"Tahnoon bin Zayed" .. What do you know about the shadow prince in the UAE?

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Tahnoun bin Zayed, brother of Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed Zayed, is on a "secret" mission in Iran to defuse the crisis between Riyadh and Tehran, a move that observers say is in the process of being established. For a final liquidation of the war in Yemen.

The question comes back to the research interface, who is Tahnoun bin Zayed? Why is his name hesitated in the big files that relate to Saudi Arabia, although he is an Emirati?

The following report explains the story of Tahnoon at the root, and comes to analyze the moments of the great ascent of the man's life and his transformation of a personality in the UAE security policy regionally and internationally

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Text of the report

The task of the 4th Brigade of the Yemeni Presidential Guard, beginning in the second week of February 2017, was not easy. Those fighters had to move from their battles with the Houthis to the latter's stronghold in the border town of Saada, on the orders of Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, to take over the strategic Aden airport from the military force it controls, the so-called "security belt" forces loyal to the UAE. Probably, the 4th Brigade anticipated routine rejection without fighting, and arbitrarily for quite a while before handing over the airport from the belt forces to Yemen's legitimate and consensual power, the so-called Arab Alliance, but by all accounts the opposite.

Once the newly formed brigade, also ordered by Hadi, arrived in Aden, his forces were directly targeted and clashes erupted between him and the belt forces, refusing to hand over the airport.While the brigade lacked an air force, the belt forces enjoyed air cover from fighters believed to be Emirati. 1, which was later disbanded, is more than a clear indication of a dormant power struggle between Riyadh, represented by its man Hadi, and Abu Dhabi represented by the belt forces, to control the southern Yemeni patch.

The resolution of the airport crisis did not end this conflict to escalate after two months of the battle with the dismissal of Hadi to the two most important Emirati men in Yemen, where he overthrew the "Aidroos al-Zubaidi" from his position as governor of Aden, and his deputy, "Hani bin Brik" from his post as Minister of State. This was the final touch to eliminate any joint cooperation between the two major powers in the Alliance 2, especially after Abu Dhabi threw its weight behind its legs, supporting them to launch a separatist movement led by "Zubaidi" a few days after the dismissal. It was the first separatist call of gravity and danger after the waves of the Arab Spring in the former happy Yemen, putting Hadi and the Saudis in a real dilemma, and because the wheel of things went through a proxy war between the two Gulf capitals threatened to dismantle everything, someone had to intervene to resolve the situation is very complicated And there was no better fit than the man who started it all - the UAE national security adviser and the coordinator of UAE military operations in the "Storm of the Packets": Tahnoun bin Zayed.

No one knows exactly how Tahnoun convinced then Deputy Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman of what the political community would know as the Tahnoun Deal 3, an agreement that would ensure the UAE calm the situation in southern Yemen and freeze the separatist attempt, in return for Saudi Arabia lifting its support. Hadi 4, her first and sincere ally, is preparing to overthrow him and replace him with the former UAE man and former Hadi deputy, Khaled Bahah, as soon as Ibn Salman becomes crown prince. Not only that, but also an Emirati acceptance of the return of Islah, the Yemeni Muslim Brotherhood's close affiliate. From Riyadh, acceptance embodied in a joint meeting between Ibn Salman and Muhammad b Zayed Emirates Alfla- -hakm and Tahnoon himself with the head of the party end of last year 6, while the deal was a real proof of the capabilities of the mysterious Prince.

Tahnoun's position officially ranks fourth in the UAE's power structure, after Khalifa bin Zayed, UAE President and Ruler of Dubai Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayed, but second in practice just after Mohammed bin Zayed and his right arm. Tahnoun's fingerprints are not confined to the arrangement of Yemen's chaos, and perhaps its manufacture. Herself, under the additional cover of his huge economic empire, putting man in a very limited list constituting the entire Middle East at the moment.

Boarding

In 1995, a college student named Ben entered a combat sports club called Gracie Barra in San Diego, California, and met a teacher named Nelson Monteiro, demanding to join enthusiastically after watching the UFC, the most important sports tournament. Benn began his lessons with unprecedented enthusiasm, and similarly to traditional motion pictures, the young man was the first to come to the club and the last to leave.They even offered to clean the training floor before starting each time, a work left for beginners and white belt owners. With the dedication of the young man, "Gracie" did not care much to verify his identity, but after months of training and confidence "revealed" his true identity to his coach; it was Tahnoun himself. 8

Tahnoun returned to Abu Dhabi in 1998, and at that time began to establish his vision of the application of martial arts, not only in the UAE, but for all martial sports in the world by setting new standards, establishing the Abu Dhabi Fight Club, which hosts one of the largest combat tournaments in the world, Before he got his black belt at the turn of the millennium, a sporting career that will characterize the young man's movements later in his rise in the Middle East.

