UAE takes major step to reduce tensions in Gulf and withdraws troops from more than a decade-long conflict

The United Arab Emirates said on Tuesday it was withdrawing its remaining forces in Yemen, a new development in the civil war that broke out in 2014 after an unprecedented escalation of tensions with Saudi Arabia.

Hours before Abu Dhabi's announcement, Saudi-led coalition forces attacked the southern Yemeni port of Mukalla. The airstrike on what Riyadh said was an arms shipment bound for the United Arab Emirates was the most significant escalation yet in a widening rift between the two Gulf monarchies.

Once considered the twin pillars of regional security, these two Gulf countries have seen their interests increasingly diverge on a wide range of issues, from oil quotas to geopolitical influence.

Abu Dhabi's defense ministry said it had “voluntarily” ended the mission of its counter-terrorism units in Yemen, the only forces still present there after the United Arab Emirates “ended” its military presence in 2019.

The ministry said the remaining mission was limited to “specialized personnel as part of counter-terrorism efforts in coordination with relevant international partners.”

It added in a statement that “recent developments” prompted a “comprehensive assessment” that led to the decision.

Widening rift between UAE and Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has accused its neighbor of pressuring the Southern Transitional Council (STC), a separatist faction in Yemen, to advance on its borders and said its national security is a “red line”.

It was Riyadh's strongest language yet in the dispute between the neighbors, who once worked together in a coalition against Iran-allied Houthi rebels but whose interests there have become increasingly distant.

Reuters comments that the withdrawal of the few forces that the Emirates had maintained in Yemen could calm tensions for the time being. But the real issue is whether the Abu Dhabi government will continue to support STC.

Riyadh, for its part, continued, through the coalition it leads, to support the internationally recognized Yemeni government, and the cabinet said it hoped the Emirates would end any military or financial aid to the STC.

The coalition bombed what it said was a dock used to provide foreign military support to the separatists. Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen's Saudi-backed presidential council, gave Emirati forces 24 hours to leave the country.

The Abu Dhabi government said it was surprised by the airstrike and that the shipments in question did not contain weapons and were intended for its forces. However, it said it was looking for a solution “that would prevent escalation, based on proven facts and existing coordination.”

In a televised speech, Alimi said it was “definitively confirmed that the UAE pressured and directed the STC to undermine and rebel against state authority through military escalation,” according to the Yemeni state agency.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are both major players in the OPEC group of oil exporters, and any disagreements between them could affect the consensus on oil production.

Representatives of them and six other OPEC+ member states will meet in an online video conference on Sunday, and OPEC+ delegates said they will extend the policy of keeping production unchanged for the first quarter of next year.

The UAE has had troops in Yemen for a decade

The United Arab Emirates has been a member of the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthi movement since 2015. In 2019 it began withdrawing its troops but remained committed to the Saudi-backed Yemeni government.

The STC later decided to seek self-rule in the south and this month launched an offensive against Saudi-backed Yemeni troops.

The advance broke years of stalemate, with the STC defying Saudi warnings to claim broad control over the country's south, including the key province of Hadramout.

Tuesday's airstrike followed the weekend arrival of two ships from the Emirate's Fujairah port on Saturday and Sunday without authorization from the coalition, it said.

The Saudi state agency released a video showing a ship identified as “Greenland” from which, according to the source, weapons and combat vehicles were unloaded. The registered owner and operator of Greenland, a cargo ship, is Salem Al Makrani Cargo Company, based in Dubai and with a subsidiary in Fujairah.