Saudi Arabia backs call for UAE to leave Yemen after strike on separatist-held port
Saudi Arabia has backed Yemen’s presidential council’s demand for the United Arab Emirates to withdraw within 24 hours after the Saudi-led coalition bombed what it said was an arms shipment for UAE-backed separatists at the port of Mukalla.
The Saudi foreign ministry accused the UAE of “putting pressure” on the Southern Transitional Council (STC), which seeks independence for southern Yemen, to launch recent attacks on the eastern provinces of Hadramawt and al-Mahra.
The kingdom warned that it would take action against such actions, which it described as “extremely dangerous”.
The UAE foreign ministry denied that the shipment contained weapons and expressed “deep regret” at the Saudi statement.
He strongly condemned “allegations that he pressured or directed any Yemeni party to carry out military operations that would undermine the security of the sister kingdom of Saudi Arabia or target its borders.”
STC leaders also said the ultimatum to withdraw UAE forces had no legal basis and insisted the UAE would remain a “main partner” in the war against the Iran-backed Houthi movement, which controls much of northwestern Yemen.
Earlier on Monday, the chairman of the eight-member presidential council, which includes representatives of the STC, announced that he was canceling the joint defense agreement with the UAE and ordering his forces to leave “in order to protect the security of all citizens, to reaffirm its commitment to the unity, sovereignty, stability and territorial integrity of Yemen.”
Rashad al-Alimi also declared a state of emergency for a period of 90 days, saying it was necessary to confront the Houthis and what he described as “internal conflict caused by rebel military elements taking orders from the United Arab Emirates.”
Alimi’s announcement came after a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, which includes the UAE, said it had carried out a “limited” airstrike on weapons and military vehicles aimed at STC forces in South Yemen’s Mukalla port, which arrived on two ships from the UAE.
Major General Turki al-Maliki claimed the shipments constituted “an imminent threat and an escalation that threatens peace and stability.”
An official at the port told the AFP news agency that an evacuation warning was received at 04:00 local time (01:00 GMT) and an attack was launched on an open area at the facility about 15 minutes later.
Photos taken after the incident show damage to a nearby building, as well as many military vehicles and pickup trucks parked in a walled area at the port. There was no loss of life.
The UAE foreign ministry said the attack on Mukalla took it by surprise and that the coalition statement was issued without consultation with member countries.
It was insisted that the shipment in question “did not contain any weapons and that the unloaded vehicles were not intended for any Yemeni party but were sent for use by Emirati forces operating in Yemen.”
On Saturday, the Saudi-led coalition called for STC forces to withdraw “peacefully” from Hadramawt and al-Mahra, a day after Saudi air forces reportedly bombed separatist-held positions in Hadramawt’s Wadi Nahab district.
STC forces launched attacks in two provinces earlier this month amid rising tensions, leading to direct conflict with government forces.
It was stated that the operations were necessary to “restore stability” in the south and combat the Houthis, as well as the jihadist groups Al Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS).
Yemen has been devastated by a civil war that began in 2014 when the Houthis overthrew the internationally recognized government from the capital Sanaa. The conflict escalated in 2015 when a Saudi-led coalition of Arab states intervened to restore government rule.
The conflict has reportedly killed more than 150,000 people and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
At the start of the war, the STC and other separatists who wanted independence for southern Yemen, which was a separate country before unification with the north in 1990, formed an uneasy alliance with the government to stop the Houthis from seizing the southern city of Aden.
But in recent years, the STC and its allies have turned against the government and seized control of Aden and much of the south of the country.