At the end of the 1990s, shortly before he acquired the Black Belt, Tahnoun launched a major economic group called Royal Group, which now employs more than 20,000 workers in more than 70 companies 9, from the Popeyes restaurant agency to military manufacturing and robotics. Leading the group is Al Reem Island, a $ 60 billion project and one of the UAE's largest projects. 10

To manage all this, the young prince was appointed chairman of First Gulf Bank, the UAE's third largest bank by assets, holding 5.40% of its shares, or nearly $ 1 billion, placing him among the richest Arabs for two consecutive years. 11 As usual, Tahnoun decided to turn Gulf Bank into the first bank in the Middle East, managing its merger with National Bank of Abu Dhabi to form First Abu Dhabi Bank, one of the largest banking institutions in the world, with total assets of $ 175 billion. Next to the giant group "Royal" in pushing the political process of Tahnoun to its limits so far.

Tahnoun Empire

Over an area of ​​approximately 150,000m2, in the heart of Abu Dhabi, next to its Grand Mosque and Sports City, more than 1,000 military and defense technology companies meet each year at IDEX , the only annual event of its kind in the Middle East, showcasing its latest military technologies directly From a hundred thousand visitors and, most importantly, to more than one hundred and seventy official delegations in 12 halls with spaces dedicated to marine technologies and drones. 13

Of these, 140 are UAE-based, the most important of which is the state-owned Emirates Military Industries Company ( EDIC) , founded and managed by Mohammed bin Zayed, famous for its Enigma fighting vehicle, which is widely used in Yemen and Libya and exported to other countries, in exchange for a new company. First emerged in 2015 under the name "Trust International Group" - formerly "Hydra" - to be one of a number of rare UAE defense companies not owned by "EDIC", making it a preferred partner for companies seeking to win contracts with the UAE security forces, the company Core in the Tahnoun economic group "Royal".

During the exhibition, the company said it provides various military spare parts, products and systems as well as logistics 14, and is initially working to enable the UAE to acquire sensitive technology used to defend national security, in a strategic direction designed by Tahnoon in partnership with Blaver Survinens. But it is also buying arms for UAE allies from various militias, led by security belt and elite forces in Yemen, Operation Dignity forces in Libya, and long work with an Egyptian consultant named Tamer Hanafi to support the selection. Facebook Facebook logo Links on "UAE Commercial in Egypt.

Tahnoun has also succeeded in reaching the heart of some important international military companies, as it became the first provider of supplies and spare parts for Czech armored vehicles "Tatra" and US "Humvee" military vehicles, in addition to the company "Nexter Leclerc" tank, as part of its extensive cooperation with the French, Being the first participating business partner in the program “Geospatial Intelligence”, a program that eventually led to a deal related to the Falcon Eye system in which the UAE obtained two satellite satellites, a local surveillance system that turned the UAE into the world's largest machinery exhibition It monitors every movement for Almost every UAE citizen.

Next to the Trust International Group, and in the Royal Economic Empire, Tahnoun developed another fund dedicated to investment and partnership with new technology companies called the Advanced Science and Innovation Company, a fund that runs incubators to promote new technology in Abu Dhabi, and invested in an Australian laser technology company. And also in a solar energy project in Sierra Leone inaugurated by President Ernest Bai Koroma himself, as well as Pal, the regional leader in robotics development, within the emirate's extensive network, which makes him to describe Intelligence Online as director of an investment and security empire. ". 15

The description of the French intelligence patrol does not seem to be counterproductive. In 2012, while the renowned UAE human rights activist Ahmed Mansour was trying to release his fellow suspects in the UAE 94 case after he was released from the case known as the UAE 5, his organs were 17. The electronic system is always under the weight of uninterrupted attempts to penetrate it through the UAE system, as revealed by the famous technical group "Citizen Lab", the most notable attempts to penetrate his computer and e-mail via a text document. 18

The Citizen Lab, which helped Mansour bypass the hack, traced its source to find it due to a familiar email address in Abu Dhabi: Tahnoun's Royal Group, and through the controversial hacking company Hacking Team 19, which saw extensive leaks. For its own emails in 2016, leaks revealed its assistance to a number of repressive Arab and global systems of widespread domestic illegal espionage, led by the United Arab Emirates, who revived Hacking Team once again, and established from the ruins of Dark Mater, the new electronic empire Specifically geared to the Sham observation Of spying on the UAE 20.

