Satellite imagery reviewed by Middle East Eye shows a major expansion of Emirati and Israeli military and intelligence bases across Yemen’s coastal islands and parts of Somalia, marking what analysts describe as a “rapid escalation” since October 2023.
• The network includes airstrips, radar installations, and intelligence hubs built on Yemen’s Abd al-Kuri and Samhah islands, as well as facilities in Bosaso and Berbera (Somalia), Mocha (Yemen), and Mayun Island in the Bab al-Mandab Strait — a key maritime chokepoint where 30% of global oil passes.
• Israeli officers reportedly helped install radar systems to detect attacks from Yemen’s Ansarallah movement, part of a wider UAE-Israel-US intelligence-sharing and missile defense arrangement.
• Abu Dhabi claims its presence on Socotra and nearby islands is “humanitarian” and coordinated with Yemen’s government. However, Sanaa accuses the UAE and Israel of displacing residents and turning the area into a regional espionage hub.
The Emirati-Israeli cooperation on Socotra, first exposed in 2023, underscores the deepening security alignment between the two states — one that now stretches across the Red Sea and into the Horn of Africa.