time trade and control give superiority in the world, no matter how big a trade on the land is, it won't find a better route for business than the sea. these are the words of alfred their mahan, the author of the influence of sea power upon history, which deals with importance of sea routes in maritime trade and control over them. about 200 million years. ago all of the lands on

the earth were connected in a supercontinent named pengia, but gradually the unified continent started to be divided into different chunks. after tens of millions of years, the map of the earth looks like what we see today with several separate continents. now the link between the continents on earth has been established in two ways, through land between asia, africa and europe, and through the oceans in americas, australia and antarctica. meanwhile some waterways, natural straights and artificial canals that were constructed later, had a strategic role in shaping the famous maritime corridors today for shipping to access the shortest and most cost-effective routes. choke points are the links that connect the sea and land. today, having control. over the strategic points

gives astonishing powers to countries. some of of the most important waterways in the world are the malaka, hormos, gibraltar, and babal mandandob strates as well as man-made canals like the suez and panama. the panama canal was constructed in 1914, so ships... the atlantic ocean, one have to turn all the way around south america. the straight of gibraltar connects the mediterranean to the atlantic ocean, between spain and morocco. it's been officially under british control since 1713. the cape of. good hope in the

southern tip of africa serves as a link between the atlantic and indian oceans. this is part of the route for the ships that sail from the south asia to the eastern coast of america. the bosfer straight in turkey connects the black sea to the sea of marmara and then the mediterranean. besides the straight facilitates countries like russia and ukraine with access to the mediterranean and high. we can argue the hormostrate that joins the persian gulf to the sea of oman is now considered the most vital waterway in the world for transit of energy. the suas canal in egypt was constructed in 1869 by france and britain, besides it strategic, it is used to establish a link between europe to west asia and led to floor. business in two other

natural straights in the world, namely babab and malaca. the malaca straight is located in southeast asia between the indonesian island of sumatra and the mele peninsula. many experts believe it's the most important maritime choke point in the world. according to the united nations conference on trade and development, about 60% of maritime trade. through asia, the south china sea alone carries 1/3ird of the global shipping. the route depends on the malako straight which connects the south china sea and the pacific ocean to the indian ocean. the route is the artery of major economic powers in asia like japan, taiwan, south korea, and especially china, the second largest economy in the world. every year. over 100 thous ships in

the south china sea sail towards the malaca straight. the babab straight a straight between the gulf of aden and the red sea and joins asia to the... of africa here in the universe and you can see very close to the horn of africa thisb is 11 miles wide its widest point through this little stretch every day flow about 4 million barrels of oil coming around from over here you can't see it but up through the from the persian gulf and around oman down here through the indian ocean and up through. into europe in the mediterranean elsewhere, so if the hypothetical route between the south china sea to europe is considered the most significant maritime trade corridor in the world and strates of malaca, hormos and jibralter as well as the suas canal and the british channel are the most vital choke

points, but interestingly the common point between all of them is that they all depend a strategic waterway, which is the gravity point of the vital maritime. corridor and that is aboublemon dub straight. there is a us policy and that is maritime. okay, there is a maritime policy on the red sea, why? because there is a great deal at stake there, 10% of the global trade passes through the red sea, and then the 40% of the trade between africa, no, between asia and europe passes through elmandab, so there is a maritime security policy to make sure that it is safe, by my last count uh you know yearly close to what 800 billion dollars worth of goods and services pass through this small 19 kilometers uh babel mandab that's almost a trillion that's more than the gdp of the

entire region so they are concerned about security on the red sea in fact some experts even view bubbleman dub straight as the most important waterway in the world. this is one the most vital trade roots globally, and about two-thirds of the trade between china and europe passes through the red sea. the bubble mundab straight, which is known as the gate of the tears and some sources is narrow choke point between yemen and djibooti, which separates the red sea from the gulf of aden and the arab sea. the narrowest choke point um... between yemen and the horn of africa, so were you to sink a massive oil tanker in that choke point called the babandab, you could precipitate a fairly significant security and and trade crisis. perim called mayun in arabic, is an island in the straight of mondub and carves to two separate entries

to the straight. large ships usually choose the wider route on the west of the pedium island. most of southern europeans economy. economies are hostage to what happens in the babelman dab, there's relative silence on this issue, and it's it's inexplicable, so it goes more broadly beyond oil or just the region. geopolitically, the bubble mundob straight has always been the subject of conflicts in the region, that's why it is called the most risky straight in the world, because any disruption in the maritime traffic and trade in this route. will consequently disrupt major business markets in asia and europe. a large portion of the natural gas and oil trade in the persian gulf is transferred to the sus canal to european countries. they have no option but to pass

