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Saudi Arabia implement air raid Earlier on Tuesday, attacks on Yemeni separatist forces backed by the United Arab Emirates added to the complexities of the long-running conflict.
Until recently, the UAE was part of the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis, who are allied with regional rival Iran and rule much of Yemen.
The new round of fighting is centered on the Southern Transitional Council, a UAE-backed separatist group that controls parts of southern Yemen.
In recent days, the Saudi Strategic Council has moved into new areas, including the port city of Mukalla in Hadramaut province, which was once controlled by Saudi-aligned forces.
Riyadh said the developments crossed a red line.
On Tuesday, Saudi warplanes struck targets in Mukalla, claiming they were targeting Emirati weapons for the STC.
Riyadh said in a statement that the ships had turned off their tracking systems and removed weapons and armored vehicles that posed a direct threat.
“The crew installed deactivated tracking devices on board the ship and offloaded a large number of weapons and combat vehicles in support of Southern Transitional Council forces,” the statement said. “Considering the imminent threat posed by the above-mentioned weapons and the escalation of threats to peace and stability, coalition air forces conducted a limited air strike this morning targeting weapons and military vehicles unloaded from the two ships in Mukalla.”
Strategic Command expressed “serious concern” about the attack, which it said specifically targeted its elite forces in Hadramaut, a strategic province bordering Saudi Arabia.
Saudi officials stressed that the attack was carried out overnight to ensure “no collateral damage”.
The airstrike marked a sharp escalation in tensions between Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Strategic Council and publicly exposed growing friction between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. Although the neighboring countries have been partners throughout much of Yemen’s war, they have supported different groups in Yemen. Houthis.
The Saudi foreign ministry directly warned the UAE of its role. The statement said Abu Dhabi’s support for the STC was “extremely dangerous” and urged neighboring countries to take measures to maintain bilateral relations.
Riyadh said the UAE’s support for the STC “poses a threat to the national security of the Kingdom and the security and stability of the Republic of Yemen and the region.”
Riyadh said in a separate statement that its “national security is a red line.”
It also said the UAE should heed a call from the head of Yemen’s presidential council for Emirati troops to leave the country.
Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council – the executive arm of Yemen’s internationally recognized government against the Houthis – canceled a joint defense agreement with the UAE and ordered all Emirati troops to leave Yemen within 24 hours, Al Jazeera reported on Tuesday.
He also announced a 72-hour air and sea blockade of all seaports and border crossings.
Escalating tensions suggest the conflict in Yemen will only deepen. In the south, the STC is expanding control over Hadramaut and Mahra, areas that have been largely free of direct fighting for more than a decade.
These areas are strategically important and host most of Yemen’s oil reserves and major ports.
In the north, the Houthis remain entrenched, including in the capital Sanaa.
Yemen’s civil war escalated in 2014 when the Houthis seized Sana’a, demanding a new government and lower fuel prices.
They later seized the presidential palace, forcing President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi to resign and flee first to Aden and then into exile in Saudi Arabia.
In March 2015, Saudi Arabia formed a coalition of Gulf countries, including the United Arab Emirates, to launch air strikes and economic sanctions against the Houthi armed forces in an attempt to restore Hadi’s rule.
The coalition also imposed a naval blockade to prevent Iranian weapons from reaching the Houthis.
In the following years, Saudi Arabia and the UAE carried out thousands of air strikes against the Houthis, and the UAE also supported southern separatist forces such as the STC, further complicating the conflict.
Gulf state intervention has turned Yemen into a regional proxy battleground for the Sunni-Shia divide, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
Analysts warn that the STC’s rapid unilateral expansion could anger rival groups, exacerbate instability and push the country toward a de facto breakup.
Mr Al-Alimi told Yemeni diplomats on December 23 that the STC’s actions threatened internal stability and undermined the security of neighboring countries, state news agency SABA reported.
He stressed that “under no circumstances can a governance partnership devolve into rebellion against the state or an attempt to impose reality by force.”
He also warned that the STC’s actions could complicate regional security and international efforts to safeguard sea lanes, energy supplies and commercial shipping in the Arabian Sea, Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
Saudi Arabia has echoed these concerns. On December 25, Saudi Arabia emphasized that the STC’s recent military operations were an “unreasonable escalation” that harmed the broader goals of Yemenis and coalition forces.
The STC is committed to restoring South Yemen as an independent state and restoring the borders that existed before the country’s 1990 reunification. Its supporters have recently flown South Yemeni flags and held demonstrations calling for the secession of the country.