Saudis Establishing Military Base in Yemen Nature Reserve: Sources
SANA’A (Dispatches) – Saudi occupying troops in Yemen are establishing a military base in the country’s Hawf Protected Area, an important nature reserve located in the eastern province of Al-Mahrah, which is contiguous with neighboring Oman’s Jebel Samhan Nature Reserve.
Citing tribal sources, the Yemen News Portal reported that the Saudis have already started setting up the barracks in what is vital grazing territory for the province’s semi-nomadic tribal community. It is believed that the militarization of the reserve will sever an important income source for the Mahri community, which is mostly dependent on the grazing of its livestock.
UNESCO describes the Hawf region as "a centre of plant diversity” and a "fog oasis” in the Arabian Peninsula which is largely arid. The area was designated as a nature reserve by the Yemeni government in 2005 owing to its unique climate and ecological diversity, which is said to include the critically endangered Arabian Leopard, the country’s national animal since 2008.
Locals perceive the Saudis to be an occupying force and activists have called for armed resistance. There have also been clashes with Saudi troops in the province. The local tribes speak a unique Semitic language known as Mehri which is similar to the indigenous Socotri language spoken on the Yemeni island of Socotra. Activists in Mahrah also reject the UAE presence on Socotra.
In an earlier development, Sudanese and Senegalese troops arrived on the Yemeni Island of Socotra last week, as reported by the Yemen Press Agency. A batch of some 600 soldiers from the two African countries turned up on the island amid earlier reports that the UAE had requested forces belonging to the so-called Southern Transitional Council (STC) return to Aden on the mainland, with others moving onto the Hadramaut province.
Saudi Arabia waged a devastating military aggression against its southern neighbor in March 2015 in collaboration with a number of its allied states, and with arms support from certain Western countries.
The purported aim was to return to power a Riyadh-backed former regime and defeat the Houthi Ansarullah movement that took control of state matters after the resignation of the then president and his government.
The UN refers to the situation in Yemen as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with more than half of hospitals and clinics destroyed or closed.
Citing tribal sources, the Yemen News Portal reported that the Saudis have already started setting up the barracks in what is vital grazing territory for the province’s semi-nomadic tribal community. It is believed that the militarization of the reserve will sever an important income source for the Mahri community, which is mostly dependent on the grazing of its livestock.
UNESCO describes the Hawf region as "a centre of plant diversity” and a "fog oasis” in the Arabian Peninsula which is largely arid. The area was designated as a nature reserve by the Yemeni government in 2005 owing to its unique climate and ecological diversity, which is said to include the critically endangered Arabian Leopard, the country’s national animal since 2008.
Locals perceive the Saudis to be an occupying force and activists have called for armed resistance. There have also been clashes with Saudi troops in the province. The local tribes speak a unique Semitic language known as Mehri which is similar to the indigenous Socotri language spoken on the Yemeni island of Socotra. Activists in Mahrah also reject the UAE presence on Socotra.
In an earlier development, Sudanese and Senegalese troops arrived on the Yemeni Island of Socotra last week, as reported by the Yemen Press Agency. A batch of some 600 soldiers from the two African countries turned up on the island amid earlier reports that the UAE had requested forces belonging to the so-called Southern Transitional Council (STC) return to Aden on the mainland, with others moving onto the Hadramaut province.
Saudi Arabia waged a devastating military aggression against its southern neighbor in March 2015 in collaboration with a number of its allied states, and with arms support from certain Western countries.
The purported aim was to return to power a Riyadh-backed former regime and defeat the Houthi Ansarullah movement that took control of state matters after the resignation of the then president and his government.
The UN refers to the situation in Yemen as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with more than half of hospitals and clinics destroyed or closed.