Saudi Arabia carried out a limited airstrike on Yemen’s southern port of Mukalla early on Tuesday, targeting what it described as a consignment of weapons and combat vehicles unloaded from two ships that arrived from the United Arab Emirates.
The Saudi-led coalition accused the vessels of disabling their tracking systems upon arrival and offloading arms intended to support the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), a separatist group that has seized control of large parts of southern Yemen in recent weeks.
“Given the danger and escalation posed by these weapons, which threaten security and stability, the Coalition Air Forces conducted a limited military operation this morning targeting weapons and combat vehicles unloaded from the two ships at the port of al-Mukalla,” coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
Coalition officials said the strike caused no casualties or collateral damage, though footage from Yemen’s state television showed black smoke rising from the port and burned military vehicles on the dock.
An official at the port reported receiving an evacuation warning before the attack.
Saudi F-15s are the most likely jets involved in the operations despite no official word. These US-origin aircraft have been the workhorse of Saudi precision strikes in Yemen for years, including precision-guided munitions drops on ports, vehicles, and Houthi targets. Multiple Saudi squadrons operate them, and they feature prominently in state media releases for coalition ops.
The strike followed the arrival of the ships from the UAE port of Fujairah over the weekend. Saudi state television broadcast surveillance footage purporting to show armoured vehicles being moved through Mukalla after unloading.
Hours after the attack, Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry issued a sharply worded statement accusing the UAE of “highly dangerous” actions by pressuring STC forces to conduct military operations near the kingdom’s southern border.
“The Kingdom expresses its disappointment by the actions taken by the brotherly United Arab Emirates,” the ministry said, describing the moves as a direct threat to Saudi national security, Yemen’s stability and the wider region.
It declared any such threat a “red line” and said Riyadh would not hesitate to take all necessary measures to confront it.
The UAE swiftly rejected the accusations. In a statement, the UAE foreign ministry said it “categorically rejects any attempt to implicate it in the tensions between Yemeni parties” and condemned allegations that it had pressured or directed any group to carry out operations threatening Saudi security or borders.
The UAE also denied that the shipment contained weapons or was intended for any Yemeni party. The incident marks the sharpest public rift yet between the two Gulf allies, who have cooperated in the anti-Houthi coalition since 2015 but whose interests in Yemen have diverged.
While Riyadh has backed the internationally recognised government based in Aden, Abu Dhabi has provided military and financial support to the STC, which seeks to restore an independent South Yemen.
The STC’s rapid gains this month in the oil-rich Hadramaut governorate and neighbouring al-Mahra, areas bordering Saudi Arabia and Oman, have embarrassed Saudi Arabia and complicated efforts to unify anti-Houthi forces against the Iran-aligned Houthis who control much of northern Yemen.
Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, headed by Rashad al-Alimi, responded by declaring a 90-day state of emergency and annulling a security pact with the UAE.
Al-Alimi accused Abu Dhabi of fuelling division and called for Emirati forces to withdraw from Yemen within 24 hours, a demand backed by Riyadh. STC representatives rejected the council’s decisions, warning they risked dragging Yemen into new confrontations.
A source close to the Saudi-led coalition told Reuters that diplomacy remained an option despite the strike. “The coalition was forced to act after diplomatic efforts were ignored,” the source said. “But diplomacy is still on the table to prevent further escalation.”
Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates announced the withdrawal of its remaining forces in Yemen after Saudi Arabia earlier set a 24-hour deadline for their departure.
“The Ministry of Defence announces the termination of the remaining counterterrorism teams in Yemen,” a statement from the ministry said, adding that Abu Dhabi made the move “of its own volition, ensuring the safety of its personnel, and in coordination with relevant partners”.
Double War
Yemen has been fighting a crippling war with itself since Iran-backed Houthi rebels ousted the government in 2014, triggering a Saudi-led military intervention.
Now, a new conflict is brewing within the conflict, involving rival armed factions loosely grouped under the government but separately backed by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
The confrontation could tear apart the already-fractured government and threaten slow-moving peace negotiations with the Houthis, including a UN-brokered ceasefire that has largely held since 2022.
It began earlier this month when the Southern Transitional Council (STC) seized military bases, checkpoints, and oil fields and captured most of the resource-rich Hadramawt province and swaths of neighbouring Mahrah. Saudi Arabia, Yemen’s chief supporter of the government, hit back, bombing alleged UAE shipments.
Latest On Conflict
STC positions were also hit by airstrikes on Friday, following calls from Riyadh for a withdrawal from Hadramawt and Mahrah.
A Yemeni military official said around 15,000 Saudi-backed fighters were amassed near the Saudi border, but had not been given orders to advance.
“The standoff risks upending Yemen’s fragile three-and-a-half-year truce, renewing a war that has repeatedly played to the advantage of the Iran-backed Houthis,” wrote April Longley Alley, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute, in an analysis.
“It could also further strain relations between key US allies Saudi Arabia and the UAE.”
Abu Dhabi is a key supporter of the STC, with UAE flags regularly seen at the separatists’ rallies.
What Does The STC Want?
The STC appears to be launching a bid for greater self-determination over territories it controls or even outright independence, according to observers.
Headed by Aidaros Alzubidi, the STC is a coalition of groups that want to bring back South Yemen, which existed from 1967 to 1990, when it reunified with North Yemen.
They now control almost all of South Yemen’s former territory.
“The Southern Transitional Council is betting that if the South can be united under a single leadership –- its own, of course –- it can cordon the South off from the Houthis in the North, utilise oil and gas revenue, and create a stable and functioning state,” wrote Gregory D. Johnsen, a non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute, in a recent analysis.
Such a move “is a tall order, and it will likely be contested both internally and externally”, Johnsen added.
Saudi Arabia In A Difficult Position?
Hadramawt is Yemen’s largest province, comprising roughly a third of the country’s territory, and its wealthiest.
It is home to most of the country’s petroleum deposits that are vital to government revenues, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north.
And its ports are away from the Red Sea hotspot that regularly comes under Houthi fire.
But, for the Saudis, the province that abuts its southern border is about more than just land and wealth.
For generations, Hadramawt families have been a force in the Saudi economy and make up a sizeable portion of the business community.
Seen as having entrepreneurial skills and grit, migrants from Hadramawt have long flourished in Saudi Arabia—from running family restaurants to starting multi-billion-dollar construction conglomerates.
Losing control and influence over Hadramawt to a militia backed by the UAE would be both a psychological and strategic blow to Riyadh.
“If I’m Saudi Arabia, I’d be sleepless if I lose Hadramawt,” said Farea al-Muslimi, a research fellow at Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.
Can Saudis Stop The separatists?
The latest conflict pits the Saudi alliance against a militia keen to exert control over territory that it sees as historically distinct from the rest of Yemen.
The decade-long, largely fruitless fight against the Houthis may not give Riyadh much cause for optimism.
Despite spending billions in a decade-long campaign, including withering air strikes, the Saudi-led campaign has failed to bring the Houthis to heel.
Military experts cite the South’s more open terrain as playing to Saudi Arabia’s possible advantage. An air campaign alone, however, is unlikely to dislodge their forces.
Airstrikes “can never make a significant difference in battles if there is no ground war”, said Muslimi.
By ET Online Desk and Agence France-Presse
