DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A new landing strip is being built on a volcanic island in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen, satellite images show, likely the latest project by allied forces by those opposed to the country’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
The landing strip on Zuqar Island provides another link in a network of offshore bases in a key region for international shipping, where the Houthis have already attacked more than 100 ships, sinking four vessels and killing at least nine sailors during the war between Israel and Hamas.
It could give a military force the ability to conduct aerial surveillance over the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the strategically narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait that connects the two waterways off East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
Still, it is unclear what would cause the airstrip to be used for a military campaign. The United Arab Emirates, which has built other runways in the region, did not respond to requests for comment. Neither did Yemen’s anti-Houthi forces, divided by warring interests and unable to launch a coordinated attack against the rebels even after intense US and Israeli bombing campaigns against them.
In recent months, anti-Houthi forces have been able to intercept more shipments destined for the Houthis, something that having a presence in Zuqar could help.
“The possibility of a new Yemeni offensive against the Houthis, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, cannot be ruled out, although I do not see it coming soon,” said Eleonora Ardemagni, an analyst at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies who has long studied Yemen.
“In my opinion, there is a more important point regarding the rally in Zuqar: the fight against the smuggling activities of the Houthis, in particular regarding weapons,” he said.
A clue on a strategic island
Satellite photographs from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by The Associated Press show construction of a nearly 2,000-meter (6,560-foot) runway on Zuqar Island, which is about 90 kilometers (55 miles) southeast of the Houthi-controlled port city of Hodeidah, a major shipping hub.
The images show that work began in April to build a dock on the island and then clearing land along the runway site. In late August, what appears to be asphalt was being laid on the runway. Images from October show work continuing, with track markings painted in the middle of the month.
Nobody has claimed the construction. However, ship tracking data analyzed by the AP shows that the Batsa, a Togolese-flagged bulk carrier registered to a Dubai-based shipping company, spent nearly a week alongside the new dock on Zuqar Island after arriving from Berbera in Somaliland, the site of a DP World port. DP World declined to comment.
A Dubai-based shipping company, Saif Shipping and Marine Services, acknowledged receiving an order to deliver asphalt to the island likely used in the construction of the runway on behalf of other companies based in the United Arab Emirates. Other maritime companies based in the Emirates have partnered with other runway construction projects in Yemen that were later linked to the United Arab Emirates.
The United Arab Emirates is believed to be behind multiple airstrip projects in recent years in Yemen. In Mocha, on the Red Sea, a project to expand that city’s airport now allows it to land much larger planes. Local officials attributed that project to the United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven sheikhdoms, including Abu Dhabi and Dubai. There is now also an airstrip in nearby Dhubab.
Another clue is on Abd al-Kuri Island in the Indian Ocean, near the mouth of the Gulf of Aden. And in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait itself, another runway built by the United Arab Emirates is located on Mayun Island. An anti-Houthi secessionist force in Yemen known as the Southern Transition Council, which has long been backed by the United Arab Emirates, controls the island and has acknowledged the UAE’s role in building the airport.
Attacks on Houthi shipments
Zuqar Island is a strategic location in the Red Sea. Eritrea captured the island in 1995 after fighting Yemeni forces. In 1998, an international court formally placed the island under Yemeni custody.
The island became embroiled in war again after the Houthis seized Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014 and began a march south, when the rebels took Zuqar.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates entered the war in 2015 on behalf of the country’s exiled government, stopping the Houthi advance. They also repelled Zuqar’s Houthis, retaking the island, which has become a staging point for naval forces loyal to Tariq Saleh, nephew of Yemen’s late strongman leader Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The younger Saleh, who was once an ally of the Houthis before his uncle switched sides and was killed by the rebels, has been backed by the United Arab Emirates.
Since then, the front lines of the war have remained static for years.
What changed was that the Houthis took their campaign global with attacks on ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. This continued even after a week-long campaign of intense airstrikes known as Operation Rough Rider launched by the United States and continued attacks by Israel, which appear to be closing in on the Houthi top leadership despite the rebels’ penchant for secrecy.
“The Houthis, like any insurgent group, win if they don’t lose,” Gregory D. Johnsen, a Yemen expert, wrote in June. “This is how the group has survived and grown in each of their wars.”
While a loose confederation of anti-Houthi groups exists, it remains fragmented and did not launch any attacks during the US airstrikes. But the growing network of air bases around Yemen comes as anti-Houthi forces have made several major weapons seizures, likely destined for the rebels, including a large haul that was praised by the US military’s Central Command.
“A probable Emirati airstrip in Zuqar could serve to improve surveillance and tracking off the coast of Hodeida to better support Yemeni forces in the fight against smuggling,” Ardemagni said.