ADEN

A lot of people have accused this blog of being anti-Arab. They often ask me if the Arabs have a place in the Middle East at all? First, I just want to categorically state that this blog is by no means anti-Arab or anti- anybody else. I do condemn the Arab occupation but that doesn’t mean I condemn the Arabs. Indeed, the Arabs have a very important place in the Middle East, but it can only come from their ancestral homeland, Arabia. Starting today, and from time to time, I will be posting articles on Arabia and its different localities – the good, the bad, and the stupid – three aspects that all nations around the world contain.

 

This posting today, will cover the city of Aden, a city with a population of approximately 800,000. It is located near the eastern approaches to the Red Sea on the Gulf of Aden, some 110 miles east of the strait of Bab-el-Mandeb. Aden's natural harbor, Front Bay, lies in the crater of a dormant volcano, which now forms a peninsula joined to the mainland by a low isthmus. This harbor was first used by the ancient Kingdom of Awsan between the 7th to 5th centuries BCE. Khormaksar, located on the isthmus, includes the city's diplomatic missions, the main offices of Aden University, and Aden International Airport (the former British Royal Air Force station RAF Khormaksar), Yemen's second biggest airport. Aden was the capital of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen until that country's unification with the Yemen Arab Republic in 1990, and again briefly served as Yemen's temporary capital during the aftermath of the Houthi takeover in Yemen in the Battle of Aden, March to July 2015. Water, food, and medical supplies ran short. On July 14, the Saudi Army launched an offensive to retake Aden for the Yemeni government. Within three days the Houthis had been removed from the city. Since February 2018, Aden has been seized by the Southern Transitional Council, that is supported by the UAE. Violence is still a factor of daily life as described by this article on the Al Jazeera website in 2021.