Mysterious airstrip appears on a Yemeni island as Houthi attacks threaten region

Mysterious airstrip appears on a Yemeni island as Houthi attacks threaten region
The airstrip on Abd Al-Kuri Island, which rises out of the Indian Ocean near the mouth of the Gulf of Aden, could provide a key landing zone for military operations patrolling that waterway. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
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Updated 17 January 2025
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Mysterious airstrip appears on a Yemeni island as Houthi attacks threaten region

Mysterious airstrip appears on a Yemeni island as Houthi attacks threaten region
  • Airstrip on Abd Al-Kuri Island could provide a key landing zone for military operations patrolling key waterway
  • Commercial shipping through the Gulf and Red Sea has halved under attacks by Yemen’s Houthi militia

DUBAI: A mysterious airstrip being built on a remote island in Yemen is nearing completion, satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press show, one of several built in a nation mired in a stalemated war threatening to reignite.
The airstrip on Abd Al-Kuri Island, which rises out of the Indian Ocean near the mouth of the Gulf of Aden, could provide a key landing zone for military operations patrolling that waterway. That could be useful as commercial shipping through the Gulf and Red Sea – a key route for cargo and energy shipments heading to Europe – has halved under attacks by Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi militias. The area also has seen weapons smuggling from Iran to the militias.
While the Houthis have linked their campaign to the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, experts worry a ceasefire in that conflict may not be enough to see the militias halt a campaign that’s drawn them global attention. Meanwhile, the Houthis have lobbed repeated attacks at Israel, as well as US warships operating in the Red Sea, raising fears that one may make it through and endanger the lives of American service members.
A battlefield miscalculation by Yemen’s many adversarial parties, new fatal attacks on Israel or a deadly assault on an American warship easily could shatter the country’s relative calm. And it remains unclear just how President-elect Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated on Monday, will handle the emboldened militia group.
“The Houthis feed off war – war is good for them,” said Wolf-Christian Paes, a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies who studies Yemen. “Finally they can live up to their slogan, which famously, of course, declares, ‘Death to America, death to the Jews.’ They see themselves as being in this epic battle against their archenemies and from their view, they’re winning.”
Satellite images show airstrip nearly complete
Satellite photos taken Jan. 7 by Planet Labs PBC for the AP show trucks and other heavy equipment on the north-south runway built into Abd Al-Kuri, which is about 35 kilometers in length and about 5 kilometers at its widest point.
The runway has been paved, with the designation markings “18” and “36” to the airstrip’s north and south respectively. As of Jan. 7, there was still a segment missing from the 2.4-kilometer-long runway that’s 45-meters wide. Trucks could be seen grading and laying asphalt over the missing 290-meter segment.
Once completed, the runway’s length would allow private jets and other aircraft to land there, though likely not the largest commercial aircraft or heavy bombers given its length.
While within Houthi drone and missile range, the distance of Abd Al-Kuri from mainland Yemen means “there’s no threat of the Houthis getting on a pickup truck or a technical and going to seize it,” said Yemen expert Mohammed Al-Basha of the Basha Report risk advisory firm.
The United Nations’ Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization, which assigns its own set of airport codes for airfields around the world, had no information about the airstrip on Abd Al-Kuri, spokesman William Raillant-Clark said. Yemen, as a member state to ICAO, should provide information about the airfield to the organization. Nearby Socotra Island already has an airport declared to the ICAO.
It’s not the only airfield to see an expansion in recent years. In Mocha on the Red Sea, a project to extend that city’s airport now allows it to land far larger aircraft. The airfield also sits on a similar north-south path as the Abd Al-Kuri airstrip and is roughly the same length.
Other satellite photos from Planet Labs show yet another unclaimed runway currently under construction just south of Mocha near Dhubab, a coastal town in Yemen’s Taiz governorate. An image taken by Planet for the AP on Thursday showed the runway fully built, though no markings were painted on it.
Smuggling route passes by the island
A new airport on Abd Al-Kuri could provide a new, secluded landing zone for surveillance flights around Socotra Island. That could be vital to interdict weapons smuggling from Iran to the Houthis, who remain under a UN arms embargo.
A report to the UN Security Council said a January 2024 weapons seizure by the US military took place off Socotra near Abd Al-Kuri. That seizure, which saw two US Navy SEALs lost at sea and presumed killed, involved a traditional dhow vessel that US prosecutors say was involved in multiple smuggling trips on behalf of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard to the Houthis.
Disrupting that weapons route, as well as the ongoing attacks by the US, Israel and others on the Houthis, likely have contributed to the slowing pace of the militias’ attacks in recent months. The US and its partners alone have struck the Houthis over 260 times, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
Next week, Trump will be the one to decide what happens to that campaign. He has experience already with how difficult fighting in Yemen can be – his first military action in his first term in 2017 saw a Navy SEAL killed in a raid on a suspected Al-Qaeda compound. The raid also killed more than a dozen civilians, including an 8-year-old girl.
Trump may reapply a foreign terrorist organization designation on the Houthis that Biden revoked, a reimposition that the UAE backs. Marco Rubio, who Trump has nominated to be secretary of state, mentioned the Houthis several times when testifying Wednesday at his Senate confirmation hearing alongside what he described as threats from Iran and its allies.
Any US move could escalate the war, even with the Houthi’s enigmatic supreme leader, Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi, pledging Thursday night to halt the militias’ attacks if a ceasefire deal is reached in Gaza.
“I don’t see a way in 2025 that we have a de-escalation with the Houthis,” said Al-Basha, the Yemen expert. “The situation in Yemen is very tense. An outbreak in the war could be a reality in the next few months. I don’t foresee the status quo continuing.”


