UAE Arming Yemen Separatists With Drones

Yemen officials accuse UAE of doing the same in Libya

The Saudi-backed Yemen government has accused the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of providing drones to the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC). Yemen claims to have recovered some in a shoot-down.

The STC wants an independent South Yemen as the end of the war, while the Saudi-backed faction wants the whole country, and has bristled at any suggestion of power-sharing. The two have fought several times in the region.

Yemeni officials claimed the UAE also provided drones in Libya, “where they received a harsh lesson,” and threatened worse in Yemen.The UAE provided a lot of arms to Libya’s rebels, which were/are backed by the Saudis as well.

The UAE is keen to buy influence in the region with arms transfers, and in Yemen that means the STC. The Saudis tried to resolve this with a power-sharing deal, which the government spurned.

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.