Source: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uae-yemen-somalia-circle-bases-control-gulf-of-aden
I will include the sections about the Bosaso and Berbera bases here but the rest of the bases in the region are in the article
I will include the sections about the Bosaso and Berbera bases here but the rest of the bases in the region are in the article
Surveillance and supply lines
The island bases are connected by maritime routes, infrastructure patterns and intelligence facilities to the UAE’s military presence in Bosaso and Berbera, two ports in Somalia’s Puntland and Somaliland regions.
The use of these two regions, which both have separatist movements seeking a break from Somalia, has placed the UAE in opposition to Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s government in Mogadishu.
In September, Africa Confidential reported on the “chronic enmity” between MBZ and the Somali president, which it said was partly the result of the UAE’s “hegemonic ambitions” in the Horn of Africa.
Satellite imagery shows that at Bosaso Air Base, located next to Bosaso International Airport, Emirati management has established a radar facility, fortified ammunition depots, a dedicated cargo area for IL-76 heavy transport aircraft, a field hospital, a vehicle storage yard that houses dozens of pickup trucks, aircraft hangars and the original hangar of the Puntland Maritime Police Force (PMPF).
The PMPF was initially run by a UAE-based company, in violation of a UN arms embargo, and reported directly to the Puntland president, bypassing the sovereignty of the Somali federal government.
Imagery from Google Earth indicates rapid and intense building work carried out on the eastern edge of Bosaso Air Base between January 2024 and January 2025. In that time, three helipads; a group of large, enclosed hangars able to accommodate drones; and a fully paved operating area connected to those hangers were constructed.
Satellite imagery from the northern end of the base at Bosaso shows what appears to be an Emirati-operated French-made GM-403 radar, though there have been reports that an Israeli-made EL/M-2084 system - the same used by Israel's Iron Dome - is in use.
Both the French and Israeli radar systems are capable of tracking more than a thousand drones, aircraft, missiles or artillery at a range of more than 400km. In Bosaso, this means covering the Gulf of Aden and the entrance to the Red Sea.
According to multiple Sudanese, diplomatic and local sources, the UAE is also using Bosaso to transfer weapons and ammunitions to the RSF in Sudan.
The IL-76 transport aircraft has been seen in satellite imagery parked on a civilian airport landing strip to the southeast of the Bosaso airfield. Also seen in satellite imagery was a Hercules C-130, a military transport aircraft for heavy equipment.
In early 2024, two or three of these transport flights were arriving every day. By mid-2025 these were operating at about 15 per month.
On Monday, according to flight tracking data, a Boeing 737-436 arrived at Bosaso 8.50am UTC and then departed on its return flight to Abu Dhabi.
Complicated alliance
The UAE’s engagement with Somaliland, perhaps the autonomous region with the strongest independence movement within Somalia, goes back to 2017.
To strengthen its claim to autonomy, the Somaliland government accepted an Emirati bid to establish a military base in Berbera, which has become part of the network connecting the Yemeni islands and Bosaso.
Satellite imagery shows that in Berbera, the naval base had been quietly transformed from a stalled project to a nearly completed facility, with advanced infrastructure including a modern military port, a deep-water dock, an airstrip with hangars and support facilities, all constructed.
The runway at Berbera is 4km long, meaning it can receive heavy transport aircraft and fighter jets. The creation of all these facilities has turned Berbera into a regionally important strategic hub.
In June, Abu Dhabi finalised an agreement to build a railway linking the Somaliland port to Ethiopia, another sign of its pre-eminence in the Horn of Africa.
“The present reality combines several elements,” Harchaoui told MEE. “The UAE’s extraordinary propaganda and lobbying machinery, its willingness to intervene militarily across multiple theatres, its financial resources, and its complete disregard for international norms and UN Security Council arms embargoes.”
Pinkas, the Israeli diplomat, agreed that Emirati and Israeli strategic cooperation was built on an alignment of regional interests including "stability, anti-terrorism, anti-radicalism and deterring Iran", but noted that the relationship was not immune to the strains exposed by Israel's war in Gaza and its attacks on regional countries including Lebanon, Iran, Syria, Yemen and Qatar.
“Ostensibly, these interests persist, but the ongoing war and devastation in Gaza and Israel’s belligerency complicates the public alliance,” he told MEE, saying that the “arrogant, condescending and untrustworthy” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had done damage to the relationship of late.
But while the UAE navigates open diplomacy with Israel, its operations in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea continue, with ships and aircraft coming in and out of the bases that form its ring of control. There could be no clearer sign of the scale of this small monarchy’s monumental ambition.
