UAE deploys radar in Somalia to monitor Yemen’s anti-Israel strikes: Report

Iran Press TV

Friday, 25 April 2025 11:12 AM

The United Arab Emirates has reportedly deployed an Israeli military radar to Somalia’s Puntland to monitor anti-Israel attacks conducted by Yemen in support of Palestinians subjected to genocide in Gaza.

According to satellite imagery from early March, the Israeli-made ELM-2084 3D Active Electronically Scanned Array Multi-Mission Radar, which is one of the components of Israel’s Iron Dome system, was installed near Bosaso airport.

US-based Watan newspaper reported this week that the radar is aimed at monitoring strikes conducted by Yemeni forces against Israeli targets in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

“This indicates that Abu Dhabi is conducting a monitoring and protection operation on behalf of Tel Aviv from African soil,” the daily 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 region that lies on the Gulf of Aden.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz last year reported that Israel, with Emirati support, aims to establish a military base in Somaliland to counter the Yemeni forces.

On Thursday, Middle East Eye also cited a regional source as saying that the radar was deployed at the airport late last year.

Meanwhile, MEE cited other sources as saying the deployment took place as the UAE has been using Bosaso airport to militarily support 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 radar’s purpose is to detect and provide early warning against drone or missile threats, particularly those potentially launched by the Houthis, targeting Bosaso from outside,” the source added, referring to forces of Yemen’s military and its Ansarullah resistance movement.

Sudan has accused the UAE at the International Court of Justice of violating the Genocide Convention by supporting paramilitary forces in its Darfur region.

Two separate Somali sources, cited by MEE, claimed that Puntland’s President Said Abdullahi Deni did not seek approval from Somalia’s federal government or the Puntland parliament for this arrangement.

“This is a secret deal, and even the highest levels of Puntland’s government, including the cabinet, are unaware of it,” said one Somali source with direct knowledge of the issue.

Since the onset of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, Yemeni forces have carried out scores of operations in support of the war-hit Gazans, striking targets throughout the occupied Palestinian territories, in addition to targeting Israeli ships or vessels heading towards ports in the occupied territories.