Clashes of the port .. Is the situation in Socotra?

Al Jazeera Net - Yemen

A new round of conflict on the Yemeni island of Socotra, after the security forces loyal to the UAE tried to control the port of the island on Tuesday evening, which led to the outbreak of confrontations with the forces loyal to the Yemeni government.

The incident has fueled tension in Socotra on the international shipping lines, and residents fear a cycle of violence from division, who have lived in a state of tranquility and calm, before the "curse of the UAE" as they describe it.

"The situation on the island is worrying and could explode at any moment," said Salim Abdul Majid, a Socotra resident.

"We believed that the fate of Socotra would be different from the rest of the Yemeni cities and provinces. The geographic distance of the island would prevent the fighting from expanding, but the UAE still insists that destruction be done all over Yemen."

Control the port
Tension began in Socotra with the arrival of 300 soldiers from the security forces loyal to the UAE to the coast of the island in May, after they received training in the camps in Aden by Emirati officers.

On Tuesday evening, the situation in the port of Al-Jazeera was normal, before the security forces commander Essam al-Shazabi arrived at the port gate, trying to storm him, on the pretext of receiving a ship carrying his troops.

An officer in the coast guard forces told Al Jazeera Net details of the events, saying that Shizabi did not have a permit to enter the port, and after attempts to prevent him, a large reinforcements of his forces, and turned the attack to the port to control it.

"The belt forces fired at the few Coast Guard forces, and we appealed to the provincial authorities on the island. Moments later, the 1st Marine Corps arrived, fought with the security forces and repelled the attack."

The clashes led to the injury of the commander of the belt forces Essam Shizabi, to withdraw his forces immediately.

Although the situation is stable in the port, but the reasons for the tension is still lingering, observers assess the clashes as a first step in the way of the UAE to control the forces loyal to the port, and tighten its full grip on the island of Socotra.

Neutrality of Saudis
The authorities of the governor Ramzi Mahrous - accused of loyalists of the UAE as the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood - rely on the Saudi refusal to expand the UAE in Socotra, but the Saudi forces in the port remained neutral.

A senior source in the Yemeni government of Al Jazeera Net, preferring anonymity on his identity, said that the Saudi position was firm in front of UAE moves earlier, before it changed for days, likely to be coordinated between the two sides.

"It was supposed to intervene Saudi forces, but they committed neutrality, in an attempt to purge the governor and the violation of his explicit orders, which repeatedly confirmed the rejection of any militias or camps outside the control of the government."

The source attributed the change of the Saudi position to the conservative position of any strict Saudi or Emirati ambitions. "The Saudis want a governor who meets their orders like the governor of al-Mahra," he said.

Governor Mahrous is based on the popular support of the inhabitants of the island, did not participate Wednesday in the demonstration called for by the loyalists of the UAE, but a few, most of them soldiers of the security belt.

The demonstration by loyalists in the island against the governor and fisheries minister Fahd Kafain, who belongs to Socotra, explains that the state of hostility and division will be deeper this time.

According to the officer at the port of the island, it is not unlikely that the security forces to return control of the port, "We hope not to happen, but the division and tension is a harbinger crisis may be the hardest on Socotra's sons."

For his part, the President of the General Council of the Sons of the Mohara and Socotra Abdulla Al Afar described the events as "sedition that our peaceful society has not committed and threatens to tear apart our social fabric."

The activist in the island of Socotra Mohammed al-Aqrabi has ruled out confrontations at this stage because the security forces still do not have the strength and the number to confront the government forces unless they have additional mechanisms and military forces.

"The forces of the belt will go to provoke riots and acts of bullying and demonstrations to disrupt the situation and create a state of tension," he told Al Jazeera Net.

Scenarios
In the opinion of the president of the center of the dimensions of studies Abdul Salam Mohammed that the UAE exploited Saudi preoccupation with the escalation of Iran and Houthi, and instructed the militias to move in Socotra and Shabwa, and therefore predicted three scenarios.

The first is Saudi intervention to stop the escalation of the UAE and to allow the legitimate government to carry out its tasks in the liberated areas.

The second scenario may include the escalation of the UAE's specific military operations, which may be used as a pretext to isolate President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and announce a new transitional situation that would accept the status quo in Sana'a and Aden.

According to Abdul Salam, the third scenario will be facing the government of the UAE militias in all liberated areas, but this situation may push Houthi to exploit the situation to expand and fill the vacuum again.