Yemen: The Abu Dhabi regime, with the help of its main ally in the US-Saudi aggression against Yemen, is proceeding to extend its control over the archipelago of Socotra Island, as the UAE began implementing new measures in a series of multiple attempts to fully control the island.

The series of Emirati moves and steps aimed at changing the demographic and geographical map of the island have raised Yemenis' fears that this will lead to the imposition of a different reality on the island, nullifying being Yemeni.

Changing Features of Socotra

Media sources confirmed to the "Yemen Press Agency, that the UAE, during the past two days, carried out a wide registration process for the people of the Yemeni island of Socotra for recruitment into the Emirati police, on the condition that he leaves the island with his family."

On May 22, the Yemeni newspaper Al-Thawra quoted local residents of the island that the UAE is heading to change the identity of the island and limit the presence of Yemenis there, in a systematic manner. 

It raises the UAE flag on government and official buildings on the island, preventing Yemeni workers from entering the island except with work permits, as the sources revealed that the UAE-backed militias have established an office in Socotra, to register Yemeni workers coming from outside the island with their full data and give them work permits on the island, and treat them as foreigners despite their Yemeni nationality.

The UAE sends foreign workers from Bengal to the island of Socotra under the guise of reconstruction.

According to the sources, the Saudi forces are the ones who are supervising the departure of hundreds of Socotri families to the Saudi city of Dammam, where the photos obtained by the “Yemen Press Agency” showed Saudi soldiers known for their arrogance in the process of tying the bags of the island’s departing residents and loading them to planes, with the aim of showing their alleged interest Socotra citizen.

According to the sources, the UAE made tempting offers to European media and photographers present in the Emirates to travel to Socotra in order to promote the island's tourism and convey the picturesque landmarks of the island. 

They added that the UAE had asked the media to confirm that the Island had become an Emirati.

Continuing its displacement operations from the Socotra archipelago, local sources confirmed recently that, during the past days, Emirati forces expelled dozens of families from their homes on Abd al-Kuri Island, at gunpoint.

The sources pointed out that the new displacement comes after the start of construction work to build military runways and warehouses belonging to the joint Emirati and Israeli forces stationed in the archipelago.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor had accused the UAE forces and their factions of expelling dozens of families from their homes in the Socotra archipelago, at the beginning of this year. The evacuation of residents on the island of Abd al-Kuri coincides with the establishment of an Emirati-Israeli military base on the island, with the aim of strengthening control over maritime navigation routes in the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea.