Bir Ali (Arabic: بير علي‎) is a fishing village or village in the Yemeni province of Shabwa on the shores of Bir Ali Bay in the Arabian Sea. The name of the city is translated from Arabic as “Ali’s well”.
Bir Ali is located on the Ataq-al-Beida-Azzan-Habban-Bir-Ali-al-Mukalla highway, about 140 km southeast of the city of Ataq, the capital of the Shabwa governorate, and about 120 km from the port city of Al-Mukalla. In ancient times, this route was used by frankincense caravans from Oman to the Mediterranean, making Bir Ali historically an important staging post.
Today, Bir Ali is a small fishing town of 3,000 inhabitants, with a long sandy beach surrounded by black volcanic hills. The air of Bir Ali is a dry desert with very high summer temperatures reaching 50°C.

History
When the Romans at the beginning of our era took over the sea route to India and thereby threatened the incense trade in the coastal regions, which was conducted through Aden, the capital of the state, Hadhramaut Shabwa, acquired the importance of an important trading center. Therefore, aromatic resins from now on had to be delivered to the port of Kana, 15 km west of today’s village of Bir-Ali, and from there to Shabva. Incense from Somalia and Ethiopia also went to Kanu.

Until 1830, there was the Wahid Sultanate of Balhaf (sometimes simply the Wahidi Sultanate) with the capital Habban. In 1830, after the reign of Sultan Abdullah bin Ahmad al-Wahidi (1810-1830), the single sultanate was divided among his relatives into four parts:
Sultanate of Wahidi Balhaf
Wahidi Azzan Sultanate with Azzan as its capital
Vilayet Wahidi Bir Ali Amakin with capital Bir Ali
Wahidi Habban Sultanate.
In 1895, the Vahidi Vilayet of Bir Ali Amakin became part of the British Protectorate of Aden.