No milk, no diapers: US aid cuts hit Syrian refugees in Lebanon

No milk, no diapers: US aid cuts hit Syrian refugees in Lebanon
Updated 09 May 2025
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No milk, no diapers: US aid cuts hit Syrian refugees in Lebanon

No milk, no diapers: US aid cuts hit Syrian refugees in Lebanon
  • Merhi and her family are among the millions of people affected by Trump’s decision to freeze USAID funding to humanitarian programs
  • Since the freeze, the UNHCR and WFP have had to limit the amount of aid they provide

BEIRUT: Amal Al-Merhi’s twin 10-month-old daughters often go without milk or diapers.
She feeds them a mix of cornstarch and water, because milk is too expensive. Instead of diapers, Merhi ties plastic bags around her babies’ waists.
The effect of their poverty is clear, she said.
“If you see one of the twins, you would not believe she is 10-months-old,” Merhi said in a phone interview. “She is so small and soft.”
The 20-year-old Syrian mother lives in a tent with her family of five in an informal camp in Bar Elias in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.
She fled Syria’s civil war in 2013 and has been relying on cash assistance from the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR to get by.
But that has ended.
Merhi and her family are among the millions of people affected by US President Donald Trump’s decision to freeze USAID funding to humanitarian programs.
Since the freeze, the UNHCR and the World Food Program (WFP) have had to limit the amount of aid they provide to some of the world’s most vulnerable people in countries from Lebanon to Chad and Ukraine.
In February, the WFP was forced to cut the number of Syrian refugees receiving cash assistance to 660,000 from 830,000, meaning the organization is reaching 76 percent of the people it planned to target, a spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, the WFP’s shock responsive safety net that supports Lebanese citizens cut its beneficiaries to 40,000 from 162,000 people, the spokesperson added.
The UNHCR has been forced to reduce all aspects of its operations in Lebanon, said Ivo Freijsen, UNHCR’s country representative, in an interview.
The agency cut 347,000 people from the UNHCR component of a WFP-UNHCR joint program as of April, a spokesperson said. Every family had been receiving $45 monthly from UNHCR, they added.
The group can support 206,000 Syrian refugees until June, when funds will dry up, they also said.
“We need to be very honest to everyone that the UNHCR of the past that could be totally on top of issues in a very expedient manner with lots of quality and resources — that is no longer the case,” Freijsen said. “We regret that sincerely.”

