Saudi Arabia has established a military base in the city of Hadibu, the capital of the Yemeni Socotra archipelago.
Local sources on the island reported that the command of the Saudi forces “808” was transferred last night from the building of the General Authority for Environmental Protection, which it has been taking as its headquarters since September 2019, to the new military base that it established near Hadibu airport.
According to YPA, the Saudi military base was created near the airport in 2022, and equipment and weapons were transferred to it once its equipment was completed, according to the sources.
Saudi military have been deployed in Socotra since May 2018, following a dispute between the head of the “Hadi government,” Ahmed Obaid bin Daghr, and Emirati forces in Hadibu, within the scope of agreements with the UAE to implement the Israeli-American project on the island.
The UAE had already evicted Saudi military stationed in Socotra’s port in mid-November 2021, as well as its garrison from Hadibu Airport in September of that year.
The military developments on the island of Socotra, which was added to UNESCO’s list of natural heritage sites in 2008, come amid the silence of the “Presidential Council,” which legitimizes the presence of foreign forces in Socotra and the other southern provinces.
