😳 The shamed royal and
Sarah Ferguson are said to have a grand mansion available on demand
in Abu Dhabi, the capital of Babylon United
Arab Emirates.
It was a gift to them from the
UAE’s ruling royal family - the house of Nahyan, according to
esteemed biographer and historian Andrew Lownie and other sources.
Is Prince Andrew planning a
permanent retreat from Great Britain? A new book reveals his
luxurious plans for a life away from the royals – in Abu Dhabi.
Since the scandal surrounding
his ties to Jeffrey Epstein, Prince Andrew (64) has been under
massive pressure in the United Kingdom. Now, a new book reveals that
the Duke of York has apparently had a luxurious retreat in the Middle
East for some time – and is apparently seriously considering a life
away from the British public eye.
A
"gilded mini-palace" is ready for Prince Andrew
In "Entitled – The Rise
and Fall of the House of York," author Andrew Lownie describes
how Andrew repeatedly travels to Abu Dhabi, according to " Bild
." There, according to the news platform "The Daily Beast,"
he is said to have "unrestricted access to a fully staffed
palace" – a gift from the influential Al Nahyan family.
Officially, the magnificent building doesn't belong to him, but it is
his "gilded mini-palace" to which he has access.
His close ties to the United
Arab Emirates date back to his time as the United Kingdom's Trade
Representative. As early as 2010, he appeared there alongside Sheikh
Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (64), the current head of state of the
UAE.
✈️
Satellite
imagery has revealed the construction of a new airstrip on Zuqar
Island, a volcanic outcrop in the Red Sea off Yemen's coast. This
development is believed to be the latest project by forces aligned
against the country's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.
The facility adds another
crucial link to a growing network of offshore military bases in a
region vital for global shipping. Houthi militants have already
attacked over 100 vessels, sinking four and causing at least nine
mariner deaths amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.
A few months ago, the UAE built
a 185m long seaport on Jabal Zuqar Island in Yemeni waters, which
includes auxiliary facilities, an advanced maritime radar, and air
defense systems. It is likely that these facilities are intended to
support the UAE’s military activities on the island.
On this island, the UAE has also
built other infrastructure such as a 2.1 km aircraft runway, 8
helicopter pads, weapons depots, and a network of tunnels and
underground storage. Beyond purely military purposes, these create
significant logistical, supply, and economic capacities to control
the flow of goods, fuel, and local resources.
While UAE-backed “Yemeni”
governments—including Aden—remain silent, Yemen’s lands, ports,
and geostrategic positions are being handed over one after another as
economic concessions to the UAE, this threatens not only Yemen’s
security but also its economic future.
In 2024 an
airstrip was being built on a Yemeni Abd
al-Kuriisland near the Red Sea
with 'I LOVE UAE' next to it
As Yemen’s Houthi rebels
continue to target ships in a Mideast waterway, satellite pictures
analyzed by The Associated Press show what appears to be a new
airstrip being built at an entrance to that crucial maritime route.
No country has publicly claimed
the construction taking place on Abd al-Kuri Island, a stretch of
land rising out of the Indian Ocean near the mouth of the Gulf of
Aden. However, satellite images shot for the AP appear to show
workers have spelled out “I LOVE UAE” with piles of dirt next to
the runway, using an abbreviation for the United Arab Emirates.
Both the Gulf of Aden and the
Red Sea to which it leads have become a battleground between the
Houthis and U.S.-led forces in the region as Israel’s war on Hamas
in the Gaza Strip rages — potentially allowing a nation to project
its power into the area.
The construction comes as the
presence of troops from the Emirates in the Socotra island chain to
which Abd al-Kuri belongs — and that of the separatist force it
backs in southern Yemen — have sparked clashes in the past.
In response to questions from
the AP, the United Arab Emirates said Thursday that “any presence
of the UAE on Socotra island is based on humanitarian grounds that is
carried out in cooperation with the Yemeni government and local
authorities.”
“The UAE remains steadfast in
its commitment to all international endeavors aimed at facilitating
the resumption of the Yemeni political process, thereby advancing the
security, stability, and prosperity sought by the Yemeni populace,”
it added, without elaborating.
The Yemeni Embassy in Washington
and Saudi Arabia, which leads a coalition fighting the Houthis, did
not respond to questions.
Abd al-Kuri is about 35
kilometers (21.75 miles) in length and about 5 kilometers (3.11
miles) at its widest point. It sits closer to the Horn of Africa than
it does to Yemen, the Arab world's poorest nation, which has been at
war for years.