through the bubble mundub straight. the alternative for this route winds all the way to the south of africa and onwards to the gibralcher straight. this route takes eight or... nine days more, both the balamandeb and the straight of hormus are major choke choke points for international trade, it's not just about oil, right? so most of the oil that comes from the gulf goes eastward, but what goes around the arabian peninsula um is about 20% of of the world's uh maritime trade in rice, about 20% of the world's maritime trade in wheat, about 30% of the world's maritime trade and fertilizers, so again the food security priority, the the need to be... part and connected to global trade flows. in fact, completion and inauguration of the suaz canal in 1869 doubled the strategic value of bob mondab, because in case the canal is shut off for any reason, foreign ships that have sail

through the suez canal had no resort but to pass by the red sea litteral countries like saudi arabia and african countries like sudan and every day, about 57 ships carrying natural oil and liquified gas through the bubblemond up straight, it is estimated to be about 5 million... barrels, which needs 21,00 oil tankers every year. amid all of this, the control over sensitive waterways in the world and providing their security for regional and international powers are indispensable for them. if you look at the uh the belton road initiative and you look at chinese trade volume coming from china uh through the red sea to europe etc. uh the straight line goes to jibuiti, it doesn't necessarily go to jebalal. ali port uh in dubai right, and so i think there's been a desire uh by uh the uae

and and by dp world uh in particular to try to uh shape the future of maritime trade, to uh insert their fingers in that future uh rather than be holy supplanted by the chinese or other competitors in the space of 10 years. the geopolitical conditions in areas surrounding the bubble mundov straight are always ridden with tension. the unrest in some horn of africa countries and pirates in somalia, the war in yemen, and rivalry between foreign powers to increase their influence in the strategic point have led to the establishment of numerous military bases and countries in the vicinity of the straight, including somalia, eritrea and jibooti. for instance, jibooti strategic location in the western flank of the bubble. dop straight puts the country in limelight during the cold war amid hostilities between

the us and russia as a pioneers of the western and eastern blocks because of its maritime significance. after the end of the cold war and the collapse of the soviet union for a short period of time, the tiny country of djibooti lost its vitality for a short period. competition and the arrival of the chinese military. uh, in djibooti, the sort of tiny city state at the mouth of the red sea, uh, has really perked up ears uh, both in the region, in terms of bilateral relations with the chinese, uh, but also not least in washington, but after incidents like 9/11 attacks and after terrorist groups like al-qaeda reared their heads in west asia and northeastern africa, and the new phenomenon of sea pirates in somalia, once again jibooti coast became prominent as a strategic point for providing the maritime security and increasing the influence in the horn of africa. gradually, scores of foreign military

bases were set up in the country by the us, france, britain, china, japan, russia and italy. the chinese have now completed the construction of pier close to here. do you expect to see a chinese aircraft carrier dot? chinese submarines? i think the pier that the chinese have constructed will be capable of hosting just about any vessel within the chinese inventory. we should be very concerned about china's basing interest for having african ports and land bases and what that would mean for our country. but despite all other countries near the bubble mondav straight, none of the regional or international powers during the past decades has had military base. in yemen. in fact, foreign forces were militarily present in

yemen a temporary basis. it gave foreign countries a golden opportunity to establish the first military basis in the strategic region. in 2015, when the uae army decided to inter. and yemen and joined the saudi lead coalition, authorities in the country were well aware that unlike saudi arabia, which is yemen's northern neighbor, they wouldn't be able to support their allies in southern yemen from a long distance. and if you look uh at the entire african coast, you see uh their interest in ports in egypt, in jedda, down the entire. african coasts, asab, somaliland, puntland, mogadishu, but also also i want to note that the there's another

element here, that is control of the entire south coast of yemen, right? uh, so the ports aren't necessarily operating there, but these are there are historical ports here, and the emirates have made this a priority, so if you look at this map again, uh, none of these portts in and of themselves are necessarily game changers, right? but i think the view from abu dhabi is, you piece together this constellation. and uh you get to their primary goal, which is shaping the future of maritime trade in the western indian ocean. in fact, among the... countries mentioned, yemen is more significant in the geopolitical terms in bubble mondab. yemen is an oil and gas rich country. its population is larger than the population of eritrea, djabooti and somalia and has relatively larger and more developed ports near bobble mandab, including in aiden, dubab and mokka. we are basically

in... interested in yemen because of counter terrorism, because of trade roots through the red sea, and because of very significant income from arms sales to those who are party to the conflict, so at the same time that we appre the terrible human cost on the ground, our governments are continuing to support those are partie to the conflict and continuing to sell them weapons which being used in yemen. since the beginning of the 20th. yemen has been the scene of many military and political developments. britain, which was yemen's protectorate since the previous century and the soviet union as a leader of the eastern block wielded the most influence in the country. since yemen's civil war in the 1960s and partitioning of the

