Since Operation Al-Aqsa Flood in October 2023, Yemen’s Ansarallah-aligned armed forces have transformed the Red Sea into a pressure point against Tel Aviv and Washington, extending operations to the Mediterranean and disrupting both Israeli and US interests.
The failure of the US to dismantle Yemen’s support front led to a temporary agreement with Sanaa to halt attacks on American assets, while the Yemeni naval blockade of Israeli vessels and attacks inside occupied territories persisted.
This failure prompted the concerned parties to adopt a new strategy to penetrate the Yemeni front, with uncalculated military, security, and intelligence dimensions, turning Yemen into a decisive theater in redrawing the maps of regional power.
Tel Aviv’s war comes home
With the UAE as the lead architect, this campaign leverages normalization as both cover and conduit for Israeli infiltration. Emirati-led factions, most prominently the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), have aligned with this agenda. STC leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi has openly courted Tel Aviv, offering normalization in exchange for support for southern secession.
Israeli media reports reveal Abu Dhabi’s involvement in the assassinations of high-ranking Sanaa officials, including the assassination of Yemeni prime minister Ahmed al-Rahawi on 10 September and the June 2025 attempt on General Staff Chief Mohammad Abdul Karim al-Ghamari.
Sources tell The Cradle that Zubaidi has privately expressed readiness to normalize ties if Washington greenlights the project. That green light appears to be flickering: joint meetings, delegation visits, and media campaigns from STC-aligned figures are pushing overt coordination with Israel into public view.
This dynamic was embodied in July 2025, when a delegation from the Middle East Forum that included British-Israeli journalist Jonathan Spire and American researcher Michael Rubin visited the Saudi-backed, internationally recognized government’s interim capital, Aden.
The delegation met with the Minister of Defense in the Aden government, Mohsen al-Daeri, in addition to leaders from the STC, including the head of intelligence in the council. The Jerusalem Post confirmed that the meetings revealed the council’s readiness for military action in the Bab al-Mandab Strait as soon as western approval is obtained, with financial and military support.
In parallel, a media normalization campaign led by journalists loyal to the STC, most notably Mana Suleiman, called on the i24 channel to intensify strikes against Ansarallah forces.
Emirati-Israeli militarism entrenches in Yemen
Between 2023 and 2025, the UAE – with Israeli backing – has entrenched itself across southern Yemen. Satellite imagery confirms the construction of advanced air bases, intelligence platforms, and logistical hubs in Shabwah, Socotra, Zuqar, and Abd al-Kuri islands.
Private sources tell The Cradle that this expansion on the southern coast and strategic islands has become evident on the ground, and creates multiple risks – most notably, destabilizing the Yemeni interior and the transformation of the islands into intelligence and logistical platforms that extend from the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea, passing through Bab al-Mandab.
The work is carried out through the presence of Israeli officers on the ground, while the UAE uses radars and military devices to monitor Yemeni forces and control maritime movements, and the two sides coordinate operations through the “Crystal Ball” – a joint UAE-Israeli intelligence exchange platform.
The islands have been transformed into integrated platforms that include military, intelligence, and economic infrastructure, making them a gateway to dominate sea lanes and control shipping lanes between Asia and Africa. In the heart of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a vital artery for global trade and energy transmission, the islands of Mayun and Zuqar stand out as key strategic points.
After October 2023, the UAE strengthened its presence on Mayun Island with the direct support of Israel, repaving a 1.85-kilometer runway and now hosts Israeli-run radar systems, Patriot batteries, drone hangars, and naval observation posts.
Mayun Island has been turned into a permanent military center and a secret station for the transit and maintenance of commercial and warships.
Operations fees from commercial and military vessels transiting this chokepoint, reportedly ranging from $80,000 to $200,000, are funneled through UAE accounts in Dubai, entirely bypassing Yemeni or international oversight.
Specialized companies, such as Janes Information Group, which have installed advanced monitoring and interception systems from Israeli companies, appear in the cooperation.
Zuqar Island, located just 75 kilometers from Hodeidah and 210 kilometers from Sanaa, has become a joint Israeli-US-Emirati operations center. By early 2025, US Central Command (CENTCOM) had integrated into this hub, with Unit 400 – a UAE force trained under a counterterrorism pretext – activated to suppress Sanaa’s influence. Surveillance, interception, and drone coordination systems now anchor the island’s role in anti-Yemeni warfare.
By September 2025, satellite imagery revealed the expansion of the facilities, including satellite-linked operations and communications rooms, making the island a vessel observation and maintenance platform equipped with Israeli electronic interception and monitoring systems.
The Socotra archipelago is a strategic point that allows control over the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, southern Red Sea, northern Indian Ocean, southern Arabian Peninsula, and Horn of Africa.
Abd al-Kuri and Samha islands have been converted into launchpads for drones and naval systems. The UAE, under humanitarian pretenses, uses the Emirates Red Crescent to build detention sites, intelligence posts, and private marinas.
Shabwah, a governorate rich in oil and linking Yemen’s south to the interior, now hosts two UAE-built runways, tunnel networks, and drone training centers. Colombian mercenaries, contracted at $3,590 per head, have been deployed to train local factions.
On the home front, Shabwa has emerged as a strategic destination. Its location, which connects the south to the north and gives it an eastern outlet towards Hadramawt and Al-Mahra, and its proximity to Abyan, Al-Bayda, and Marib, have made it a pivotal target in regional calculations.
In the northwest of the Ataq airport campus, bunkers and control rooms for drones have been built dedicated to accommodation, meetings, training, and ammunition storage, complementing the permanent character of the military structure.
According to sources speaking to The Cradle, joint US-Israeli teams frequently visit frontlines in coalition-controlled governorates to gather intelligence and assess requirements, promising financial, logistical, and armament support to mobilize factions capable of opening an internal front to constrain Sanaa’s military capabilities.
Riyadh joins the fray
Competition between anti-Sanaa coalition partners Riyadh and Abu Dhabi has also intensified across Yemen’s eastern front, particularly in Al-Mahra. As the UAE entrenches its presence in Socotra and seeks demographic control through military, economic, and cultural means, Saudi Arabia expands in Al-Mahra under the guise of counter-smuggling, deploying Salafi-aligned militias and building bases to consolidate influence over this vital corridor.
On 16 September 2025, Saudi Arabia co-hosted a naval security summit with the UK, unveiling a coalition to “protect navigation” in the Red Sea. The international Yemen Maritime Security Partnership saw the participation of more than 35 countries, including the US.
In reality, this front aims to dismantle the Yemeni blockade on Israeli shipping. Riyadh pledged $4 million to arm and train the Yemeni Coast Guard for this mission. In response, Ansarallah leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi warned the Saudis against any involvement with Israel, stressing that anyone involved in supporting Israeli ships or attacking Yemen “will be confronted within the framework of our position against the Israeli enemy itself.”
Addressing the Saudi kingdom’s leadership directly, Houthi declared, “You will not be able to protect the Israeli enemy’s ships in the Red Sea … This is a disgrace upon you, and at the same time, you will not succeed.”
Israel’s war on Gaza has inadvertently elevated Yemen to a central axis in regional geopolitics. The Axis of Resistance has extended its frontlines from the Levant to the Arabian Sea. With Emirati-Saudi backing, Tel Aviv now bets on normalization and internal sabotage to sideline Sanaa. Yet Yemen’s rising deterrence capabilities suggest the war for Bab al-Mandab is far from over.
source: The Cradle