The U.S. has described the dry and rugged mountains of northern Somalia as the main hub from which ISIS controls its global operations. Amid an increasing number of U.S. drone strikes and raids supporting the Somali government in the war against ISIS, the United States is now expanding its presence in the port city of Bosaso and effectively building a new military base, which will be used for combat and surveillance operations targeting “terror groups” in the region as well enhancing maritime security, according to Somali security officials in Puntland. The CIA will also expand its operations there, the officials said.
Archiv: Bosaso (city / airport / seaport) / Puntland / Somalia
Exclusive: Inside the UAE‘s secret Sudan war operation at Somalia‘s Bosaso
“They’re frequent and the logistics are transferred immediately to another aircraft that is on standby and is destined for the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan through the neighbouring countries,” said Abdullahi, a senior Puntland Maritime Police Force (PMPF) commander at Bosaso Airport, who spoke to Middle East Eye using a different name for security reasons.
According to flight tracking data, satellite imagery, multiple local sources, and US and regional diplomats, the origin of these planes and their cargo is clear: the United Arab Emirates.
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As MEE reported recently, Bosaso is connected to a ring of bases built and expanded by the UAE across the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea. The bases, on the islands of Mayun, Abd al-Kuri, Samhah; at the Somaliland port of Berbera and the Yemeni port of Mocha, are all on territory nominally controlled not by the UAE but its allies or clients.