Yemen Monitor / Exclusive:
Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper quoted Yemeni military sources as saying that an aircraft, believed to be a military transport plane, attempted to carry out a sudden landing on the Yemeni island of Mayyun, but government forces confronted it and prevented it from approaching, forcing it to withdraw.
The sources indicated that the identity of the aircraft has not yet been determined, but estimates suggest it was carrying personnel with the aim of carrying out a landing operation, reflecting the sensitivity of the island’s strategic location directly overlooking the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
For his part, Yemeni Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Yassin Saeed Noman, said: “The attempt at an airborne landing on Mayyun Island, which overlooks Bab al-Mandab and controls the movement of ships there, during the past two days, is a serious event in every sense of the word.”
He added: “That this event occurs at this time, when the world is awaiting a situation fraught with many possibilities in this part of the world, means that certain plans are being prepared to explode the situation in this region.”
He continued: “The successful foiling of the attempt was an expression of the efficiency of the government armed forces, but it is necessary to view this event as a serious challenge that requires very careful scrutiny of what lies behind it and the ‘intentions’ of those behind it.”
Yemen Monitor had published in an exclusive report, citing Yemeni intelligence sources, that the Mossad and the Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate (Aman) had begun building communication bridges with tribal and military entities on Yemen’s western coast.
According to the sources, the Israeli movements, which were monitored by a high-level security report, had actually begun weeks before the Israeli-American war on Iran on February 28 of last year. They focused on gauging field commanders’ views regarding the possibility of deploying monitoring devices and early warning technologies in contact areas overlooking the international corridor in Bab al-Mandab, particularly in areas controlled by forces loyal to Brigadier General Tareq Saleh, a member of the Presidential Leadership Council.
The sources indicated that “unofficial communications” took place through international intermediaries, including security companies, consulting firms, and a businessman, all linked to the United Arab Emirates, aiming to reach military and field commanders in the areas of Mokha and adjacent districts, in addition to the Hunish and Zuqar islands, which fall under the authority of the National Resistance led by Tareq Saleh. The UAE had previously funded and established these forces before announcing its expulsion from Yemen following recent tensions in Mahra and Hadramout governorates and its clash with Saudi Arabia.
The report explained that these movements are based on an intelligence conviction in Tel Aviv that direct intelligence presence on Yemeni soil is the only option to fill the gaps resulting from the nature of the terrain and the curvature of the earth, which limit the effectiveness of radars installed in distant bases or on warships.
According to the sources, Israeli intelligence concluded that the Iranian technologies used by the Houthis require precise field monitoring from close points, which is not currently available at Somali bases or bases belonging to the UAE and the United States in the Horn of Africa. This has made Yemen’s western coast an urgent strategic target.
The report indicated that this step aims to transform the western coast into what resembles an “advanced radar platform” managed through local factions, while ensuring the flow of real-time data with accuracy surpassing that provided by satellites. This would be done by equipping local formations with advanced equipment bearing no fingerprints of the manufacturing country, keeping the operation within what it described as the “grey zone,” away from international political and legal consequences that could affect Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv vis-à-vis the Gulf states and the world.
In the first response to those reports, the Coast Guard Forces in the Red Sea sector denied the circulating claims about an attempted airborne landing on Mayyun Island during the past two days.
The “December 2” news agency — which is close to and funded by Presidential Leadership Council member Tareq Saleh — quoted the Coast Guard as confirming that “the scope of Mayyun Island and the Bab al-Mandab vicinity is stable and under full control, and no unusual activity has been recorded.”
The agency indicated that Coast Guard and Naval Forces units continue to carry out their duties in securing territorial waters and international shipping lanes.
