Yemen: Mysterious airbase gets built on Mayun island

Yemeni government says UAE behind the base constructed on the strategically important volcanic island.

A mysterious airbase is being built on a volcanic island off Yemen that sits in one of the world’s crucial maritime chokepoints for energy shipments and commercial cargo. While no country has claimed the Mayun Island airbase in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, shipping traffic associated with a prior attempt to build a huge runway across the 5.6-km (3.5 mile)-long island years ago links back to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Officials in Yemen’s internationally recognised government now say the Emiratis are behind this latest effort as well, even though the UAE announced in 2019 it was withdrawing its troops from a Saudi-led military campaign battling Yemen’s Houthi rebels.