On Dec. 30, the Saudis bombed two cargo ships in the Yemeni port of Mukalla carrying arms from the U.A.E. to the separatist Southern Transitional Council. The U.A.E. denied the cargo was intended for the STC, saying instead that they were for the internationally recognized government in Aden. The U.A.E. subsequently announced that it was withdrawing all of its remaining military personnel from Yemen, as demanded by the Saudis. The Dec. 30 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 U.A.E. are ostensibly allied against the Houthis.
According to a Reuters report, also tied into the Saudi-U.A.E. dispute is the U.A.E.’s support for the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan, support which the U.A.E. 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 U.A.E. 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 U.A.E. for its alleged support to the group.