BAD TO WORSE
By the end of March, the UNHCR had enough money to cover only 17 percent of its planned global operations, and the budget for Lebanon is only 14 percent funded.
Lebanon is home to the largest refugee population per capita in the world.
Roughly 1.5 million Syrians, half of whom are formally registered with the UNHCR, live alongside some 4 million Lebanese.
Islamist-led rebels ousted former Syrian leader Bashar Assad in December, installing their own government and security forces. Since then there have been outbreaks of deadly sectarian violence, and fears among minorities are rising.
In March, hundreds of Syrians fled to Lebanon after killings targeted the minority Alawite sect.
Lebanon has been in the grips of unyielding crises since its economy imploded in 2019. The war between Israel and armed group Hezbollah is expected to wipe billions of dollars from the national wealth as well, the United Nations has said.
Economic malaise has meant fewer jobs for everyone, including Syrian refugees.
“My husband works one day and then sits at home for 10,” Merhi said. “We need help. I just want milk and diapers for my kids.”

DANGEROUS CHOICES
The UNHCR has been struggling with funding cuts for years, but the current cuts are “much more rapid and sizeable” and uncertainty prevails, said Freijsen.
“A lot of other questions are still to be answered, like, what will be the priorities? What will still be funded?” Freijsen asked.
Syrian refugees and vulnerable communities in Lebanon might be forced to make risky or dangerous choices, he said.
Some may take out loans. Already about 80 percent of Syrian refugees are in debt to pay for rent, groceries and medical bills, Freijsen said. Children may also be forced to work.
“Women may be forced into commercial sex work,” he added.
Issa Idris, a 50-year-old father of three, has not received any cash assistance from UNHCR since February and has been forced to take on debt to buy food.
“They cut us off with no warning,” he said.
He now owes a total of $3,750, used to pay for food, rent and medicine, and he has no idea how he will pay it back.
He cannot work because of an injury, but his 18-year-old son sometimes finds work as a day laborer.
“We are lucky. We have someone who can work. Many do not,” he said.
Merhi too has fallen into debt. The local grocer is refusing to lend her any more money, and last month power was cut until the family paid the utility bill.
She and her husband collect and sell scrap metal to buy food.
“We are adults. We can eat anything,” she said, her voice breaking. “The kids cannot. It is not their fault.”


Kurdish PKK says held ‘successful’ meeting on disbanding

Kurdish PKK says held ‘successful’ meeting on disbanding
Updated 09 May 2025
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Kurdish PKK says held ‘successful’ meeting on disbanding

Kurdish PKK says held ‘successful’ meeting on disbanding
  • The PKK will share “full and detailed information with regard to the outcome of this congress very soon,” it said
  • In February, Ocalan urged his fighters to disarm and disband

ISTANBUL: The outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) held a “successful” meeting this week with a view to disarming and dissolving, the Kurdish agency ANF, which is close to the armed movement, announced on Friday.
The meeting resulted in “decisions of historic importance concerning the PKK’s activities, based on the call” of founder Abdullah Ocalan, who called on the movement in February to dissolve.
The congress, which was held between Monday and Wednesday, took place in the “Media Defense Zones” — a term used by the movement to designate the Kandil mountains of northern Iraq where the PKK military command is located, the agency reported.
The PKK will share “full and detailed information with regard to the outcome of this congress very soon,” it said.
In February, Ocalan urged his fighters to disarm and disband, ending a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
In his historic call — which took the form of a letter — Ocalan urged the PKK to hold a congress to formalize the decision.
Two days later, the PKK announced a ceasefire, saying it was ready to convene a congress but said “for this to happen, a suitable secure environment must be created,” insisting it would only succeed if Ocalan were to “personally direct and lead it.”
The PKK leadership is holed up in Kurdish-majority mountainous northern Iraq where Turkish forces have staged multiple air strikes in recent years, targeting the group which is also blacklisted by Washington and Brussels.


