The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has promised to withdraw its remaining troops from Yemen following demands from officials in Sanaa for its troops to leave the country within 24 hours, after Saudi-led coalition struck the port of Al-Mukalla early Tuesday.
In a statement issued late on Tuesday, the UAE’s Ministry of Defence said it had voluntarily ended its counter-terrorism mission in Yemen, marking the end of its remaining military presence in the country after largely withdrawing troops in 2019.
The ministry said the decision was “in line with its commitments and its role in supporting security and stability in the region,” but did not provide a specific deadline of troop-removal.
The announcement came a day after Saudi Arabia accused the UAE of pushing the Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces towards the kingdom’s borders, saying a “red line” had been crossed that would evoke the “strongest possible action”.
On Tuesday, the UAE’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement rejecting Riyadh’s “serious factual inaccuracies” in its claims of the UAE backing STC’s separatist forces, and denied being involved in any action that undermines Saudi Arabia’s territorial sovereignty.
The Emirates also rejected claims of supplying weapons and columns of armoured vehicles to the STC that seeks to overthrow the elected government in Yemen.
The Saudi official sources had confirmed on Tuesday morning that its coalition forces had carried out joint airstrikes targeting “weapons and combat vehicles unloaded” at the port of Al-Mukalla in Yemen’s south-eastern Hadramout Province.
Also Read: Saudi Arabia bombs Yemen’s Mukalla port
The alleged involvement of the UAE in the country’s affairs has triggered a sharp response from Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, or PLC, which ended a defence pact with the UAE and declared a 90-day state of emergency while issuing a 24-hour deadline for the Emirati forces to leave the country.
It is not the first time that the UAE has faced such allegations; it has also been accused of providing funds and support to the RSF paramilitary forces in Sudan, which are accused of carrying out genocidal crimes in the country.
Saudi Arabia has repeatedly called on the Emirati government to halt its backing of the group that Riyadh and the Sudanese government describe as a “terrorist force”.
The UAE’s alleged clandestine operations in Sudan are widely discussed. With the country’s fuel reserves projected to deplete before 2050, experts believe that the UAE’s involvement in Sudan is aimed at securing future fuel and mineral resources to sustain its prosperity.
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