Saudi Arabia bombs UAE arms shipment in Yemen port

Saudi Arabia declared a UAE-backed separatist advance in Yemen a threat to the kingdom’s national security on Tuesday and called Abu Dhabi’s actions “highly dangerous”, as the rivalry between the Gulf monarchies boiled over into an open dispute.

The strongly worded foreign ministry statement came hours after the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said it had struck a United Arab Emirates weapons shipment destined for separatist forces.

“The steps taken by the UAE are considered highly dangerous,” it said, adding “the Kingdom stresses that any threat to its national security is a red line, and the Kingdom will not hesitate to take all necessary steps and measures to confront and neutralise any such threat”.

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The United Arab Emirates later rebuffed the accusations from Saudi Arabia, saying: “the shipment in question did not contain any weapons, and the vehicles unloaded were not intended for any Yemeni party.”

In recent weeks, separatists backed by the UAE seeking to revive the formerly independent state of South Yemen have made sweeping territorial gains in a lightning offensive.

Experts say their successes have embarrassed Saudi Arabia, a regional heavyweight and the main backer of the internationally recognised Yemeni government.

“Given the danger and escalation posed by these weapons… the coalition air forces carried out a limited military operation this morning targeting weapons and combat vehicles that had been unloaded from the two ships at the port of Al-Mukalla,” the alliance said, according to the Saudi state news agency.

AFP footage of the port showed dozens of parked military vehicles and pick-ups, several of which were burnt out and smouldering as workers hosed them down.

After the strikes, the leader of Yemen’s presidential council, which sits atop the Aden-based government, declared a state of emergency and cancelled a security pact with Abu Dhabi after the forces of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) seized swaths of territory.

The STC is also a key member of the government — a fractious patchwork of groups held together by its opposition to the Iran-backed Houthi rebels who control swaths of northern and western Yemen including the capital Sanaa.

– ‘A red line’ –

Saudi Arabia and the UAE — traditionally close allies who joined forces against the Houthis — have increasingly been at odds over the conflict as well as the war in Sudan.

“The Kingdom expresses its disappointment by the actions taken by the brotherly United Arab Emirates, pressuring the Southern Transitional Council’s forces to conduct military operations on the southern border of the Kingdom,” the Saudi foreign ministry statement said.

It called them “a threat to the Kingdom’s national security, as well as to security and stability in the Republic of Yemen and the region,” it said.

Abu Dhabi denied that it was behind the separatist offensive, saying it “condemns the claims made regarding the exertion of pressure or direction on any Yemeni party to carry out military operations that affect the security of the sisterly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia”.

A source close to the Saudi military coalition told AFP on Tuesday after the strikes that a diplomatic solution remained on the table.

“The coalition was forced to do that. All diplomacy efforts met deaf ears,” said the source.

“Diplomacy is still an option to stop any further escalation.”

– 24-hour deadline –

Riyadh also backed a demand from Yemen’s presidential council for Emirati forces to withdraw from the country within 24 hours, and urged Abu Dhabi to cut off military and financial support for Yemeni groups.

Rashad al-Alimi, head of the Presidential Leadership Council, issued decrees on Tuesday announcing a 90-day state of emergency and annulling a security pact with the UAE over the separatists’ advance.

The STC members of the council later rejected the decision, saying the move threatened to “drag Yemen into new confrontations”.

Following the strikes, broadcasters in Saudi Arabia aired segments showing surveillance footage of the alleged Emirati ships delivering the combat equipment to the port of Mukalla in southern Yemen.

The Saudi-led coalition said the ships had arrived from the UAE port of Fujairah, adding that the operation was conducted in accordance with international humanitarian law and without causing collateral damage.

An official at the port said they had received an evacuation warning.

– ‘Unacceptable to God’ –

Abdullah Bazuhair, whose home overlooks the port, showed AFP the damage to his property, with windows blasted clear out of the walls and glass strewn across the floor.

The strikes were “unacceptable to God” he said, adding “the children were terrified and the women frightened”.

The Saudi-led coalition had warned that it would back Yemen’s government in any military confrontation with separatist forces and urged them to withdraw from recently seized territories in Hadramawt and Mahra governorates.

Tuesday’s strike came days after reported Saudi air raids on separatist positions in resource-rich Hadramawt last week.

A Yemeni military official said on Friday that around 15,000 Saudi-backed fighters were massed near the Saudi border but had not been given orders to advance on separatist-held territory.

AFP