Despite Announcing Its Withdrawal; Why Is the UAE Building a Military Base in Yemen’s ‘Perim’?

Although the UAE has announced the withdrawal of its forces from Yemen in February 2020, it is working to build a military base on the strategic Perim Island (called Mayyun in Arabic) located in the Bab Al-Mandab Strait.

The U.S. Associated Press indicated that an air base is being built on the Yemeni island of Perim, which is located in a strategic area in the heart of the Bab Al-Mandab Strait.

On April 11, 2021, satellite images taken by Planet Labs showed dump trucks, a runway, and 3 hangars south of the runway.

The agency quoted officials in the internationally recognized Yemeni government, whom it did not name, that the UAE was behind the construction of this base.

It also quoted military officials, who wished to remain anonymous, as saying that “Emirati ships have transported weapons, military equipment and forces to Mayyun [Perim] Island in recent weeks.”

Military officials explained that “the recent tension between the UAE and Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi is due in part to Emirati demands for his government to sign a lease agreement for Mayyun Island for a period of 20 years.”

Whitewashing Crimes

The UAE ignored these reports, and the Associated Press reported that Emirati officials in Abu Dhabi and its embassy in Washington did not respond to the agency’s requests to comment on the news.

As for Saudi Arabia, which leads the so-called Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen, it denied the reports that spoke of the presence of Emirati forces on the Yemeni islands of Socotra and Perim.

The official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted an official source in the Coalition as saying: “There is no truth to the news that talks about the presence of forces of the United Arab Emirates, on the islands of Socotra and Mayyun [Perim].”

He explained that “the equipment on Mayyun Island is under the control of the coalition leadership, and serves to enable the legitimate and coalition forces to confront the Houthi militia, secure maritime navigation, and support the forces of the west coast.”

However, Yemeni political analyst Yassin Al-Tamimi believes that Saudi Arabia’s denial of the news is an attempt to provide a cover for the provocative and aggressive Emirati approach, as it is not in Riyadh’s interest to establish its image as a partner of a colonial party, he said.

Al-Tamimi adds to Al-Estiklal that “Saudi Arabia always seeks to wash away the crimes of the UAE by portraying what is happening in Mayyun as part of the defensive arrangements associated with the military mission of the coalition, including supporting the forces stationed on the west coast.”

He continues: “The construction of an Emirati military base on the Yemeni island of Mayyun is part of a plan that the UAE is implementing in full swing, in order to achieve several goals.”

One of the goals, according to the analyst, was to strip the legitimate authority of the elements of its existence and influence, as well as to establish new centers of power that have the ability to divide and weaken Yemen, and to rebuild a totalitarian, dictatorial authority in a divided and fragmented Yemen.

This action comes in the context of the UAE’s engagement with Western powers by securing a strategic logistical support station for the fleets affiliated with these forces in the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, and establishing the principle of regional supervision over the strait.

Yemeni MP Ali Ashal wrote a tweet on his account in which he commented on the statement of the coalition official in Riyadh, who denied any Emirati activities on Perim Island, in which he said: “The statement of the responsible source in the coalition about Mayyun [Perim] Island just added fuel to the fire.”

Ashal continued: “He proved the accuracy of the information and also proved that the deviation was not an abnormal act by a party in the coalition, but rather a systematic and satisfactory action. Where are the state authorities in all that is happening? We want to hear from them?!!”

 

Violation and Negligence

As for the Yemeni MP and former governor of Taiz, Ali Al-Mamari, he wrote a series of tweets on his account, in one of which he said: “The military presence on the Yemeni islands is relied upon by preparing armed groups that are more like security companies.”

And he stated that “financing it from outside state institutions, beyond the authorities of the Yemeni state, represents a flagrant violation of Yemen’s sovereignty, and nothing absolves the government from carrying out its responsibilities and duties towards the territorial integrity and sovereignty.”

For his part, the Yemeni ambassador to Jordan, Ali Al-Imrani, implicitly accused the UAE of supporting the separatists in Yemen in order to seize its islands.

He said in a tweet on his account: “They came [the Emiratis] with the aim of restoring legitimacy to Sana’a, but they expelled it [the legitimacy] from the country’s temporary capital, Aden,” adding: “They support the opponents of legitimacy from the separatists [the Southern Transitional Council] to dominate islands such as Mayyun and Socotra and they bring foreign tourists to it without a visa from the Yemeni government.”

In turn, the Deputy Speaker of the Yemeni Parliament, Abdulaziz Gubari, wrote a tweet on his account, in which he said: “Keeping silent about what is happening on Mayyun Island by the UAE is a neglect of Yemen’s sovereignty,” and he believed that “whoever neglects the sovereignty of their country have lost their legitimacy.”

Democratic U.S. Senator Chris Murphy addressed the issue of the UAE building a military base on the Yemeni island of Perim, and wrote a tweet in which he stressed that Abu Dhabi did not leave Yemen.

This came in his comment on a tweet talking about the UAE building an air base at the Bab Al-Mandab Strait off Yemen, and the writer of the tweet wondered whether Israel would benefit from this base.

 

Strategic Importance

“This does seem to be a longer-term strategic aim to establish a relatively permanent presence,” Jeremy Binnie, Mideast editor at the open-source intelligence company Janes, told The Associated Press.

He added that it is “possibly not just about the Yemen war and you’ve got to see the shipping situation as fairly key there.”

The strategic importance of the Yemeni island of Perim lies in its positioning in the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, and its control over it enables the movement of maritime navigation in the strait.

Therefore, controlling it gives military and strategic superiority, especially in light of international competition for the extension of influence.

In addition, Bab Al-Mandab itself overlooks two continents, namely Asia and Africa, and whoever manages to control the island can carry out any air attacks from the military base on the island.

The Associated Press indicated that the construction of the air base represents a more strategic dimension beyond the scope of the military conflict for the UAE.

It should be noted that the control of the Yemeni island of Perin reduces the importance of controlling the Eritrean island of Assab, which does not directly overlook the strait.

That is why, several months ago, the UAE dismantled its military base on Assab Island and transferred part of the military vehicles to Perim.

An investigation by Al Jazeera, which was published in March 2021, revealed that the UAE is working to dismantle its military base (known as Assab) in Eritrea, and has transferred part of its military facilities and vehicles to Yemen’s Perim.

The investigation—which the Advanced Research and Investigative Unit worked on in cooperation with a team specialized in analyzing satellite images—stated that the UAE dismantled military barracks, and transferred the Patriot system and aircraft from the Assab military base.

Satellite images also showed military construction on the Yemeni island of Perim in Bab Al-Mandab, coinciding with the dismantling of the Eritrean base.