The United Arab Emirates announced on Saturday the complete withdrawal of its troops from Yemen amid heightened tensions within the war-torn nation, leading to a rift between the UAE and Saudi Arabia. The UAE Defence Ministry stated that this decision came following the conclusion of counterterrorism operations as previously planned. Although no specifics regarding the number of soldiers and equipment withdrawn were provided, recent military cargo flights to and from Yemen indicated the movement of Emirati forces.
In a separate development, the Southern Transitional Council (STC), a separatist group backed by the UAE in Yemen, unveiled a constitution for an independent state in the south and called for other factions in the country to acknowledge this move. While the STC portrayed this act as a declaration of independence for the southern region, the practical implications of this announcement remain uncertain.
Recently, fighters associated with the STC seized control of two southern provinces from Saudi-supported forces and captured the Presidential Palace in Aden, the main city in the south. Following these events, members of the internationally recognized government, previously based in Aden, fled to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Saudi warplanes conducted airstrikes on STC-held camps and military positions in Hadramout province, as Saudi-backed forces attempted to retake control of these areas, according to a separatist official.
The escalating tensions between the factions in Yemen and the diverging interests of Saudi Arabia and the UAE, along with their respective allies, have strained the Saudi-led coalition’s unity. This coalition was initially formed to combat the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, also known as Ansar Allah, who control the northern part of Yemen in the ongoing decade-long civil conflict. While the coalition’s primary objective has been to reinstate the internationally recognized government ousted by the Houthis, internal rifts between the involved parties risk destabilizing the coalition and exacerbating the already dire situation in Yemen.