country into northern and southern parts, the soviet leaders recognized the socialist government of. south yemen and granted annual military and financial aid to the country. they also sent military advisors and diplomats in order to increase their share on the bubble mund dubs straight. two decades later, the soviet union's ties with the northern part of yemen improved. the northern yemen's army under the command of ali abdullah saleh received military equipment worth hundreds of millions of dollars and loans from moscow every year. it had air force, scud, ballistic missiles and armored equipment that would give the country a military edge over the regional countries near bobble mandab. after the collapse of the soviet union in 1991, the leaders of northern and southern yemen, that had formed a unified yemen, were concerned that the financial and

military aid from their former ally would be cut off. in no time, another country entered yemen under the pretext of fighting terrorism, it was the united states. the us and its western and regional allies sent thousands of militants from arab countries to afghanistan in the 1980s and succeeded in pushing back the soviet army and toppling its communist government, but this time it was threatened with the flames of terrorism and extremism ignited by itself. the al-qaeda terrorist group reared its head amid the conflict in afghanistan. secondly, and maybe even primarily, is the fact that yemen has been for years the home of al-qaeda in the arabian peninsula, which is why den benjamin

um made it point to visit yemen when he was the head of counter terrorism at the state department. um. and aqap as they're called uh affectionately have taken up residence way out here and this is the the empty quarter so there's not a lot out there um but aqap has found a very nice safe haven because yemen is really not very well governed in the best of years. al-qaeda militants had chosen the horn of africa to sudan and the deserts in yemen as part of their battle zones. after three decades they're still active in eastern and southern parts of yemen. as al-qaeda expanded, its military activities in west asia and north africa, the us also stepped up its activities in yemen. after the uss cold war ship bombing on october 12th, 2000, in a

suicide attack by al-qaeda, when 17 us marines were killed, the cooperation with us reached its. by the flow of us weapons and cash and the support for the security services, the former yemani army under the command of the president of yemen, ali abdullah saleh stood up against al-qaeda. the conflict in yemen created both immediate and long-term strategic needs for saudi arabia and the uae, and by the way, qatar and turkey were also a part of the coalition at that time. turkey still is, qatar is not. in the immediate term. saudi arabia began to see the conflict in yemen is very much focused its competition with iran. they didn't want to wake finish the conflict in yemen and wake up to find iran on the other side of the red sea. and at the time iran had periodically access to naval presence in asab and eritrea. iran had a strong link in had strong links in sudan. and so the very beginning of the yemen

conflict, saudi arabia felt the immediate need to sort of flip these countries. after 9/11 and us military invasion of afghanistan and iraq in 2001 and 2003, the military command of al-qaeda and afghanistan became extreme. weak, the group's activities were almost limited to iraq to deal with us forces. it forced us to remarkably decrease its military presence in the region and reduce its atemen. after that period, we witnessed new force that stepped into interven in yemini equations. that was none other than saudi arabia. saudi arabia supported ali abdullah saleh to fight the huthis and saada governors. and suppress the sheas yemen situation the the the prime share

of blame is on the shoulder of the leader of that government abdullah saleh the fact that that he brought in two armies into his country the saudi army and the american army to attack his country and created this issue with saada for the six time this is the sixth war with the with the people with the hutis and with the issue of the south and of course he laid the foundation for the rise of al-qaida and the salavy in yemen. the developments led to the arab spring in 2011 and the popular uprising in yemen which toppled ali abdullah saleh's government. saudi arabia envisaged no option to keep saul in power so it replaced him with his deputy abu rabu mansur. as his pawn in sana, but yemani shias formed an alliance with various sunni factions in northern and central yemen,

and established a powerful political movement named theansera.

welcome to the palestinian village of alakaba. it's in the northern jordan valley. you think life here would be relatively simple and uncomplicated. the palestinians in area c uh that the way that israel treats them as hostile population, it makes them their lives is... difficult as possible, those palestinian bidwain families who live in in almost about 52 communities without any

kind of service. on israeli sniper on may 11, 2022, the israelis meant to get across a clear message, that they don't want any narrative other than their own under decades old occupation of palestinian lands and their aggression. it wasn't the first time israel sought to put gag on the alternative narrative, and every time it has failed. watch the history of the

israeli measures and palestinian counter measures in this documentary. 10 years of chaos and war in syria, the ruins left in syria. from the continuation of this war, what is the view of the west, particularly america towards war in syria and the support of many countries for creating chaos in syria? why syria, a different narrative?

the headlines the israeli regime continues its relentless attacks on gaza where the death tool has topped 26,000, mostly women and children. the international court of. justice is set to deliver its first ruling on south africa's case against israel over its genocide in gaza, and also in our headlines, yemenese take to the streets and yet another show of solidarity with palestinians in gaza.