Saudi-led coalition pitted against UAE-backed southern separatists

Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday its national security was a red line, hours after an airstrike on Yemen’s southern port of Mukalla by a Saudi-led coalition, and gave UAE forces 24 hours to leave, in Riyadh’s strongest language against Abu Dhabi yet.

As tension between the two Gulf oil powers reaches boiling point, the coalition struck what it described as foreign military support to UAE-backed southern separatists, while the head of Yemen’s Saudi-backed presidential council set the deadline.

Yemen’s presidential council head, Rashad al-Alimi, also cancelled a defence pact with the UAE, the state news agency said, and accused the UAE in a televised speech of fuelling internal strife in Yemen.

“Unfortunately, it has been definitively confirmed that the United Arab Emirates pressured and directed the STC to undermine and rebel against the authority of the state through military escalation,” he added.

Saudi Arabia urged the Emiratis to comply with the demand. The UAE’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

OFFENSIVE BROUGHT ALLIES CLOSER TO CONFLICT

This month’s offensive pitted the Southern Transitional Council (STC) against Saudi-supported Yemeni government troops, bringing the allies closer than ever to all-out conflict in Yemen, mired in civil war since 2014.

The UAE was a member of the Saudi-led coalition battling the Iran-aligned Houthi movement. In 2019 it started a drawdown of its troops in the country but remained committed to the Saudi-backed internationally recognised government.

The limited air strike followed the weekend arrival of two ships from the UAE port of Fujairah on Saturday and Sunday without its authorisation, the coalition said.

After arriving in Mukalla, the vessels disabled their tracking systems and unloaded large quantities of weapons and combat vehicles to support the STC, it added.

Saudi Arabia had warned the main southern separatist group against military moves in the eastern border province of Hadramout and sought withdrawal of its forces after they claimed broad control of the south in an escalation after years of stalemate.

The STC dismissed the Saudi call.

STRIKE CAUSED NO CASUALTIES, SAUDI STATE MEDIA SAY

The coalition said the Mukalla port strike caused no casualties or collateral damage, Saudi state media said.

Two sources told Reuters that the strike targeted the dock where the cargo of the two ships was unloaded.

UAE-backed forces control large swathes of land in the south including the strategically key province of Hadramout.

Alimi imposed a no-fly zone, sea and ground blockade on all ports and crossings for 72 hours, except for exemptions authorised by the coalition.

Hadramout bordering Saudi Arabia has cultural and historical ties with it, and many prominent Saudis trace their origins to the area.

The STC separatists were initially part of the Saudi-led alliance that intervened in Yemen in 2015 against the Iran-aligned Houthis, but later decided to seek self-rule in the south.

Since 2022, they have been part of an alliance that controls southern areas outside Houthi control under a Saudi-backed power-sharing initiative.

The Houthis control the northern region, including Sanaa, the capital, after forcing the Saudi-backed government to flee south.

“We will continue to prevent any military support from any country to any Yemeni faction without coordination with the legitimate government,” the coalition added.