French researcher: UAE seeks to control the southern areas of Yemen

A French researcher revealed the efforts of the United Arab Emirates to form a military belt around the Gulf of Aden in southern Yemen, starting from the southern coasts of the country.

“The Yemeni conflict reflects a change in the balance of power and reveals a reshaping of national sentiment in the region. Saudi Arabia feels threatened by Iran, and the UAE wants to establish its security system in that region,” said Frison Roch, a French researcher at the National Center for Scientific Research.

In an article published on the Euronews website, Roch added that Abu Dhabi is forming a military belt around the Gulf of Aden, from the southern coasts of Yemen, as well as in Eritrea, where it has established an airbase and has started modernizing a port in Somaliland.

Roch believes that there is a feeling that the UAE wants to establish its security system in that region, because about 40% of the world maritime trade passes through the Bab al-Mandab strait.

Adding that this is important for Egypt, because the Suez Canal is linked to the freedom of navigation through Bab al-Mandab, and the same applies to Jordan regarding the port of Al-Aqaba, and Israel with regard to the port of Eilat.

Roch believes that Yemen will remain in the fifth year of the war a battlefield  to settle scores among the Arab coalition countries and Iran, while nothing in sight indicates or confirms that the voices of the guns will be silent soon, while a transitional council in the south challenges the legitimacy of the current president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, it has become very difficult to reunite the Yemenis again, even if the federal option was adopted, according to the French researcher.

The UAE has a military presence in Yemen since March 2015, following the launch of a Saudi-led military operation to support the Yemeni government against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.