The United Arab Emirates announced on Tuesday that it was withdrawing its remaining military forces from Yemen after Saudi Arabia launched an airstrike that destroyed an Emirati shipment in the Yemeni port of Mukalla.
The military action and the conflicting claims from the two states about the shipment are the most serious and public signs of a rift between the Arab allies, with Saudi Arabia describing the UAE’s actions as “highly dangerous.”
The Saudis claimed in a statement on Tuesday that the UAE initiated a “movement of ships carrying weapons and armored vehicles” from the port of Fujairah on the UAE’s eastern coast to Mukalla, Yemen, in support of Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council, which is a faction within the Yemeni government that supports the creation of an independent South Yemen.
Earlier on Tuesday, Brig. Gen. Turki al-Malki, a Saudi military officer and the spokesman of the Saudi-led coalition backing the Yemeni government, said Saudi air forces destroyed the shipment.
“Considering that the aforementioned weapons constitute an imminent threat, and an escalation that threatens peace and stability, the Coalition Air Force has conducted this morning a limited airstrike that targeted weapons and military vehicles offloaded from the two vessels in Mukalla Port,” he stated.
The Yemeni government then demanded that all UAE forces withdraw from the country, with support from the Saudis.
“The kingdom stresses the importance that the brotherly United Arab Emirates accept the Republic of Yemen’s request for all its forces to leave the Republic of Yemen within 24 hours, and halt any military or financial support to any party within Yemen,” the Saudi foreign ministry stated.
The UAE’s defense ministry announced that it would comply with the demand, saying that its presence in Yemen was limited to “specialised personnel as part of counterterrorism efforts” after it withdrew most of its ground forces from the conflict in 2019.
Its foreign ministry denied Saudi Arabia’s accusations about the contents of the shipment.
“The ministry confirms that the shipment concerned did not include any weapons, and that the vehicles unloaded were not intended for any Yemeni party, but were shipped for use by UAE forces operating in Yemen,” the foreign ministry stated. “The allegations circulating in this regard do not reflect the nature or purpose of the shipment.”
“There was high-level coordination regarding these vehicles between the UAE and Saudi Arabia, along with an agreement that the vehicles would not leave the port,” it added. “Nevertheless, the UAE was surprised by the targeting of the vehicles at the Port of Mukalla.”
‘Developments raise legitimate questions’
Yemen’s civil war has long been in a stalemate, with Houthi rebels controlling the capital, Sana’a, and controlling much of Yemen’s western coast, which it has used to attack shipping in the Red Sea.
Earlier in December, the Southern Transitional Council seized control of much of the eastern Yemeni provinces of Hadramawt and al-Mahra, which had been under government control and contain some of the largest of Yemen’s limited oil deposits.
The split between the UAE and Saudi Arabia, coupled with infighting between the Southern Transitional Council and the Yemeni government, could undermine their previous efforts to combat the Houthis, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and Iranian weapons-smuggling in the region.
“These developments raise legitimate questions regarding how this issue and its potential repercussions have been addressed, at a time that demands the highest levels of coordination, restraint and wisdom, particularly given the prevailing security challenges and threats posed by terrorist groups,” the UAE stated.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have long been reported to be at odds over strategy in Yemen and other regional questions, with the UAE favoring the Southern Transitional Council and previously playing a key role in ground operations against the Houthis. All the while, the Saudis for years waged an air campaign of questionable efficacy that many international observers accused of needlessly killing civilians.
The Wall Street Journal reported in 2023 that the close partnership between the UAE and Saudi Arabia has also been beset by a personal rivalry between Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and the UAE’s president, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Where MBZ was once a mentor figure to the 40-year-old MBS, the Saudi royal is now more assertive about the kingdom having a dominant position in the relationship with its smaller, less oil-rich neighbor, the newspaper wrote.
The Trump administration has yet to weigh in on the conflict between two of its closest partners in the region, but U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a call with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud on Tuesday to discuss “the ongoing tensions in Yemen,” as well as “issues impacting regional security and stability.”
