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Saudi Arabia has backed Yemen’s presidential council’s demand that the United Arab Emirates withdraw its troops within 24 hours after the Saudi-led coalition bombed a weapons shipment at the port of Mukalla allegedly destined for UAE-backed separatists.
The Saudi foreign ministry accused the UAE of “pressuring” the Southern Transitional Council (STC), which seeks independence in southern Yemen, to launch its recent offensive in the eastern provinces of Hadramaut and al-Mahra.
It warned that Saudi Arabia would take steps to address what it considered “highly dangerous” behavior.
The UAE Foreign Ministry denied that the shipment contained weapons and expressed “deep regret” over the Saudi statement.
It strongly condemned “allegations that it pressures or directs any party in Yemen to carry out military operations that would undermine the security of the sister kingdom of Saudi Arabia or target its borders”.
The strategy council leader also said the ultimatum for the UAE troops to withdraw had no legal basis and insisted the UAE would remain a “main partner” in the fight against the Iran-backed Houthi movement, which controls much of northwestern Yemen.
Earlier on Monday, the head of the eight-member presidential council, which includes representatives of the Yemeni Security Council, announced that he would cancel the joint defense agreement with the UAE and order the withdrawal of its forces “to safeguard the security of all citizens and reaffirm commitment to Yemen’s unity, sovereignty, stability and territorial integrity.”
Rashad Alimi also declared a 90-day state of emergency, which he said was necessary to combat the Houthis and what he described as “an internal conflict led by renegade military elements taking orders from the United Arab Emirates.”
Alimi’s announcement came after a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, which includes the United Arab Emirates, said it had carried out “limited” airstrikes against weapons and military vehicles belonging to STC forces in the southern Yemeni port of Mukalla, which arrived in Yemen from the United Arab Emirates on two ships.
Major General Turki Maliki claimed that the shipments posed an “imminent threat and an escalation of threats to peace and stability.”
An official at the port told AFP that an evacuation warning was issued at 04:00 local time (01:00 GMT) and about 15 minutes later an open area of the facility was hit.
Photos after the accident showed a number of burned military vehicles and pickup trucks parked within the port walls, and a nearby building was also damaged. No injuries were reported.
The UAE foreign ministry said it was surprised by Mukalla’s attack and that the alliance statement was issued without consultation with member states.
It insisted that the shipment “did not include any weapons and the unloaded vehicles were not designed for any party in Yemen but were intended for use by Emirati forces operating in Yemen”.
The Saudi-led coalition called on Saturday for a “peaceful” withdrawal of STC forces from Hadramaut and Al-Mahra, a day after the Saudi air force reportedly bombed separatist positions in the Wadi Nahab area of Hadramaut.
Earlier this month, STC forces launched an offensive in the two provinces, clashing directly with government forces amid rising tensions.
The statement said the operations were necessary to “restore stability in the south” and combat the Houthis and jihadist groups such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
Yemen has been devastated by a civil war that began in 2014, when the Houthis ousted the internationally recognized government from the capital, Sanaa. The conflict escalated in 2015 after the Saudi-led Arab League stepped in to restore the government.
The fighting has reportedly killed more than 150,000 people and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
The war began with the STC and other separatists seeking South Yemen’s independence forming an uneasy alliance with the government to prevent the Houthis from seizing the southern city of Aden. South Yemen was an independent country before unifying with the north in 1990.
In recent years, however, the Strategic Council and its allies have launched an attack on the government and seized control of Aden and much of the country’s south.
