be piles of dirt at the site had been arranged to spell “I love UAE” just east of the runway.
Long been a strategic port
The island of Socotra, a UNESCO World Heritage site home to the rare Dragon Blood tree, has long been a strategic port given its location on a key East-West trade route from Asia and the Middle East to Europe. The Soviet Union once used Socotra as an anchorage for both its surface fleet and submarines when South Yemen, a Communist nation based in Aden, ruled the island from 1967 until 1990.
The island since has felt far removed from the chaos that has gripped Yemen in the decades since. A Saudi-led coalition that includes the UAE entered the Yemen war in 2015 on behalf of the country’s exiled government and has been caught in a grinding, nearly decade-long conflict since.
In 2018, the UAE deployed troops to Socotra island, sparking a dispute with Yemen’s exiled government. Two years later, clashes broke out between Yemeni separatists backed by the UAE and other forces there.
Meanwhile, Iranian-linked media and the Houthis have alleged, without providing evidence, that the Emiratis allowed Israel to operate from Socotra. Israel has not acknowledged any presence there, and the Israeli prime minister’s office declined to comment.
