News - Yemen: The Ministry of Fisheries condemned the US-Saudi aggression displacement of the residents of Abd al-Kuri Island.

In a statement, the ministry denounced the forced displacement of fishermen and residents of the island with the aim of turning the island into an Emirati military base under the control of the Zionist entity.

The statement indicated that the displacement of fishermen and residents of the island comes days after the arrival of Zionist officers to Socotra, and the establishment of military facilities on Abd al-Kuri Island, as part of the UAE military moves.

It considered the occupation forces' joint military movements with the Zionist entity in the archipelago and strategic Yemen's islands a threat to the residents of these islands and international navigation and a violation of Yemen's sovereignty.

The ministry indicated that the escalation against the residents of the island coincided with the prevention of fishermen from fishing on the coast of Socotra, as Emirati and Zionist ships overfished and randomly damaging marine life.

The statement holds the  Security Council and the UN responsible for the escalation taking place on Abd al-Kuri Island, calling for the exit of US-Saudi Forces from Yemen's lands, islands and coasts.

The United Arab Emirates arrived on Socotra in 2015 and, despite protests from nearly all Yemeni factions, have slowly expanded their influence since. Today, calls to the island are made using the UAE’s country code, and tourists fly from Abu Dhabi without a Yemeni visa — a situation that some argue amounts to annexation.

According to an article in Breaking Defense, the Emiratis have also established a military presence in Socotra. They are considering expanding that presence by putting missile defense sensors on the island, which would support a nascent, US-led alliance made up of the Israeli enemy and several Arab states.

The UAE state, which is implicated in the aggression against Yemen, began preparations for the establishment of a new military camp for its invading forces on the island of Socotra, in conjunction with a campaign to displace the island's residents.

Local sources indicated that dozens of Emirati officers and a number of Israeli engineers began planning to create a new camp in Hadibo, the administrative center of the island. The sources added that the creation of the new camp comes with the purpose of absorbing the new military batches of the forces of the Saudi-led aggression that have flowed to the island during the recent period.

The sources indicated that the camp will be equipped with modern surveillance and intelligence equipment. An Emirati-Israeli military ship has arrived at the port of Socotra, carrying military equipment.

The Emirati regime continues its aggressive efforts to militarize and occupy the island, as part of a plan to isolate it from the rest of the Yemeni governorates, in conjunction with its continued forcible displacement of the local population on the island.

Local sources confirmed that 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.