UAE opens new military air base in Yemen disguised as civilian airport

Military Monitoring
Mon, 28 Nov 2022 12:00 UTC

The UAE has opened a new military air base under the guise of civilian air port in Yemen. The Al-Makha airport in Yemen's Taiz governorate will reportedly serve as an Emirati logistics hub for military operations across the region, the Cradle Magazine reported.

The new airport will replace the Emirati military base in Eritrea, which the UAE dismantled last year amid growing tensions with the US. The African base was used by the Emirati armed forces to launch air and sea operations against the Houthis in Yemen.

According to information shared on Twitter and published by the Cradle, in September and October, a number of the UAE's C-130 Hercules military cargo planes landed at Al-Makha airport, indicating its role as a logistical supply center. The 3 km-long airport is designed to receive military cargo planes with a loading capacity of up to 130 t.

The Taiz Time reported that an aircraft belonging to the Doctors Without Borders NGO landed at the airport during the official ceremony on 24 November and the military facility was presented as a civilian airport meant to ease the country's humanitarian crisis.

However, the Al-Makha airport does not have the common characteristics of a regular civilian and commercial airport, such as a control tower, communication devices, and an expanded runway for safe take-off and landing.

Yemen's Taiz governorate has been under siege by the Ansarallah movement and the new air port has a strategic military importance to the besieged region. Tariq Salah, a member of the Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), announced that the new UA airport would serve as a "new portal" to alleviate the "isolation" of Yemenis in Taiz.

Since the UN-brokered humanitarian ceasefire in Yemen ended on 2 October, there has been a state of relative calm between Ansarallah, Yemen's Armed Forces, and the Saudi-led coalition, despite frequent yet sporadic episodes of violence.