A leaked official document obtained by Emirates Leaks has revealed extensive details about the use of Emirati military bases in the southern Red Sea region, including Yemen, Eritrea, and Somalia, to provide military, logistical, and intelligence support to Israel during its war on the Gaza Strip.
The document, dated 2023 and addressed to the Joint Operations Command of the Emirati Armed Forces, outlines operational plans, field meetings, and executive decisions that confirm direct and organised involvement exceeding the publicly declared political or diplomatic framework.
The document opens with a formal submission to the Joint Operations Command and explicitly states that its objective is to “support the State of Israel in its war against terrorists in Palestine” through Emirati bases deployed along the southern Red Sea.
It defines several axes of Emirati support for Israel, beginning with the cultural and media dimension, including support for community initiatives and media and knowledge backing to strengthen what it describes as “social cohesion” between both sides. This extends to the diplomatic dimension through the exchange of embassies, ambassadors, and high level visits. It also highlights the economic dimension, which the document states peaked following the normalisation agreement, with trade volume reaching 3.1 billion US dollars by the end of 2022, alongside the signing of seven economic agreements, including a free trade agreement.
The most serious revelations in the document concern the security and military dimension. It refers to “close, cohesive, and integrated” cooperation in counter terrorism, intelligence sharing, and military technology, and confirms the provision of intelligence tools and equipment to Israel valued at one billion US dollars.
The document details the capacity to supply Israel through specific bases, including the Mokha base in Yemen, the Assab and Massawa bases in Eritrea, and the Berbera and Bosaso bases in Somalia.
It clarifies that the support is not limited to the transfer of equipment, but involves a comprehensive logistical and military support system. This includes fuel and food supplies, technical equipment, light and medium weapons, defence systems, operations rooms, missile monitoring, fighter transport, ship maintenance and refuelling, and participation in monitoring security conditions in the southern Red Sea.
The document states that this support “will continue until the defeat of the terrorists in Palestine”, according to its exact wording.
The executive section records a series of actions and tasks carried out immediately after the outbreak of the war on Gaza, following a request by the Joint Command for immediate mobilisation. These tasks include extensive intelligence investigations into Qatari support for Hamas, field and administrative deployments to the Mokha base, meetings with the leadership of the National Resistance on the western coast, meetings with Eritrean military leaders in Assab and Massawa, field deployments to the Berbera base in Somalia, and meetings with the Southern Transitional Council in Aden and its operations rooms near Bab al Mandab.
The document provides a timeline of official meetings attended by senior Emirati officers, most notably Brigadier General Saeed al Mazrouei, commander of Emirati forces in Yemen, and Brigadier General Saeed al Kaabi, commander of the West Coast Forces within the Joint Forces.
These meetings directly addressed the capacity to supply Israeli military bases, open military communication channels, and allocate weapons and technical and logistical readiness for transfer to Israel.
Regarding Eritrea, the document reveals a meeting held on 21 October 2023 at the Assab base, attended by senior Emirati and Eritrean officials. The meeting concluded with decisions to provide all forms of logistical support and allocate sites within the Dahlak Archipelago, including ports, airports, and communications stations, for transporting supplies to Tel Aviv by air and sea.
The decisions also included the transfer of two modern tanks by ship, the supply of phosphorus missiles stored at the base to Israel, the redirection of the West Coast monitoring operations room to serve Israeli intelligence support, and the request to engage a private intelligence company.
In Somalia, the document refers to a special meeting at the Berbera base, where it was decided to equip specific vessels, including Jebel Ali, Swift, and Al Raja, to transport equipment and military supplies to Israel. A budget exceeding 1.4 million UAE dirhams was allocated to repaint the vessels, change their markings, and prepare them for their new missions.
Through its operational details, names, dates, and decisions, the document exposes an unprecedented level of direct Emirati military involvement in supporting Israel during its war on Gaza, utilising a network of bases extending across one of the most critical maritime corridors in the world.
It also raises profound legal, political, and ethical questions regarding the role of these bases in a conflict that has resulted in one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes of the modern era, and about the implications of this role for regional security and stability.
