In unprecedented escalation, Saudi Arabia issues ultimatum to UAE over Yemen

In unprecedented and fast-moving developments, Saudi Arabia and its ally, the UAE, appear to be on the brink of direct confrontation after Riyadh launched strikes on UAE-backed separatists in southern Yemen and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government cancelled a defence pact with Abu Dhabi.

The head of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council declared a state of emergency and cancelled the pact on Tuesday after fighters from the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) seized swathes of territory.

Saudi Arabia has demanded that the UAE withdraw its forces from Yemen and end all support to armed groups in the country within 24 hours.

The UAE is a key backer of the STC, whose forces have swept through southern Yemen in recent weeks, taking most of resource-rich Hadramawt province and large parts of neighbouring Mahrah.

"The Joint Defence Agreement with the United Arab Emirates is hereby cancelled," the presidential council said, while a separate decree announced a 90-day state of emergency, including a 72-hour air, sea and land blockade.

The announcements by Rashad al-Alimi follow claims by the Saudi-led coalition that it intercepted a UAE weapons shipment allegedly bound for separatist forces.

"The Kingdom stresses the importance of the sisterly state of the United Arab Emirates responding to the Republic of Yemen's request for the withdrawal of its military forces from the Republic of Yemen within 24 hours, and for the cessation of any military or financial support to any party inside Yemen," the Saudi foreign ministry said in a statement.

The ministry added that the UAE's actions in Yemen "constitute a threat to the Kingdom's national security, as well as to security and stability in the Republic of Yemen and the region," describing Abu Dhabi's moves as "extremely dangerous".

Alimi ordered STC forces to hand over captured areas to Saudi-aligned government units, calling the separatists' advance an "unacceptable rebellion" in a televised speech.

There are growing fears that the STC's advances are a prelude to declaring an independent state in the south. South Yemen existed as a separate state from 1967 until unification with the north in 1990.

The UAE, which backs the southern separatists, has maintained close ties with Israel since normalising relations in 2020.

On Tuesday, Israel's Maariv newspaper reported that Israel could be preparing to recognise a breakaway southern Yemeni state, similar to its recognition of Somaliland last week, which has drawn widespread condemnation from Somalia and governments across the region.

The confrontation risks fracturing Yemen’s already divided government, which contains factions aligned with both Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.

It also threatens slow-moving peace talks with the Iran-backed Houthis movement, which ousted the government from Sanaa in 2014 and triggered the Saudi-led military intervention.

"The Houthis are likely to view the growing rift between two of their principal adversaries with considerable advantage, observing as former coalition partners - who jointly fought and failed to defeat them - now turn against one another," Farea al-Muslimi, a Yemen and Gulf Research fellow at Chatham House said.