UAE sends vaccines to Yemeni islands
The vaccines were sent to territory controlled by the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council.
The United Arab Emirates dispatched COVID-19 vaccine doses to Yemen’s Socotra governorate on Thursday. Yemen’s fight against the coronavirus is hindered by the war raging in the country.
The 60,000 vaccine doses were sent by the Emirates Red Crescent to Khalifa bin Zayed Hospital, named after the Emirati president. They will be used in a free vaccination campaign for local residents in Socotra, according to the official Emirates News Agency.
Socotra is an archipelago controlled by the separatist Southern Transitional Council, which the UAE supports in the Yemeni civil war. It controls much of southern Yemen, including Socotra in the Arabian Sea. The council broke away from the Saudi-backed government in 2017, but the two sides reconciled last year.
The Yemeni civil war began in 2014 between the government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who is backed by a Saudi-led military coalition, and the Houthi rebels, who are supported by Iran.
