An airstrip is being built on a Yemeni island during the ongoing war, 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 strip of land rising out of the Indian Ocean near the mouth of the Gulf of Aden. However, images shot for the AP show workers have spell out “I LOVE UAE” with piles of dirt next to the runway, an abbreviation for the United Arab Emirates. The gulf and the Red Sea to which it leads have become a major battleground between the Houthis and U.S.-led forces as Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip rages.