The United Arab Emirates has reportedly deployed an Israeli military radar in Somalia’s Puntland to monitor anti-Israeli attacks carried out by Yemen in support of Palestinians facing genocide in Gaza.
According to satellite imagery from early March, the Israeli-made ELM-2084 3D Active Electronically Scanned Array Multi-Mission Radar, one of the components of Israel’s Iron Dome system, was installed near Bosaso airport.
The US-based Watan newspaper reported this week that the radar is designed to monitor attacks by Yemeni forces against Israeli targets in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
“This indicates that Abu Dhabi is conducting a surveillance and protection operation on behalf of Tel Aviv from African soil,” the newspaper said, citing familiar sources.
According to the sources, the UAE is also facilitating negotiations for the establishment of an Israeli base in Somaliland, which declared independence from Mogadishu in 1991, in return for promises to promote international recognition of the Gulf of Aden region.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported last year that Israel, with Emirati support, was seeking to establish a military base in Somaliland to counter Yemeni forces.
On Thursday, Middle East Eye also quoted a regional source as saying that the radar was installed at the airport late last year.
Meanwhile, MEE quoted other sources as saying that the deployment came as the UAE was using Bosaso airport to provide military support to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan.
“The UAE installed the radar shortly after the RSF lost control of most of Khartoum in early March,” a regional source told MEE.
“The purpose of the radar is to detect and provide early warning of drone or missile threats, particularly those potentially launched by the Houthis, targeting Bosaso from outside,” the source added, referring to forces of the Yemeni military and its Ansarullah resistance movement.
Sudan has accused the UAE in the International Court of Justice of violating the Genocide Convention by supporting paramilitary forces in its Darfur region.
Two separate Somali sources quoted by MEE claimed that Puntland President Said Abdullahi Deni did not seek approval for the deal from Somalia’s federal government or the Puntland parliament.
“This is a secret deal and even the highest levels of the Puntland government, including the cabinet, are not aware of it,” said a Somali source with direct knowledge of the matter.
Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, Yemeni forces have carried out a number of operations in support of the war-ravaged Gazans, hitting targets throughout the occupied Palestinian territories, in addition to targeting Israeli ships or ships heading to ports in the occupied territories.
