Yesterday, the Saudis bombed two cargo ships in the Yemeni port of Mukalla carrying arms from the UAE to the separatist Southern Transitional Council. The UAE denied the cargo was intended for the STC, saying instead that they were for the internationally recognized government in Aden. The UAE subsequently announced that it was withdrawing all of its remaining military personnel from Yemen, as demanded by the Saudis. Yesterday’s developments came in the wake of a sudden advance by STC forces across Hadramout province in eastern Yemen all the way up to the Saudi border. Mukalla is on the coast of Hadramout some 300 miles northeast of Aden. It’s not clear if the STC advance has anything to do with the Houthis, who dominate populated areas in northwestern Yemen including the capital Sanaa, though the Saudis and the UAE are ostensibly allied against the Houthis.
According to a Reuters report, also tied into the Saudi-UAE dispute is the UAE’s support for the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan, support which the UAE also denies. A Gulf source familiar with Saudi thinking told Reuters that the escalation had been triggered by a misperception resulting from talks in Washington in November between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and U.S. President Donald Trump about the war in Sudan. The Gulf source said the UAE leadership was angered as they had been “misinformed” that during the November meeting the Saudi Crown Prince had not just asked for further sanctions against the RSF, but also for more direct sanctions against the UAE for its alleged support to the group.
