Rapid developments in Yemen over the past several hours are shaping what appears to be a new phase in the country and could pave the way for a potential shift in the map of alliances among Yemeni forces and regional powers.
As part of this wave of events, a public war of words erupted between the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia — and their respective allies in Yemen — after an airstrike carried out a day earlier by the Saudi-backed coalition on Yemen’s port of Mukalla. The coalition, which is backed by Saudi Arabia, said the strike targeted two ships carrying weapons that arrived from the UAE.
The UAE announced it is completely withdrawing what little forces are left in Yemen. In a statement issued today, the Emirati Defense Ministry said the move was voluntary and carried out “in coordination with the concerned partners.”
The UAE joined the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis in 2015. In 2019, it began drawing down its forces but remained committed to Yemen’s internationally recognized government.
Rashad Al-Alimi, the head of Yemen’s Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council, called today for Emirati forces to leave the country within 24 hours.
War Of Words
The Defense Ministry statement was not the only official Emirati statement issued in recent hours. The Emirati Foreign Ministry expressed deep regret over the content of a recent Saudi Foreign Ministry statement on Yemen and said it was surprised by the airstrike on Mukalla.
The ministry said the Saudi statement contained “fundamental inaccuracies” and rejected what it described as dragging the UAE’s name into current tensions among Yemeni parties. The statement also rejected what Abu Dhabi described as allegations that it directed any Yemeni party to carry out military operations that threaten the kingdom’s security.
Saudi Arabia, for its part, said today that its national security is a red line — in what amounted to its sharpest tone toward Abu Dhabi in connection with the latest developments in Yemen.
In a statement, the Saudi Foreign Ministry accused the UAE of pressuring the Southern Transitional Council to carry out military operations along Saudi Arabia’s southern border in the provinces of Hadramawt and Al-Mahra. The ministry described that as extremely dangerous and said it does not align with the foundations of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen or serve efforts to achieve security and stability.
Saudi Arabia backed Al-Alimi’s call for Emirati forces to leave and urged Abu Dhabi to comply.
Yemeni Parties Split
Al-Alimi’s call for all Emirati forces to leave Yemen within 24 hours — and his declaration of a nationwide state of emergency “starting today for 90 days” — marked the peak of his latest positions on the situation in the country.
Yemen’s state news agency said Al-Alimi also canceled a joint defense agreement with the UAE, accusing Abu Dhabi in a televised address of fueling Yemen’s internal conflict with the help of the Southern Transitional Council.
But Aidarus Al-Zoubaidi, the head of the Southern Transitional Council and a deputy head of the Presidential Leadership Council, quickly rejected Al-Alimi’s orders.
In a joint statement with three other members of the council, Al-Zoubaidi said the UAE remains a key partner in the war against the Houthis. “No individual or entity inside the Presidential Leadership Council, or outside it, has the authority to expel any country from the Arab coalition, or order and end its role or presence,” he said.
The Southern Transitional Council supports secession.
In an interview with Alhurra last October, Al-Zoubaidi said he believed “there will be a two-state solution after the Houthis are done,” referring to the Iran-backed Houthi movement, which controls large parts of Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa.
Fighting on the Ground
On the military front, the coalition said the strike — which it described as limited — came after two ships arriving from the UAE’s Fujairah port entered Mukalla on Saturday and Sunday “without obtaining official permits from the coalition’s Joint Forces Command.”
The coalition said the crews of the two vessels disabled their tracking systems and unloaded a large quantity of weapons and combat vehicles to support Southern Transitional Council forces.
Saudi state media published a video showing a ship it identified as the “Greenland,” saying it arrived from Fujairah and unloaded weapons and combat vehicles.
Saudi official media quoted the coalition as saying the strike on the port did not cause deaths or injuries or any collateral damage.
Footage aired by Yemeni state television showed black plumes of smoke rising from the port after the attack, along with burned vehicles.
The escalation came days after Southern Transitional Council forces launched a surprise attack on government forces to expand their control in southern Yemen.
Saudi Arabia warned the main southern separatist group against military moves in eastern Hadramawt and demanded it withdraw its forces, but the council rejected the Saudi call.
These developments — where political and military dynamics intersect and where Yemen’s internal conflict overlaps with regional rivalries — could redraw alliances in Yemen. They may bring some internal and external parties closer together while pushing others further apart, including the Houthis — further complicating, and potentially reshaping, the country’s map of conflict.
