🇾🇪🇪🇷 - In 2016, the UAE established a military base at Eritrea's Assab Airport (at 13.07976, 42.6385). The base was used to launch its Yemeni Southern Transitional Council project, which began on the Island of Socotra, and was used to attack Ansarullah positions within the Aden-Ta'izz-Ad Dali triangle. Later that year, Abu Dhabi requested a second 'secret' base on Eritrea's Dahlak Island, right in the middle of the Red Sea. The exact location of the base was supposed to be here: 15.75158, 39.97345. Asmara rejected the request, and its Foreign Ministry would several years later admit the UAE planned to use the 'secret' base with Israel to effectively control one of the world's most important waterways. Which indicates the UAE and Israel had strong relations well over four years before the signing of the Abraham Accords in 2020. Ironically, just a year later, the UAE would begin the construction of a 'secret' military base with the assistance of Tareq Salah's forces on Yemen's Mayun Island (at 12.66661, 43.40925). The location of the base was vital, sitting right at the mouth of the Red Sea. Tareq Saleh, commander of the National Resistance Forces, was propped up by the Emirati state for one reason only, to combat al-Islah Party's influence in the Ta'izz region (which at the time, the rest of the Arab Gulf countries believed were backed by Qatar). It has long been believed that Israel had access to the Mayun Airbase, and were present at times on the island as well. Relations between Eritrea and the UAE have since cooled considerably. Asmara revoked Emirati access to its military infrastructure and later joined Sudan in suspending agreements involving UAE's port giant DP World. Years later, Abiy Ahmed would win the elections in Ethiopia, and, backed by the UAE and Israel, eyes the Assab region as Addis Ababa's gateway to the Red Sea.