UAE responds with counter moves to confront Saudi activity in Socotra
SANAA, March 08 (YPA) – The Emirati arrangements are running to limit the recent Saudi moves to extend its influence over the Yemeni Socotra archipelago, which is under the control of the Emirati occupation.
Sources familiar with the matter revealed on Wednesday, the arrangements come in the framework of the escalation of the “Saudi-Emirati” conflict regarding the division of the cake of Yemen.
The sources stated that the UAE sent a senior official delegation headed by Mohammed Mubarak Al Mazrouei, an advisor to Emirati President Mohammed bin Zayed, who arrived on the island accompanied by military experts.
This came after Abu Dhabi sent an intelligence delegation headed by an officer named Hamad Al-Zaabi “Abu Rashid” to the city of Hadiboh last Saturday, to redistribute the UAE-funded Southern Transitional Council (STC)’s militia from “Al-Dhalea and Yafea” during the past years.
According to the same sources, the intelligence delegation, during the visit to the island, entrusted the task of protecting the island to a commander of the so-called Coast Guard battalion, “Mohammed Ahmed Ali,” in order to limit the increasing Saudi activity in Socotra.
The sources indicated that the Emirati alert in Socotra came in the context of responding to the Saudi moves in the archipelago, after Riyadh imposed on the UAE and its local tools the return of the former governor of Socotra, “Ramzi Mahrous”, loyal to the Islah Party, to the island of Socotra on February 26, after two years of control of UAE militias on the island and expelled him from it, according to a Saudi-Emirati agreement.
Both Riyadh and Abu Dhabi are seeking to win the approval of the Israelis and Americans in the Yemeni archipelago of Socotra, after Washington and Tel Aviv have showed special interest in the archipelago, which is located at the crossroads of maritime navigation between the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea, and the Bab al-Mandab Strait extension. In addition the Zionist interest in the archipelago was manifested by the revelation that the Israelis had established spying and monitoring stations in Socotra in cooperation with the Emirates, while Riyadh seeks to obtain greater favor with the Israelis by strengthening its influence in the Island.
AA