UAE to Withdraw Remaining Troops from Yemen Amid Intensifying Crisis Post-Saudi Airstrike

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The United Arab Emirates said it was pulling its remaining forces out of Yemen after Saudi Arabia backed a call for UAE forces to leave within 24 hours, deepening a crisis between the two Gulf powers and oil producers.

Hours earlier on Tuesday local time, Saudi-led coalition forces had attacked the southern Yemeni port of Mukalla. The airstrike on what Saudi said was a UAE-linked weapons shipment was the most significant escalation to date in a widening rift between the two Gulf monarchies.

In Washington, the United States state department said secretary of state Marco Rubio spoke with the Saudi and UAE foreign ministers about tensions in Yemen and other issues affecting security in the Middle East.

Several Gulf countries, including Kuwait and Bahrain, said they would support any efforts to bolster dialogue and reach a political solution. Qatar said the security of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries “constitutes an inseparable part” of its own security.

Once the cornerstones of regional security, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two Gulf powerhouses, are now seeing their interests drift apart. This divergence touches on areas as varied as oil production quotas and influence over geopolitical matters.

The UAE defence ministry said it had voluntarily ended the mission of its counterterrorism units in Yemen, its only forces still there after it concluded its military presence in 2019.

The ministry said its remaining mission was limited to “specialised personnel as part of counterterrorism efforts, in coordination with relevant international partners”.

In light of recent events, the UAE has called for a thorough evaluation, as reported by the state news agency WAM.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia remains steadfast in its support for Yemen’s internationally recognized government through the coalition it leads. The Saudi cabinet expressed hopes that the UAE would cease any military or financial support to the Southern Transitional Council (STC).

Saudi Arabia had accused the UAE of pressuring Yemen’s separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) to push towards the kingdom’s borders, and declared its national security a “red line”.

It was Saudi Arabia’s strongest language yet in the falling-out between the neighbours, who once cooperated in a coalition against Yemen’s Iran‑aligned Houthis but have seen their interests there steadily diverge.

The UAE withdrawal of the few forces it had kept in Yemen may ease tensions for now. But questions remain over whether it will keep supporting the STC.

The STC’s recent territorial advances have broken a long-standing deadlock, with the group ignoring Saudi cautions to assert control over the southern regions of Yemen, including the Hadhramaut province.

The UAE was a member of the Saudi-led coalition battling the Houthi movement from 2015. In 2019, it started to draw down its troops but remained committed to the Saudi-backed government.

The STC later decided to seek self-rule in the south, and this month launched an offensive against Saudi-supported Yemeni troops.

The UAE expressed surprise over a recent airstrike and clarified that the shipments involved were intended for Emirati forces and did not contain weapons. The UAE emphasized its commitment to finding a resolution that prevents further escalation and is grounded in reliable information and existing coordination.

Why did Saudi Arabia carry out the airstrike?

Tuesday’s airstrike followed the weekend arrival of two ships from the UAE port of Fujairah on the weekend without coalition authorisation, the coalition said.

The coalition bombed what it said was a dock used to provide foreign military support to the separatists. Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen’s Saudi-backed presidential council, gave Emirati forces 24 hours to leave.

The UAE said it had been surprised by the airstrike, and that the shipments in question did not contain weapons and were destined for the Emirati forces. But it said it sought a solution “that prevents escalation, based on reliable facts and existing coordination”.

Yemen’s Saudi-led coalition said a shipment arriving from the UAE to Yemen’s southern port of Mukalla had containers loaded with weapons and ammunition.

The coalition said it had information that such weapons would be transported and distributed to locations in Yemen’s Hadramout.

In a televised speech, Alimi said it had been “definitively confirmed that the United Arab Emirates pressured and directed the STC to undermine and rebel against the authority of the state through military escalation”, according to the Yemeni state news agency.