Saudi strikes UAE-backed forces in Yemen, kills 7 as region turns war zone

Saudi Arabia displayed its intent on Friday striking the UAE-backed separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces in southern Yemen, killing at least seven people. This came after the Saudi-backed Yemeni government issued a 24-hour deadline for the UAE to pull out of the country. Yemen has become a rare spot of escalation between Arab brothers Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.

Saudi fighter jets on Friday struck STC forces in southern Yemen, killing seven people, news agency AFP quoted a separatist leader as saying. Mohammed Abdulmalik, head of the STC in Wadi Hadramaut and Hadramaut Desert, said seven air strikes hit the Al-Khasah camp, killing seven and wounding over 20. Saudi Arabia had previously bombed Yemen's port city of Mukalla on December 30 over alleged weapon shipments supplied by UEA.

While Saudi Arabia and its coalition forces are backing the government of President Rashad al-Alimi, the UAE was supporting the STC, which is engaged in a secessionist fight in southern Yemen.

The STC seized much of Hadramawt, bordering Saudi Arabia, and neighbouring Mahra in December. Riyadh sees the STC's advances as a threat to its national security.

Friday's deadly air strikes came shortly after the Saudi coalition forces, Shield Forces, launched a campaign to "peacefully" take control of military sites in Hadramawt, according to the AFP report.

"It [Saudi offensive] will not stop until the Southern Transitional Council withdraws from the two governorates," a source close to the Saudi military told the AFP.

This came even as the ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Yemen accused the head of the STC of blocking a Saudi mediation delegation from landing in the southern city of Aden, according to the Associated Press.

Mohamed al-Nakib, spokesperson for the STC-backed Southern Shield Forces, accused Saudi Arabia of using "Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaida militias" in a "large-scale attack". In a video on X, al-Nakib likened the latest developments to Yemen's 1994 civil war, "except that this time it is under the cover of Saudi aviation operations".

On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia-led coalition forces bombed Mukala, a port city in Yemen, targeting what Riyadh claimed were shipments of weapons and armoured vehicles sent by the UAE meant for the STC.

Abu Dhabi rejected the claim, and said it respected Riyadh's national security priorities.

"The United Arab Emirates affirms its constant commitment to the security and stability of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, its full respect for its sovereignty and national security, and its rejection of any actions that could threaten the Kingdom's security or that of the region," said the UAE's Foreign Ministry.

Also on Tuesday, the Yemeni government asked the UAE to exit the country.

Saudi Arabia leads the coalition backing Yemen's internationally recognised government, largely to prevent the Iranian proxy, the Houthis, from consolidating power along its southern border. The UAE joined that coalition in 2015 but gradually pursued its own strategy. It built its influence in southern Yemen through local militias and, eventually, the STC. This is what has brought the two Arab nations into a state of confrontation.

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