UAE agrees to withdraw forces after Saudi Arabia bombs Yemeni port
發佈日期: 2025-12-31 21:30
TVB News
Tensions are high between Persian Gulf neighbours Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates after Riyadh bombed a port in Yemen in Tuesday.
Saudi accused UAE of sending weapons to a secessionist group that wants to create a separate state in southern Yemen.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he spoke to the foreign ministers of both countries after the airstrikes.
Aerial footage is released of Al-Mukalla Port in Yemen. A ship identified as the Greenland is docking, with Saudi Arabia claiming it was delivering weapons from the United Arab Emirates to a separatist group in Yemen.
These are the scenes in al-Mukalla after Saudi airstrikes, with Riyadh expressing fears that the Southern Transitional Council, or STC, which is backed by UAE, will take their fight to its borders.
The prime minister of Yemen's internationally recognised government, which is backed by Saudi, ordered UAE troops to withdraw from Yemen within 24 hours.
Rashad al-Alimi said the UAE has been supporting the STC against the government at the expense of Yemen's stability.
The UAE called for "restraint and wisdom" and disputed Riyadh's allegations.
But in a bid to ease tensions, it said it would pull back counter-terrorism forces that remained in the country in 2019 after its army concluded its operations there, having been part of a Saudi-led coalition battling the Iran-backed Houthi group.
The Saudi strikes highlights divergent agendas between two of the Persian Gulf's major oil producers and economies.
A Saudi Cabinet session chaired by King Salman bin Abdulaziz was held on Tuesday in Riyadh, with the aim of stopping the UAE's support for the STC.
A statement said Riyadh would take necessary measures to protect its national security.
The STC is calling for secession of a proposed federal State of South Arabia along the borders of the former South Yemen.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Aden on Tuesday holding South Yemen and UAE flags calling for self-determination and the declaration of a southern state.
The calls threaten to open a fresh fighting front in Yemen, where once they were united in battling the Houthis, who control large parts of the country including its largest city Sanaa.
