UAE to pull forces out of Yemen after calls for withdrawal, Saudi strike

After Saudi Arabia accused Abu Dhabi of supporting separatists in Yemen, the United Arab Emirates announced the withdrawal of its forces there. The country has also declared that it has stopped conducting what it has called “counterterrorism” operations there.

Saudi Arabia backed the request, which Yemen’s internationally recognized government made on Tuesday. The government then demanded that the UAE withdraw its forces from Yemen.

Saudi Arabia-led coalition forces attacked the southern Yemeni port of Mukalla a few hours earlier, killing what Riyadh claimed was a shipment of weapons going to Yemen’s separatist Southern Transition Council (STC) in an apparent UAE-linked shipment.

This month, the STC launched an offensive against the Saudi-backed government troops in the south of Yemen after initially supporting the internationally recognized government of Yemen against the Houthi rebels.

Despite Riyadh’s warnings, the STC took control of large swaths of southern Yemen, including the Hadramout and Mahara provinces, breaking years of unrest. Mahara is close to the border, and Hadramout borders Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia expressed disappointment on Tuesday over “pressure” being put on the STC to carry out military operations in the Hadramout and Mahara provinces. Riyadh said the actions pose a threat to its security.

The kingdom emphasizes that any threat to its national security is a red line, and it will take all necessary steps and measures to confront and neutralize any such threat, it said.

The UAE’s Ministry of Defense announced on Tuesday that it had completed a “comprehensive assessment” of its role in Yemen and had decided to end its mission there.

The Ministry of Defense announces the termination of the remaining counterterrorism personnel in Yemen of its own volition, in a way that ensures the safety of its personnel, according to a statement from the United Arab Emirates.

In response to efforts to ease tensions that have erupted in recent days, the UAE announced.

The Saudi Arabian and UAE statements, according to Qatar’s ministry of foreign affairs, “reflect a commitment to prioritizing the interests of the region, strengthening the principles of good neighborliness, and adhering to the foundations and principles on which the GCC Charter is based,” were welcomed.

Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, and the UAE make up the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Saudi Foreign Affairs Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar were on the phone informing them of “regional developments.”

tensions with the STC

Yemen’s Mukalla, a coalition that was established in 2015 to combat the Houthis, who have most of northern Yemen, is now at an all-time high in tensions.

Saudi Arabia-led coalition forces first arrived in Yemen that year as part of the UAE, but the majority of its forces were withdrawn in 2019, leaving only a small number of people in the government-run south.

Rashad al-Alimi, the head of Yemen’s presidential council supported by Saudi Arabia, ended a military pact with the UAE and gave Emirati forces 24 hours to leave following the Mukalla strike, which did not result in casualties.

According to the Yemeni state news agency, al-Alimi claimed in a televised speech that it had been “definitively confirmed that the UAE pressured and directed the STC to undermine and rebel against the state’s authority through military escalation.”

Saudi Arabia demanded that Yemeni territory stop providing “any military or financial support to any party” and supported al-Alimi’s request for the UAE to do so.

The UAE claimed that the Saudi Arabian airstrike had surprised them, and that the shipment(s) were going to the Emirati forces rather than the STC.

It added that it was “committed to ensuring the security of Saudi Arabia” and that it was looking for a solution that “prevents escalation, based on reliable facts and existing coordination.”

According to state television, black smoke emitted from the port in the early morning and vehicles burned. Al-Alimi placed a 72-hour sea and ground blockade on all ports and crossings.

The STC remained stubborn, insisting that it was “no thinking about withdrawing” from its newly seized positions.

“The landowner shouldn’t be asked to leave his or her property,” the landowner says. Anwar al-Tamimi, a spokesman for STC, told the AFP news agency that the situation necessitates observation and reinforcement.

Source: Aljazeera