Jabal al-Tair Island (or Jebel Teir, Jabal al-Tayr, Tair Island, Al-Tair Island, Jazirat at-Tair) ( Jazīrat Jabal aṭ-Ṭayr, 'Bird Mountain Island') is a roughly oval volcanic island in Yemen, northwest of the constricted Bab al-Mandab passage at the mouth of the Red Sea, about halfway between mainland Yemen and Eritrea. From 1996 until it erupted in 2007, Yemen maintained two watchtowers and a small military base on the island. After 124 years of dormancy, the volcano that created the island erupted on 30 September 2007. Geography The island is roughly oval, about long, wide and in area. It lies nearly halfway between Yemen to the east and Eritrea about south west. It is about from the Yemeni Kamaran Island; the Saudi Arabian Farasan Islands lie to the north east. The island comprises the basaltic stratovolcano Jabal al-Tair (Tair Mountain; Jabal aṭ-Ṭayr, literally, "Bird Mountain") rising from seabed some below the surface of the Red Sea, continuing for 244 m (801 feet) above the surface up to the summit of the crater. The volcano was wrongly considered "recently extinct" by 1982. It was the northernmost known Holocene volcano in the Red Sea, with one central vent, Jebel Duchan. It lies in the volcanic and geologically active region of the Red Sea Rift, the divergent boundary between the African Plate and the Arabian Plate. In 1900 the British Admiralty described the island as having no natural water supply, and having a high conical peak rising above a basalt bluff some above a gradual littoral. The prominent profile made it an ideal landmark for Red Sea shipping, and the steep drop-off below sea level meant that it might be safely run for. The island has no settled population, but some parts of the island have allowed for the seasonal presence of fishermen. History In the past, the island, formerly known as Saiban, was an important navigational marker for the shipping lanes that passed nearby. Historically, the Ottoman Empire controlled the Red Sea islands, and granted a French company a lighthouse concession. British forces occupied the island in 1915, but sovereignty was deliberately left indeterminate. After a period of French-British operation the lighthouse concession passed to a British company, then to Yemen. Sovereignty of the island was long disputed among Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Yemen. Under a 1962 agreement, lighthouses were maintained on the island at the cost of shippers. In 1973, Yemen had notified