The island of Socotra, located at the intersection of the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean, topped on Sunday, the Yemeni scene with the return of the Emirati-Saudi-Qatari conflict.
Islah party activists, backed by Qatar, are launching a campaign on social media under hashtag “Socotra, two years since the coup.” Doha-funded media outlets also devoted a wide space to talk about the situation of the Yemeni island, which has come under the grip of UAE.
Saudi activists interacted extensively with the campaign calling for the departure of UAE; it considers what UAE is doing on the island dropping the coalition’s pretexts in Yemen. It also calls for what activists described as “the restoration of state institutions.”
A few days ago, Saudi Arabia reactivated Islah authority on the island, with a closed-circuit meeting between the party’s leaders and its governor residing in Riyadh, to defy UAE.
On the other hand, Transitional Council activists and Emirati media and others funded by it, have devoted a wide area for the most prominent of what it describes as the achievements of two years of expelling the “Brotherhood” militias.
And the new conflict on the island is part of a new race scenario between the regional allies of the war on Yemen and their proxies, it extends along Yemeni coast from Bab al-Mandab in the west, even Socotra in the east
It is an indication that each party is trying to gain as much influence as possible on those strategic positions, in anticipation of Biden’s upcoming announcement from the capital, Riyadh, which could end the war on Yemen and reshaping the theater of influence among Washington’s allies in the region, including Israel.
