UAE dismantles Eritrea base as it pulls back after Yemenwar
BY JON GAMBRELLASSOCIATED PRESS
Published 6:24 AM GMT+1, February 18, 2021

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United Arab Emirates is dismantling parts of a
military base it runs in the East African nation of Eritrea after it pulled back from the
grinding war in nearby Yemen, satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press show.
The UAE built a port and expanded an airstrip in Assab beginning in September 2015, using
the facility as a base to ferry heavy weaponry and Sudanese troops into Yemen as it fought
alongside a Saudi-led coalition against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels there.
But the country once praised as “Little Sparta” by former U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis
appears to have found the limits of its military expansion in Yemen’s stalemate conflict,
experts say. After it withdrew troops from the conflict, the satellite photos show it began
shipping off equipment and tearing down even newly built structures.
The UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, poured millions
of dollars into improving the facility at Assab, only some 70 kilometers (40 miles) from
Yemen. It dredged a port and improved the dusty airstrip’s roughly 3,500-meter (11,500-
foot) runway to allow for heavy support aircraft.
Satellite pictures from Planet Labs Inc., analyzed by the AP, show that decision appears to
extend to Assab as well.
In June 2019, around the time the Emiratis made their withdrawal announcement, workers
apparently razed structures believed to be barracks alongside the port, the satellite images
show. Workers gathered neat rows of materiel just north of the port, apparently waiting to
be shipped off.
In early January of this year, another photo showed what appeared to be vehicles and other
equipment being loaded onto a waiting cargo ship. By Feb. 5, the ship and that equipment
were gone. Despite the dismantling work, Emirati attack helicopters still have been seen at the base. It
remains a strategically important point as well, sitting just off the crucial Bab el-Mandeb
strait connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
But the UAE may face more-pressing concerns. Since 2019, tensions between the U.S. and
Iran have seen a series of escalating incidents, including attacks on ships off the Emirates.
Those threats closer to home may take precedence over an expanded military footprint
abroad.
“I think what ‘Little Sparta’ is doing is to keep its powder dry for whatever it needs to do
next,” Knights said.