Yemen Threatens to Act to Stop UAE Support for Separatists

Yemeni officials accuse UAE vehicles of taking part in the Aden takeover

The Saudi-backed Yemen government has threatened to take any actions they believe are necessary internationally to try to stop the United Arab Emirates from continuing to back the Southern Transitional Council (STC).

The STC has taken control of the de facto capital of Aden and parts of the Abyan Province over the past couple of weeks. They have promised to liberate all of South Yemen, while the Saudi-backed government has demanded they unconditionally returned the territory to them.

The government claims that as many as 400 Emirati military vehicles participated in the takeover of Aden. The UAE has long had ties to the STC but has been vague about its specific current relationship.

That said, the UAE-backed forces and Saudi-backed forces in Yemen are roughly the same size, and while they were allies earlier in the war, the southern separatists clearly believe they’re better suited by a strategy focusing on security the south, instead of trying to reunify the whole country and start over with their separatism afterward.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.