₦airaland Forum

Saudi Arabia has launched air strikes on separatists backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Yemen as the rift between the two Gulf states deepens.

Saudi warplanes bombed Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces in Yemen’s central Hadhramaut province on Friday, new images show.

On Saturday, Riyadh said it would back Yemen’s government in any military confrontation with separatist forces and urged them to withdraw “peacefully” from contested areas.

Saudi Arabia supports the internationally recognised government in Yemen, while the STC, which wants the portion of the country that was historically South Yemen to secede, is backed by the UAE.

The STC said that the Saudi bombardment was of “serious concern” and that it served “no constructive purpose in any dialogue”.

Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said: “We urge restraint and continued diplomacy, with a view to reaching a lasting solution.”

There was no comment from Riyadh.

Two weeks ago, the STC captured the two oil-rich governorates of Hadhramaut and al-Mahra, which borders Oman, with little resistance from Yemeni government forces.

Riyadh made an appeal to the STC to withdraw from the two provinces, but that was rejected by the group, which said it would continue to shore up its control over the areas.


The Saudi ministry of foreign affairs said that unilateral actions damaged Yemen’s unity and said the kingdom “remains hopeful that the public interest will prevail through ending the escalation by the Southern Transitional Council”. It added that it “stresses the importance of cooperation among all Yemeni factions and components to exercise restraint”.

Prince Khalid bin Salman, the Saudi defence minister, said: “It’s time to let reason prevail by withdrawing from the two provinces and doing so peacefully.”

Hadhramaut, Yemen’s biggest and richest region, has close ties to Saudi Arabia, and the STC’s advance there was perceived as a threat to the kingdom’s national security interests.

“The Southern Armed Forces’ movement came in response to calls from our southern people to confront security threats represented by terrorist groups and to cut off supply and smuggling lines,” the STC said in defence of its move.


The UN has also warned that the STC’s advance risks wider escalation and puts security in the region at risk.

Saudi Arabia is firmly committed to a unified Yemen. This is primarily because the two share a 400-mile border, and its security is key to the security of Saudi Arabia.

By partnering with the rebel STC, the UAE gains control over key southern ports, including Aden, and strategic islands such as Socotra and Mayun. This allows Abu Dhabi to secure vital shipping lanes through the Bab al-Mandab strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and is essential for global trade.

The STC have pushed back the internationally recognised government from huge swathes of southern Yemen this month in a fast-paced advance which has handed the separatists control over nearly half of Yemen’s territory in the eastern regions.

It is thought to be unlikely that the STC would have launched the offensive without the UAE signing it off.

Farea al-Muslimi, from the Chatham House think tank in London, told AFP that the STC had crossed Riyadh’s “red lines” and that the situation could quickly get worse.

“It is one bad thing to humiliate Saudi Arabia. And it is another much worse thing to humiliate Saudi Arabia publicly. And that’s exactly what they did,” he said.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE, traditionally allies, are vying for regional power status, and both have strategically intervened in local conflicts in order to advance their interests.

Although the two powers have made an effort to present a united front, their diverging interests on the ground could put pressure on their alliance against the Houthis, an Iran-aligned group that controls much of Yemen, including its capital, Sanaa.

Europe has expressed concerns that divisions within the south could deflect attention from the effort to oust the Houthis.

On Saturday, Prince Khalid posted an open letter on X to “our people in Yemen”, calling on the STC to “prioritise the voice of reason, wisdom, the public interest, and unity of ranks by responding to the Saudi-Emirati mediation efforts to end the escalation”.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are also increasingly at odds over the civil war in Sudan.

The UAE has been accused of supplying weapons to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have faced allegations of genocide, while Saudi Arabia is considered a supporter of its main rival, the Sudanese Armed Forces.

Abu Dhabi has denied providing arms to the RSF. Saudi Arabia sees Sudan as crucial to national security.

Zionmdde:
Fight here
Fight there
Bombing here
Bombing there
Can't humans just live to eat, reproduce and survive?

Can't we all just live in peace?

CannibalEast:
Another terrorist country like isreal has started

Stephen0mozzy:
War/insecurity is a profitable business for the world's worst fhuktard-skumbags. They get filthy rich selling weapons and rebuilding bombed infrastructure, so they don't care about human life.

flexyrule:
So the Holy land too has bombs?

Damn!

BlocksNG:
Did you mean.. USA bombed Yemen?

madridguy:
I guess Saudi newly acquired some defence system so they want to test it. Let wait for the return match.

Anguldi:
Exactly, you too Sabi. Saudis no dey play with USA 📌💯👌.