Yemen:  Since the start of the US-Saudi aggression on Yemen on March 26, 2015, Al-Mahra Governorate in eastern Yemen has been living under the multinational occupation as a result of international and regional ambitions. This calls for reading the impact of the governorate’s strategic geography with its regional surroundings, especially with Oman, Saudi Arabia and Iran, and its approach to the dynamics of international interests.

Mahra is located in the eastern part of Yemen, between latitudes (15°-20°) and longitudes (51°-45°) east of Greenwich. It is away from the capital, Sana'a, at a distance of 1,318 km. The province is connected to the Empty Quarter desert from the north towards Saudi Arabia, the Hadhramaut Governorate to the west, Oman to the east, and the Arabian Sea to the south, which is linked with the Strait of Hormuz. Mahra is considered the eastern gateway to Yemen, and has been known since ancient times as the key to profitable international trade.

According to observers and those interested in the Yemeni issue, the UAE has succeeded in convincing the West, the United States and the Zionist entity of the importance of the “geostrategic” location of Mahra and that it is the faithful policeman in the right time and place, to prevent what it said about Tehran controlling the strategic geography of Mahra in particular, and the Yemeni ports and islands and the Bab al-Mandab Strait in general.

Since the start of the war on Yemen in 2015, Oman has worked to extend its influence in Mahra by establishing good relations with tribal notables in the province, which were devoid of any presence of Sana’a forces or al-Qaeda and Daesh individuals. This is what helped Abdullah bin Issa Al Afrar, who resides in Saudi Arabia, to declare himself the sultan of the region, and to publicly criticize what he describes as the occupation of his lands.

In November 2017, the UAE took control of the province through the deployment of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) militants and extremist Salafists affiliated with the Al-Qaeda organization in Hadramout. Riyadh, meanwhile, seized the port of Nishtun after clashes with the Port Protection Brigade. In the same month, Saudi and Emirati forces seized the Shaheen and Sarfeet border posts, and Al Ghaydah Airport, the last civilian airport that organized civilian flights to and from Yemen.

At the end of 2017, Riyadh dismissed the Mahra governor, Mohammed Abdullah Keda, who holds an Omani passport, and replaced him with Rajeh Saeed Bakrit, who holds Saudi citizenship. The Saudi move comes within the framework of Saudi ambitions for decades to extend oil pipelines through Mahra to the Gulf of Oman. The Emirati move comes within the framework of the geostrategic dispute with Oman.

In September 2018, Mahra tribesmen managed to repel a team of Saudi engineers who were supposed to set out to build a road in the border desert area of ​​Al-Kharkhir. At the end of August 2019, the Sana’a Research Center revealed the existence of a letter signed by the Huta Marine Works Company, which is affiliated with the Bin Laden Group, addressed to the Saudi ambassador in Yemen, thanking him for accepting the establishment of a feasibility study for a Saudi oil port in Mahra.

L'Express, a French weekly news magazine headquartered in Paris, in a report in early January 2020, also shed light on the presence of Saudi and foreign forces in Mahra, southeast of Yemen, The magazine said that those forces settled in Al-Mahra two years ago under the cover of maintaining peace, while the real goal of this military presence is to build an oil port and build an oil pipeline extending from the Saudi desert towards the Arabian Sea.

In this regard, François Frison Roche, a researcher at the French National Center for Scientific Research and a specialist in Yemen, confirms that it is an old project that makes the Saudis avoid transporting their oil through the Strait of Hormuz or from the Bab al-Mandab strait in the Red Sea.

The attack on a Zionist ship in the Sea of ​​Oman on July 30, 2021 came as an excuse to pave the way for a new foreign occupation of Mahra by the United States, Britain and the Zionist entity, along with the Saudi and Emirati occupation.

The arrival of a group of American, British and Zionist forces from the American battleship Ronald Reagan to Mahra in mid-August 2021, under the pretext of pursuing investigations into the attack that targeted the Zionist ship Mercer Street in the Sea of ​​Oman, sparked controversy in Yemeni local circles in general and among the people of Mahra in particular. They emphasized that the American and British military presence would be dealt with as foreign occupation.

Shortly after the arrival of the American and British forces to Mahra, the Peaceful Sit-in Committee in Mahra, which is struggling against the presence of Saudi and Emirati forces, began its activities against the American and British presence. The head of the Committee, Sheikh Ali Salem Al-Huraizi, also confirmed that the American, British and Zionist presence would be dealt as “new aggressors.”

The people of Mahra confirmed in their peaceful sit-in that the incident of the Zionist ship was not on the shores of Mahra, but on the shores of Oman, and the perpetrators of the attack fled in front of the Saudi Coast Guard.

Furthermore, the sons of Mahra confirmed that the fake attacks were orchestrated by the Saudi forces, including the Saudi forces’ claim in early March 2020, that they had thwarted an attack on an oil tanker in the Sea of ​​Oman, using four boats, which were bombed by remote control southeast of the port of Nishtun. It was used as a pretext to control the port and city of Ghaydah. 

This was actually demonstrated by the landing of the American, Zionist and British forces in the Ghayda port and airport, which turned into a joint military base for Saudi Arabia, the United States, Britain and the Zionist entity.

Source: YPA (translated report by Al-Masirah English)
 

#Yemen #US #UAE #Occupation #Britain #Mahara #US-Saudi Aggression #Saudi Arabia About 1 year