This may seem controversial despite the successive information evidences; but little trace of the UAE's security history shows that the system has consistently used the huge funds to build these security networks as a key part of its security strategy, most notably the purchase of the services of the founder and former director of the world's first mercenaries, Blackwater. Eric Prince, whom the UAE paid him up to $ 529 million to bring mercenaries to form parallel armed forces, 21. The UAE security empire did not stop hiring, but mobilized former CIA agents, coordinated by former CIA employee Larry Sanchez, The founder of the former controversial between the NYPD and the CIA's relationship (prevents the work of the US Central Intelligence within the United States), and now oversees funds the UAE to train a number of business system on intelligence work and surveillance in the Gulf Villa luxury near Port Zayed in Abu Dhabi. 22

At the head of this security empire of mercenaries and agents is Mohammed bin Zayed, who is firmly in the grip of the recent changes he made in March 2016, when he appointed his son, Khalid, as head of the State Security Service, who is responsible for internal security and the first accused of human rights violations and torture. Arbitrary arrests in prisons and the pursuit of activists, reformists and affiliates of Brotherhood groups, but the most important appointment was his younger brother "Tahnoun" national security adviser, the position that made him the "first spy", responsible for the management of these networks and external operations, taking over the files abroad For the UAE. 23

The first spy

Tahnoon's biggest foreign file to date was the coordination of air operations from the UAE side with Riyadh in the so-called "Storm Packet", his first major regional role outside the country, having in his 21st year assumed the post of head of his father's own department, Sheikh Zayed. He became President of the Presidential Aviation Authority, before we witnessed his rapid and sudden rise in 2013 to become Deputy National Security Adviser, and then three years later, and after his success in arranging his first foreign operation "Storm Packet", he was appointed National Security Adviser to be responsible for the UAE foreign intelligence operations as mentioned. . His success opened the door to expanded foreign operations, based on his economic empire and extensive network of relations, to make Tahnoun accountable for Yemen's entire political fate, a role that will be relatively repeated over the same period and in another chaotic region as well.

In Libya in 2016, the commander of the so-called “Operation Dignity” Khalifa Hifter agreed to grant Abu Dhabi agricultural land south of the city of Marg to establish a helipad and military base for the UAE aircraft under the supervision of Tahnoon 24, but only two years later. Planning for the post-Hifter phase, in coordination with the Egyptian side represented by the Chairman of the Egyptian National Committee for Libya, Major-General "Mohamed Al-Keshki". 25

Tahnoun's relations and powers expanded over time, and his arms extended beyond the UAE and the Arab world to the shores of the Atlantic; in a meeting similar to his secret meeting with "Ibn Salman" to determine the fate of Yemen, or his meeting with Major General Keshki to determine the fate of Libya; the first spy arranged a secret meeting in the tropical Seychelles In the Indian Ocean just nine days before US President Donald Trump's inauguration, the meeting brought together Eric Prince, representing the US side, with Moscow's Kirill Demetriev, director of Russia's Direct Investment Fund, a fund whose mission is to raise and invest foreign funds in projects. Russian infrastructure, is investing The UAE has two billion dollars through Mubadala Development Company, headed by Mohammed bin Zayed, and mediated by George Nader, an American of Lebanese descent and convicted of sexual issues in the early 1990s as a representative of the UAE side, seeking to establish back channels of communication between Washington and Moscow, and to put the UAE forward at home The new white. 26

Tahnoun spared no effort to protect the interests of the UAE and confront its enemies; starting with the financial war waged by his bank, "Abu Dhabi First" against Doha in the wake of the Gulf crisis 27, and not ending to coordinate and organize Abu Dhabi alliance with Washington and Riyadh against Tehran and the Muslim Brotherhood, a coalition that was built in Last March, during the visit of "Salman" to Washington - in a special ceremony attended by Paul Ryan, the Republican leader in the US House of Representatives leading the legislative campaign against Tehran, and of course also the presence of Tahnoun. 28

This picture of bin Salman and Tahnun reflects many similarities in common, and they owe each other a deal here in Yemen or conduct interests there with the Americans, not the red hatred worn by Tahnoun alone among Emiratis similar to that of the Saudis, or that Ibn Salman owns Aramco in exchange for having Tahnoun to Royal Group, which are pushing their local, regional and international projects, but with the ambition that led the Saudi prince to ascend to the throne and seize all the political, military and security powers inside the Kingdom, in a manner dubbed the "Prince of Chaos", the same ambition that prompted the spy of either The first came to a similar rise, but more elegantly and quietly, as befits an intelligence officer, not a "raging" emir, an ascension and ambition not known if he would stand at the checkpoint of his powerful brother Mohammed bin Zayed, who had removed his brother Hazza from the new post of Tahnoun for similar concern. Or is it an ambition that will at some point go beyond Ibn Zayed himself.