News - Yemen:
The UAE’s intervention in strategic areas, islands, and provinces in Yemen has long raised questions about its objectives, methods, and impacts.
While the UAE officially promotes a foreign policy of neutrality, peaceful dispute resolution, and non-alignment, its actions in Yemen contradict these principles. According to Financial Times, the UAE applies a model of “quiet control” or “quiet domination,” relying on local proxies, infrastructure, and strategic positions rather than a heavy military presence.
This approach allows the UAE to establish influence efficiently while minimizing direct exposure.
By systematically empowering local militias, security forces, and political actors—including the Southern Transitional Council, the Giants Brigades, the Republican Guards under traitor Tariq Saleh, and the Security Belt formations—the UAE maintains operational control and secures logistical networks, while remaining largely behind the scenes.
This “proxy-based” influence relies on infrastructure, logistics, and precise geographic control, forming a network of strategic nodes that extend from the deserts of Shabwa to the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.
1. Murrah Camp, Shabwa – The First Key:
Deep in Shabwa’s desert, Murrah Camp is the first critical node in the UAE’s quiet domination. Situated near the main oil and gas pipelines leading to the Balhaf export port, it effectively controls the region’s energy lifeline. Reports from the International Crisis Group indicate that the camp was constructed gradually after 2018, linked strategically to Ataq city and Balhaf port, and expanded in 2022 into an underground command center, serving as a logistical fortress rather than a conventional base.
2. Balhaf Port – The Second Key:
Balhaf, Yemen’s largest industrial facility for liquefied gas export, has been repurposed into a UAE-controlled military site. While the port appears operational on paper, exports have largely stalled, and sections have been converted into a military base and reportedly a secret UAE detention site. According to World Bank estimates, Yemen has suffered losses exceeding $10 billion due to the UAE’s control over Balhaf, and local officials attempting to restore Yemeni management were removed.
3. Al-Riyan Airport, Mukalla – The Third Key:
Al-Riyan Airport has been transformed into a “control tower” for UAE operations. Once a civilian airport serving Hadramawt, it was closed to passengers, with satellite imagery from 2018–2022 revealing new military facilities and aircraft maintenance areas. Its strategic location on the Arabian Sea near international shipping routes makes it a radar and electronic monitoring node, described by Financial Times as part of an integrated surveillance network. Humanitarian organizations have criticized the closure as collective punishment, forcing citizens to undertake dangerous overland journeys for travel.
4. Bab al-Mandeb Strait and Mayun Island – The Fourth Key:
Mayun Island, located in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, is the jewel of the UAE’s quiet control network. Satellite imagery from May 2021 showed a new 1,850-meter runway capable of accommodating advanced military and reconnaissance aircraft. The island now functions as a fully integrated intelligence platform, equipped for maritime surveillance and electronic eavesdropping, in cooperation with international partners including the US and the Israeli enemy.
5. Mokha Port – The Fifth Key:
Once a historic coffee port, Mokha has become a major logistical hub supporting UAE-backed forces under traitor Tariq Saleh. The port hosts Intelligence Force 400 led by traitor Ammar Saleh and reportedly contains secret detention facilities, similar to Balhaf. The Washington Post described Mokha as “the nerve center of the Red Sea network,” highlighting its role as the operational arm of the UAE’s influence machinery.
Conclusion – Aden as the Command Hub:
The UAE’s model forms an integrated “geographical engineering” system where each node complements the others. Sources indicate Aden serves as the main command center for the UAE’s military and security network, which transitions into political influence. The Yemeni government and its officials have no real control; the UAE-backed formations constitute the core administrative and political nodes through which the network operates.
Since the 2015 aggression, the UAE has pursued a strategy of “quiet domination” in Yemen, using local proxies, key ports, airports, and islands to secure strategic influence while avoiding direct military exposure.
Facilities from Shabwa to the Bab al-Mandeb Strait have been repurposed for logistics, intelligence, and operational control, consolidating UAE-backed militias and political forces. This network, anchored in Aden, undermines Yemen’s sovereignty and reshapes the southern region’s political and security landscape.
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