UAE attracts Socotra children for suspicious purposes

SOCOTRA, Aug. 14 (YPA) -The UAE is attracting children and young people under the age of 18 for suspicious purposes, local sources said Monday.

The sources confirmed that the Socotra Training Center funded by the UAE Khalifa Foundation, published advertising posters inviting children under the age of 18 to join free training programs supervised by trainers from Ukraine, Italy and Sudan.

The calls met with concern and fear from parents, amid warnings about the UAE’s intentions to recruit children and young people in Socotra, with the aim of establishing armed militias loyal to them on the island.

This comes after the UAE-backed “Southern Transitional Council ” militias took control of Hadeboh, the capital of Socotra island, and expelled militants loyal to the so-called “legitimacy” in mid-June.

This week, the UAE transferred dozens of mercenaries from Dhalea and Yafaa , who had brought them to control Hadeboh, to the port of Al-Shihar in Hadhramaut province.

The UAE has transformed Socotra Island into an Israeli naval military base, which, on the eve of the UAE-Israeli normalization declaration, began installing a military communications network for the Israeli navy on the island.

E.M