"On December 30, Saudi Arabia bombed the Yemeni port city of Mukalla, targeting a shipment of weapons for separatists there. The shipment was sent by the UAE for the Southern Transitional Council, or STC, which wants to establish a separate state in southern Yemen. The Emiratis said the shipment was intended for their own security forces in the area, not the STC."
"The Saudis clearly didn't believe that, saying they'd warned the UAE not to send the weapons and that it viewed Emirati actions as "extremely dangerous." Yemen's Hadramout province, where the STC operates, has a long land border with Saudi Arabia. Having it controlled by a group not aligned with the Saudis was not acceptable to Riyadh, Saudi researcher Hesham Alghannam, a nonresident scholar at the think tank Carnegie Middle East Center, explained to Yemeni media outlet Aden Al Ghad."
"The Saudi strikes were the first direct confrontation between the two countries and afterwards the UAE said they would withdraw any remaining Emirati troops from Yemen. The Saudis allegedly told the Emiratis to take the weapons and vehicles sent to Yemen back to port however only the vehicles were returned, after which Saudi bombed the siteImage: Stringer/AFP/Getty Images But experts say the basic problem between the UAE and Saudi Arabia isn't going away."
On December 30, Saudi Arabia bombed the Yemeni port city of Mukalla targeting a weapons shipment sent by the UAE. The shipment was linked to the Southern Transitional Council (STC), which seeks an independent southern Yemeni state, while the UAE said the arms were for its own security forces. Riyadh said it had warned the UAE not to send the weapons and called the actions extremely dangerous. Hadramout province shares a long land border with Saudi Arabia, and STC control there alarmed Riyadh. The strikes prompted the UAE to announce withdrawal of remaining Emirati troops from Yemen. The incident reflects deeper, unresolved divergences in Saudi and Emirati regional policies.
Read at www.dw.com
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