A mysterious air base is being built on a volcanic island near Yemen, Yemen

A mysterious air force base is being built on a volcanic island Yemen It is located in one of the key maritime hubs for energy transportation and commercial cargo in the world.

Although no country claims to own the Mayun Island Air Force Base in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the transportation related to previous attempts to build a large runway on the 5.6 km (3.5 miles) long island many years ago can be traced back to Arabia. United emirates.

Internationally recognized government officials in Yemen stated that even if the UAE announced in 2019 that it would withdraw its troops from Saudi-led military operations against the Houthi rebels in Yemen, Emirates is behind this latest effort.

“This seems to be a long-term strategic goal of establishing a relatively permanent existence,” said Jeremy Binnie, the Middle East editor of the open source intelligence company Janes. He has been building it for many years in Mayun. He said that this “may not only be related to the Yemen war, but you must see that the transportation situation there is quite critical.”

Neither UAE officials in Abu Dhabi nor the UAE Embassy in Washington responded to requests for comment.

The runway on Ma Yun Island allows anyone who controls it to project power into the strait and easily launch an air strike against Yemen, which has been plagued by a bloody war that lasted for several years. It also provides a base for any operations into the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and nearby East Africa.

Satellite images obtained by the Associated Press from Planet Labs show that on April 11, construction vehicles built a 1.85 km (6,070 ft) runway on the island. By May 18, the work appeared to have been completed, and three hangars were built on the apron on the south side of the runway.

The length of the runway can accommodate attack, surveillance and transport aircraft. An earlier effort started at the end of 2016 and was later abandoned by workers as they tried to build a larger runway with a total length of more than 3 kilometers (9,800 feet), which would allow the use of the heaviest bombers.

Since 2015, military officials of Yemen’s internationally recognized government have stated that the UAE is building this runway. The Saudi Arabia-led coalition has supported the government since 2015. The officials spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they did not have the right to brief reporters. They said that UAE ships have delivered military weapons, equipment and troops to Ma Yun Island in recent weeks.

Military officials said that the recent tension between the UAE and Yemeni President Abdul Rabub Mansour Hadi was partly due to the UAE’s request that his government sign a 20-year lease for Jack Ma. UAE officials did not admit any differences.

The initial construction project that failed came after the UAE and allied forces took back the island from Iranian-backed Houthi militants in 2015. By the end of 2016, satellite images showed that the site was under construction.

Tracking signals recorded by data company Refinitiv showed that the tugboat associated with Dubai’s Echo Cargo & Shipping, the landing craft and carrier of Bin Nawi Marine Services landing in Abu Dhabi brought the equipment to the island for the first time. Satellite photos at the time showed that they had unloaded gears and vehicles at a temporary seaside port.

Echo Cargo & Shipping declined to comment, while Bin Nawi Marine Services did not respond to a request for comment. Recent transportation data shows that there are no ships on record near Jack Ma, which indicates that those who provide newly constructed shipping services will turn off the tracking equipment of their ships’ automatic identification system to avoid being identified.

Construction was initially stopped in 2017, when engineers might realize that they could not excavate the uneven terrain of the volcanic island to merge the site of the old runway. Satellite photos show that a few weeks after President Joe Biden announced that he would end U.S. support for the Saudi Arabia-led attack on the Huitt, satellite photos show that the building was seriously on the new runway around February 22 Reboot.

After the UAE dismantled its military base in Eritrea in East Africa as its base on the Yemen battlefield, the UAE apparently decided to resume the establishment of an air base.

Eleonora Ardemagni, an analyst at the Italian Institute of International Politics, said that although the Horn of Africa has become a “dangerous zone” in the UAE due to competitors and local war risks, Jack Ma has a small population and provides valuable land to monitor the Red Sea. Attacks and incidents in the area have increased.

Admani said: “The Emirati has shifted from a foreign policy of projecting electricity to a foreign policy of protecting electricity.” It improves the possibility of “they monitor what is happening and prevent non-state actors close to Iran. The ability to threat”.

It is said that the expeditionary force of the Iranian Paramilitary Revolutionary Guards carried out a similar operation on a cargo ship that had been stationed near Yemen for a long time and was then apparently attacked by Israel.

Ma Yun (also known as Perim Island) is located two miles from the southwestern edge of Yemen. For hundreds of years, world powers have recognized the strategic location of the island, especially the opening of the Suez Canal, which connects the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.