Drone strikes hit Port Sudan for sixth straight day: army source

Drone strikes hit Port Sudan for sixth straight day: army source
Updated 09 May 2025
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Drone strikes hit Port Sudan for sixth straight day: army source

Drone strikes hit Port Sudan for sixth straight day: army source
  • The port city has been hit by daily drone strikes since Sunday
  • The long-range attacks have damaged several key facilities

PORT SUDAN: Drone strikes hit Port Sudan for a sixth straight day Friday, an army source said, blaming the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, at war with the regular army since April 2023.
“Our air defenses intercepted some of the enemy drones which were targeting sites in the city,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Witnesses reported strikes across Port Sudan, seat of the army-backed government and the country’s main aid hub.
The port city, which had been seen as a safe haven from the devastating conflict between the army and the RSF, has been hit by daily drone strikes since Sunday.
The long-range attacks have damaged several key facilities, including the country’s sole international airport, its largest working fuel depot and the city’s main power station.
The port city is the main entry point for humanitarian aid into Sudan, and UN chief Antonio Guterres warned the attacks “threaten to increase humanitarian needs and further complicate aid operations in the country,” his spokesman said.
More than two years of fighting have killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted 13 million in what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.


Israel won’t be involved in new Gaza aid plan, only in security, US envoy says

Israel won’t be involved in new Gaza aid plan, only in security, US envoy says
Updated 09 May 2025
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Israel won’t be involved in new Gaza aid plan, only in security, US envoy says

Israel won’t be involved in new Gaza aid plan, only in security, US envoy says
  • Ambassador Mike Huckabee said several partners had already committed to taking part in the aid arrangement
  • “There are nonprofit organizations that will be a part of the leadership“

JERUSALEM: A US-backed mechanism for distributing aid into Gaza should take effect soon, Washington’s ambassador to Israel said on Friday ahead of President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East, but he gave few details.
Gaza’s residents are facing a growing humanitarian crisis with Israel enforcing a months-long blockade on aid supplies to the small Palestinian enclave in the third year of its war against militant group Hamas.
Ambassador Mike Huckabee said several partners had already committed to taking part in the aid arrangement but declined to name them, saying details would be released in the coming days.
“There has been a good initial response,” the former Republican governor told reporters at the embassy in Jerusalem.
“There are nonprofit organizations that will be a part of the leadership,” he said, adding that other organizations and governments would also need to be involved, though not Israel.
Tikva Forum, a hawkish Israeli group representing some relatives of hostages held in Gaza, criticized the announcement, saying aid deliveries should be conditional on Hamas releasing the 59 captives in Gaza.
Trump, who wants to broker a deal that would see Israel and Saudi Arabia establish diplomatic relations, will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates next week.
Trump had teased a major announcement ahead of the trip. It was unclear if that was what Huckabee announced on Friday.
Anticipation has been building about a new aid plan for Gaza, laid waste by 19 months of an Israeli military campaign against Hamas that has destroyed much of the infrastructure and displaced most of its 2.3 million population several times.
“It will not be perfect, especially in the early days,” Huckabee said. “It is a logistical challenge to make this work.”
European leaders and aid groups have criticized a plan by Israel, which has prevented aid from entering Gaza since breaking a ceasefire with Hamas in March, for private companies to take over humanitarian distributions in the enclave.
Israel has accused agencies including the United Nations of allowing aid to fall into the hands of Hamas, which it has said is seizing supplies intended for civilians and given them to its own forces or selling them to raise funds.

