An airstrip is being built on a Yemeni island during the ongoing war, with 'I LOVE UAE' next to itAs Yemen's Houthi rebels continue to target ships in a Middle East waterway, satellite pictures analysed by The Associated Press show what appears to be a new airstrip being built at an entrance to that crucial maritime route.
In response to questions from the AP, the United Arab Emirates said Thursday that "any presence of the UAE on Socotra island is based on humanitarian grounds that is carried out in cooperation with the Yemeni government and local authorities." The runway, running north to south, measures some 3 kilometres. A runway of that length can accommodate attack, surveillance and transport aircraft, even some of the heaviest bombers.
The US military told the AP it is not involved in the construction on Abd al-Kuri, nor is there any American "military presence" elsewhere in Yemen. US special forces have launched raids in the past in Yemen, while a two-decade American drone strike campaign has targeted the country's local al-Qaida affiliate.
The island since has felt far removed from the chaos that has gripped Yemen in the decades since, from unification, to civil war, to the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels' sweeping entrance into the capital in 2014. A Saudi-led coalition that includes the UAE entered the Yemen war in 2015 on behalf of the country's exiled government and has been caught in a grinding, nearly decade-long conflict since.
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