Saudi Arabia has decided to put down some redlines in Yemen. This comes in response to setbacks of Yemen’s government forces throughout December. They are backed by Riyadh and have lost ground to the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) separatist group.
This is intriguing because, back in 2015, Saudi Arabia and the UAE both intervened in Yemen to stop the Iranian-backed Houthis advancing on Aden. Now they are falling out increasingly in public.
Over time, the Houthis were checked in their advances, but then things changed. The Houthis targeted Riyadh for years until Saudi Arabia was able to secure a kind of ceasefire in Yemen and also reconcile with Iran over the past few years.
The Houthis then turned their attention to Israel. This, in turn, has meant that the STC and Yemeni government troops have not come to blows. This is now drawing in Abu Dhabi and Riyadh.
Arab News noted on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia “expressed regret over what it described as pressure by the United Arab Emirates on Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces to carry out military operations in Yemen’s Hadramout and Al-Mahra governorates, warning that such actions pose a direct threat to the kingdom’s national security and regional stability.”
Saudi-UAE rift: Riyadh sets 'red line' in Yemen conflict
Arab News noted on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia “expressed regret over what it described as pressure by the United Arab Emirates on Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces to carry out military operations in Yemen’s Hadramout and Al-Mahra governorates, warning that such actions pose a direct threat to the kingdom’s national security and regional stability.”
The Yemeni government, which only controls a small portion of Yemen, has called on the UAE to leave. Saudi Arabia has carried out airstrikes now, sending a message to the UAE not to deliver more arms to the STC.
As Arab News in Saudi Arabia noted, in a statement, the Saudi Foreign Ministry “said the reported moves were inconsistent with the principles of the Arab Coalition that supports the internationally recognized government of Yemen and undermined ongoing efforts to achieve security and stability in the country.”
The statement called the UAE a “brother” of Saudi Arabia, but is clear that there is a redline the brother has crossed potentially. Riyadh wants the STC to leave Mahrah governorate in Yemen, on the border of Oman, and the large Hadramout governorate, which is on the border of Saudi Arabia and reaches the Gulf of Aden. This important area is linked to trade and oil reserves.
National security, Riyadh says, is a “redline.” It seems the STC has grown too powerful and is crossing the redline. “The kingdom also stressed that the southern issue is a just cause with historical and social dimensions, and that the only way to address it is through dialogue within the framework of a comprehensive political solution in Yemen, in which all Yemeni groups will participate, including the Southern Transitional Council,” Arab News noted.
In the UAE, Al-Ain News says it “has learned that the Southern Transitional Council is currently meeting to discuss the repercussions of the Saudi attack on the port of Mukalla. Sources within the Southern Transitional Council told Al-Ain News that the council, headed by its president Aidarus al-Zubaidi, is in a state of continuous session to discuss and follow up on the repercussions of the Saudi attack, and that the council will issue an official statement at a later time.”
The UAE-based reports noted that the STC “condemned the Saudi attack on the port of Mukalla, and considered it a unilateral act of aggression. High-ranking sources in the Southern Transitional Council told Al-Ain News that ‘after the Saudi attack on Mukalla, the coalition supporting legitimacy in Yemen has become a thing of the past.’” Now the sources tell Al-Ain that the airstrikes are a “sole Saudi aggression.”
The question is whether the various players in Yemen will now climb down from the rhetoric. It is clear that the media in the UAE and Saudi Arabia are becoming more open about this conflict.
Saudi Arabia has been sending messages for days and was likely hoping Abu Dhabi would receive the message. Then came the airstrikes. Now comes the ultimatum from the Saudi Arabia Foreign Ministry.
Riyadh is clear about the airstrikes as well. Arab News noted that in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency, “the Coalition Forces spokesman, Maj.-Gen. Turki Al-Maliki said that two ships coming from the port of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates entered the Port of Mukalla in Hadramout without obtaining official permits from the Joint Forces Command of the Coalition.”
This leaves no doubt about what is happening. Riyadh is not playing the plausible deniability game of generalized “smuggling.” This is pointing a finger at the UAE. The region will now wait and see if these two key countries drift further apart. If they do, the ramifications will be large.