The UAE is building a maritime empire to control global trade and potentially wage proxy wars – NaturalNews.com

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), a small federation of Gulf states, is executing a master plan of economic penetration and militarized expansion, using its corporate might to seize control of vital trade arteries and establish a new form of 21st-century imperialism. The recent $800 million, 30-year concession granting UAE-based DP World control over Syria’s Tartous Port is the latest bold move in a calculated strategy to dominate global shipping lanes, manipulate fragile nations, and entrench a power structure that operates in the shadows of American hegemony, threatening sovereignty and stability from the Horn of Africa to the Eastern Mediterranean.

Key points:

• The UAE, through DP World, has secured a long-term concession to operate Syria’s Tartous Port, marking a significant shift in regional economic alliances following lifted sanctions.
• This commercial expansion is part of a broader, dual strategy that combines aggressive economic investment with military entrenchment and support for proxy militias.
• The UAE’s “sub-imperial” project targets strategic chokepoints across the Red Sea and Indian Ocean, creating a network of controlled ports from Yemen to Sudan and the Horn of Africa.
• This expansion is deeply intertwined with its strategic cooperation with Israel and operates under the protective umbrella of United States power projection.
• Local leaders and analysts warn that these investments are a strategic ploy that destabilizes regions, plunders resources, and represents a fundamental threat to national sovereignty.

Ports as pawns in a geopolitical game

The handover of Tartous Port operations in November was celebrated as a step toward modernizing a facility damaged during Syria’s long conflict. DP World promises to dredge channels, replace equipment, and introduce digital systems, painting a picture of benevolent corporate investment. However, this narrative obscures a more sinister reality. This deal follows Damascus’s annulment of a previous “unfair” agreement with a Russian company, illustrating how nations shattered by war become chessboards for powerful external actors. The UAE is not merely rebuilding infrastructure; it is inserting itself into the heart of Syria’s economic future, gaining leverage over a key Eastern Mediterranean trade hub just as the country tentatively reopens to the world.

Since 2015, under the leadership of Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the UAE has abandoned any pretense of neutrality, fusing a branding campaign of modernity and soft power with a ruthless doctrine of militarization. The strategy is simple yet effective: use investment vehicles like DP World to take control of critical maritime routes under the guise of ensuring security and fostering trade. In reality, these ports become logistical hubs, training camps, and military bases, allowing a nation with a small citizenry to project power far beyond its borders. As Sudanese journalist Kamal Sir al-Khatem explains, the UAE represents a model of a “peripheral state that practices imperialism within its own region, while at the same time remaining dependent on the United States as the main imperialist power.”

A militarized corridor across the Horn of Africa

Nowhere is this dual strategy more evident than in the Horn of Africa, a region the UAE has transformed into a militarized corridor for its ambitions. In Eritrea, Abu Dhabi leased the port and airport of Assab for 30 years, creating its first overseas military base. This location was not chosen by accident; it became a launchpad for drones and ground forces during the devastating war in Yemen, allowing the UAE to control a critical gate to the Red Sea.

In Somalia, the UAE capitalized on internal fractures, leasing the port and airport of Berbera in the breakaway region of Somaliland despite vehement opposition from the federal government in Mogadishu. These facilities were swiftly transformed into integrated military and intelligence posts. Similar maneuvers secured control over the port of Bosaso in Puntland, turning the region into a node for Emirati power projection. These actions have drawn sharp criticism. Djibouti’s President Ismail Omar Guelleh has publicly called the UAE’s $110 billion investment campaign in Africa a “strategic ploy” and “a threat to Africa’s sovereignty,” accusing Abu Dhabi of using economic deals as a veil for a destabilizing military expansion.

The UAE’s entanglement in Sudan reveals the even darker underbelly of this project. Beyond efforts to control Port Sudan, the UAE stands accused of supporting the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group infamous for war crimes and human rights violations. This support is allegedly financed through a shadow economy. A regional analyst confided that “about 80 percent of Sudan’s smuggled gold is destined for the UAE, where it is re-exported to international markets, making it the biggest beneficiary of this trade. This trade is used to finance the war… which manage their financial operations from Dubai.” This is not investment; it is a form of economic warfare that fuels conflict and profits from human suffering.

Yemen: The blueprint of control

Yemen serves as the starkest example of the UAE’s imperial blueprint. Entering the country as part of a Saudi-led coalition, Abu Dhabi quickly pursued its own agenda, methodically seizing control of the nation’s coasts. It took over the ports of Aden, Mukalla, and Mokha, asserting authority over both the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea. Its ambitions even extended to Yemen’s islands, with the strategic island of Socotra being transformed into a military and intelligence base, a move reportedly coordinated with Israel.

The bitter irony, as noted by Ahmed al-Hasani, spokesperson for the South Yemeni National Salvation Council, is that despite this expansive control, the UAE has been powerless to stop Yemeni Armed Forces from launching attacks on Israeli-linked shipping in the Red Sea—actions taken in solidarity with Gaza. In a telling revelation, Hasani states that the UAE has opened discreet channels with Sanaa, effectively asking its adversaries to neutralize the very proxy forces it once supported.

“The UAE’s control over Yemeni ports does not only carry an economic dimension,” Hasani explains, “but is linked to a strategic security project in which it cooperates with Israel and the United States.” This is a project of sub-imperialism, where a regional power acts as a junior partner in a broader scheme of control, creating a network of dependency and coercion that stretches from the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. The human cost of this ambition is paid by the people of these nations, who find their resources plundered, their sovereignty sold, and their lives caught in the crossfire of a silent takeover.

Sources include:

TheCradle.co

TheCradle.co

Enoch, Brighteon.ai