File image.
Saudi Arabia has bombed an arms shipment sent by the United Arab Emirates to its allies in Yemen, and issued a warning to Abu Dhabi giving it 24 hours to completely withdraw from the country, de-facto ending an alliance that was forged around a decade ago.
Tensions began in Yemen earlier in the month, when the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) launched a military operation across the south of the country, beginning in the Hadhramaut province, which was then under the control of the internationally-recognized government of Yemen allied to Saudi Arabia.
The STC moved in and captured several areas belonging to the Yemeni government in the northern Wadi Hadhramaut area, including the main cities of Seiyun and Tarim.
Afterward, the separatists expanded their offensive into the neighboring Al-Mahra province, and other adjacent governorates.
The STC codenamed the offensive as “Operation Promising Future”. By December 9, the council forces had captured most of the regions comprising the six governorates of the former South Yemen, expanding control along the border with Saudi Arabia.
The kingdom first took action on December 26, conducting a few airstrikes on STC positions in Wadi Nahb in Hadhramaut.
With political efforts to solve the issue with the UAE failing and the STC ignoring several warnings, the Saudi-led Arab Coalition struck on December 30 foreign military support at Mukalla port in southern Yemen.
A coalition spokesperson said two ships arriving from the UAE port of Fujairah entered Mukalla on December 27 and 28 without authorization from the coalition, disabled their tracking systems and unloaded large quantities of weapons and combat vehicles “to support the STC.”
The spokesman, Col. Turki al-Maliki, claimed that there were no casualties or collateral damage from the airstrikes at Mukalla.
A video was released showing, according to the Arab Coalition, weapons transfers after the two vessels docked at the port.
Al-Maliki noted that the airstrikes were carried out after the weapons transfers were documented and done in accordance with international humanitarian law.
“This constitutes a clear violation of the de-escalation measures and efforts to reach a peaceful solution, as well as a breach of UN Security Council Resolution No. 2216 of 2015,” the spokesman said in a statement.
“We will continue to prevent any military support from any country to any Yemeni faction without coordination with the legitimate government,” he added.
Following the airstrikes, Saudi Arabia said that it was disappointed by steps taken by the UAE to pressure the STC to operate near the Kingdom’s borders.
In a statement released by the foreign ministry, it warned that such actions threaten its national security and undermine the foundations of the Arab Coalition in Yemen.
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia expresses its disappointment by the actions taken by the brotherly United Arab Emirates, pressuring the Southern Transitional Council’s forces to conduct military operations on the southern borders of the Kingdom in the governorates of Hadramout and al-Mahara, which is considered a threat to the Kingdom’s national security and the security and stability of the Republic of Yemen and the region,” the statement reads
“The steps taken by the UAE are considered highly dangerous, inconsistent with the principles upon which the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen was established, and do not serve the coalition’s purpose of achieving security and stability for Yemen,” it adds.
The kingdom said that “any threat to its national security is a red line, and the Kingdom will not hesitate to take all necessary steps and measures to confront and neutralize any such threat.”
More importantly, Saudi Arabia urged the UAE to comply with Yemen’s request to withdraw its forces from Yemeni territories within 24 hours.
The demand mirrors an earlier call by Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council chief Rashad al-Alimi, an ally of the Kingdom.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have always been allies. However, after the rise of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud in 2015, the two counties became closer than ever, acting together on all regional and international issues. Now with the crisis in Yemen, this period is over.
While the STC operation in Yemen brought the deep disagreement between Saudi Arabia and Yemen to light, signs emerged earlier in Sudan.
A month earlier, Saudi Arabia lobbied the United States to help end the civil war in Yemen. Bin Salman sought to leverage the influence of President Donald Trump as a peacemaker, with the request tied to curbing UAE arms supplies to the Rapid Support Forces, which is fighting the Sudanese Armed Forces.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE will not likely go into a confrontation, not in Yemen or anywhere else. The two could reconcile soon. However, they will never likely be as close as before.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence
NOW hosted at southfront.press
Previously, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.org.
The .org domain name had been blocked by the US (NATO) (https://southfront.press/southfront-org-blocked-by-u-s-controlled-global-internet-supervisor/) globally, outlawed and without any explanation
Back before that, from 2013 to 2015, SouthFront: Analysis and Intelligence was at southfront.com
muisliemes and specially eyerabs are so weird, they fight against their own, while jude and christian eat their lunch. are most of them gey or something
weird is bin salman. republicans are mostly reli gio u s pr o tes t ant s a nd in a few months they will be horrified that iolani will commit ge no ci de a gai n st the k u r d s.
then the democrats will be able to impeach trump because he will only have single-digit support.
ma bu s’ m oney will put trump in jail.
bin salman should not think that maga cannot be destroyed and the ai bubble burst.
meanwhile, taiwan’s defense minister wellington koo said that the chinese drills “threaten regional stability and civilian traffic.”………………………….. https://psee.io/8ela5d
mabus in ves ted in a fi na n cial bu bb le, app le, nvi dia, and o ra cle will lose 75% of their inv est ed mo ney… we all know that jo lani will commit g e no c id e ag a in st the kurds as well. maga voters will be ho r rifi ed because kurds are quite popular among them. do you know where trump is going? to a maximum security prison for a very long time. if anything happens to ku rds bo ss ab di, trump will have sin gle-digit suppo rt am ong voters.
do you know the war between nato and russia in ukraine? a vast majority of the soldiers are white christians. but i agree with you on one point : the jews take profit on this war too. worse : they created it.
the muslims and christians are so weird, they fight against their own while the jews eat their lunch.
fixed that for you.
in your face now, the kingdoms versus the republics globally.
americunts are inferior ugly gutter species
bin salman can do whatever he wants, his jolani will drag dump to prision.
trump will not be saved this time, there is no way his support will not plummet to macron’s level. the democrats will impresion him down for what jolani will do to the kurds because the republicans will start to despise maga.
trump’s impeachment is closer than mabus thinks.
sure are a bunch of trump know it alls here, that don’t know shit. the only thing that could get rid of trump is happening. it’s kirks murder, which will go all the way to white house and iran attack which will fail. no one in u.s. has a clue over syria or jewliana. they don’t know who he is and none care. venezuela is far more important and more visible. maduro would be his end before kurds. besides, the u.s. has sacrificed them many times, they’re expecting it.
stop attacking israel(repeats)
stupid to park everything close together like that, it is just asking for it.