CRITICISM OF AID PLANS
“The Israelis are going to be involved in providing necessary military security because it is a war zone, but they will not be involved in the distribution of the food or even bringing the food into Gaza,” Huckabee told a press conference.
Asked whether the supply of aid hinged on a ceasefire being restored, Huckabee said: “The humanitarian aid will not depend on anything other than our ability to get the food into Gaza.”
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Friday criticized emerging plans to take over distribution of aid in Gaza floated by both Israel and the United States, saying this would increase suffering for children and families.
A proposal is circulating among the aid community for a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation that would distribute food from four “Secure Distribution Sites,” resembling plans announced by Israel earlier this week, but drew criticism that it would effectively worsen displacement among the Gaza population.
Huckabee said there would be an “initial number” of distribution centers that could feed “perhaps over a million people” before being scaled up to ultimately reach two million.
“Private security” would be responsible for the safety of workers getting into the distribution centers and in the distribution of the food itself, Huckabee said, declining to comment on rules of engagement for security personnel.
“Everything would be done in accordance with international law,” he said.
Mediation efforts by the United States, Qatar, and Egypt have not been successful in implementing a second phase of the ceasefire. Israel demands the total disarmament of Hamas, which the Islamist group rejects.
Hamas has said it is willing to free all remaining hostages seized by its gunmen in attacks on communities in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and agree to a permanent ceasefire if Israel pulls out completely from Gaza.
Israel has said it plans to expand its military campaign in Gaza, which has prompted UN warnings of imminent famine confronting its population.
Hamas’ attacks on October 7, 2023 killed 1,200 people and 251 were taken hostage back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. Israel’s campaign has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to Hamas-run health authorities.


Palestinian president, Gazans call on Leo XIV to pursue late pope’s ‘peace efforts’

Palestinian president, Gazans call on Leo XIV to pursue late pope’s ‘peace efforts’
Updated 09 May 2025
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Palestinian president, Gazans call on Leo XIV to pursue late pope’s ‘peace efforts’

Palestinian president, Gazans call on Leo XIV to pursue late pope’s ‘peace efforts’
  • Gaza’s Christians confident new pope will give importance to enclave’s peace
  • Hamas also looking forward to new pope's “his continuation of the late Pope’s path”

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories/CAIRO: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, along with Gaza's Christians and Hamas leadership are calling on the new Pope Leo XIV to pursue the “peace efforts” of his predecessor Francis.
Abbas sent “best wishes for the success of Pope Leo XIV in the pursuit of his noble task and maintaining the legacy of the late Pope Francis,” said in a statement released by his office late Thursday after the Vatican announced the election of a new pope.

Cardinal Robert Prevost, a little known missionary from Chicago, was elected in a surprise choice to be the new head of the Catholic Church, becoming the first US pope and taking the name Leo XIV.

Abbas highlighted the “importance of the moral, religious and political role of the Vatican in the defense of just causes,” adding that “the Palestinian people and their right to liberty and independence” should be at the top.

In Gaza, the enclave’s tiny Christian community said that they were happy about the election of a new leader of the Catholic Church. They also expressed confidence he would give importance to the war-torn enclave like his predecessor Pope Francis did.

Members of the clergy hold mass for late Pope Francis at the Holy Family Church in Gaza City on April 21, 2025.

“We are happy about the election of the Pope ... We hope that his heart will remain with Gaza like Pope Francis,” George Antone, 44, head of the emergency committee at the Holy Family Church in Gaza, told Reuters.
The late Pope Francis, who campaigned for peace for the devastated enclave, called the church hours after the war in Gaza began in October 2023, the start of what the Vatican News Service would describe as a nightly routine throughout the war.
“We appeal to the new pope to look at Gaza through the eyes of Pope Francis and to feel it with the heart of Pope Francis. At the same time, we are confident that the new pope will give importance to Gaza and its peace,” Antone added.
War in Gaza erupted when Hamas militants launched an attack against southern Israel, in which 251 people were taken hostage and some 1,200 were killed, according to Israeli tallies.
Since the abductions, Israel has responded with an air and ground assault on Gaza that has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run health authorities there, and reduced much of Gaza to ruins.
Hamas, in a statement, congratulated Pope Leo saying that it looked forward to “his continuation of the late Pope’s path in supporting the oppressed and rejecting the genocide in Gaza.”
The Holy Family Church compound in Gaza houses 450 Christians as well as a shelter for the elderly and children that also accommodates 30 Muslims, Antone said.
Gaza’s 2.3 million population comprises an estimated 1,000 Christians, mostly Greek Orthodox.