A new airstrip is being built on a volcanic island in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen, satellite images show, likely the latest project by forces allied to those opposed to the country’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.
The airstrip on Zuqar Island provides yet another link in a network of offshore bases in a region key to international shipping, where the Houthis already have attacked over 100 ships, sank four vessels and killed at least nine mariners during the Israel-Hamas war.
It could give a military force the ability to conduct aerial surveillance over the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the strategic, narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait connecting the two waterways off East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.
Still, it remains unclear what would trigger the airstrip to be used for a military campaign. The United Arab Emirates, which has built other runways in the region, did not respond to requests for comment. Nor did Yemen’s anti-Houthi forces, divided by warring interests and unable to launch a coordinated assault against the rebels even after intense American and Israeli bombing campaigns that targeted them.
