by OSCAR RICKETT
Newly built runways and ports offer snapshot of Abu Dhabi’s regional ambitions and deepening strategic ties with Israel
From the islands of Socotra in the Indian Ocean to the coasts of Somalia and Yemen, satellite imagery analysed by Middle East Eye reveals a greatly expanded network of military and intelligence bases built by the United Arab Emirates.
This ring of control, in and around one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, has escalated rapidly since the 7 October Hamas-led attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.
The UAE’s allies, including Israel and the US, have been party to the creation and expansion of the bases.
Israeli officers have been on the ground in the islands and Israeli radar systems and other military and security apparatus allow the UAE to monitor and thwart attacks launched by the Houthis, the Iran-aligned movement that has fired missiles at Israel in solidarity with the Palestinians and targeted ships going through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
The UAE and Israel have an intelligence-sharing platform known as Crystal Ball, whereby they “design, deploy and enable regional intelligence enhancement” in partnership, according to a slide show designed to promote the pact.
“The relationship between the UAE and Israel was very developed even before formal diplomatic relations were established, but it was kept quiet. Not secret, just quiet,” Alon Pinkas, an Israeli diplomat who served as an adviser to four foreign ministers, told MEE.
The bases have not been constructed on territory formally held by the UAE.
Instead, they are to be found in areas nominally controlled by its allies, including Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council (STC), the Yemeni military commander Tareq Saleh, and the regional administrations of Somaliland and Puntland, which are both part of Somalia, whose government is at odds with the UAE.
Military bases, runways and other facilities have been constructed or expanded on Abd al-Kuri and Samhah, two islands that are part of the Socotra archipelago, which is now administered by STC; at the airports of Bosaso and Berbera in Puntland and Somaliland; Mocha in Yemen; and Mayun, a volcanic island in the Bab al-Mandab strait, through which 30 percent of the world’s oil is shipped.
This network of bases facilitates the control of this vital stretch of water by the UAE and its allies, and has been developed in close coordination with Israel, according to Israeli sources.
They facilitate a joined-up network of missile defence and intelligence sharing between Israel, the UAE and other allies.
As the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a pro-Israel US think tank, puts it: “Multilateral air-defence coalitions have become key to the post-October 7 Middle East defence landscape, with countries sharing radar, intelligence and early warning systems.”
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