Published on: Dec 31, 2025 12:58 am IST
After Saudi Arabia’s airstrike on Yemen, UAE will withdraw troops, emphasizing safety in counterterrorism and denying accusations of sending weapons.
United Arab Emirates(UAE) on Tuesday said that it would withdraw its troops from Saudi Arabia after the country bombed Yemen’s port city, Mukalla, allegedly targeting a shipment of weapons that had arrived from UAE.
Citing safety and effectiveness of counterterrorism missions as the reason behind this move, UAE would pull out its remaining personnel of its own volition, Bloomberg reported quoting the statement from the ministry of defense.
Denying the allegation of shipping weapons to Yemen, UAE’s ministry of foreign ministry said that it is ‘supporting the restoration of legitimacy and combating terrorism, while fully respecting the sovereignty of the Republic of Yemen’ adding that the shipment contained vehicles for use by the UAE forces in the country.
The UAE had earlier said that Yemen’s governance and territorial integrity is “an issue that must be determined by the Yemeni parties themselves.”
What happened in Mukalla? Top points:
- On Tuesday, a shipment from UAE’s Fujairah arrived at Yemen’s Mukalla port. Soon afterwards Mukalla was bombed by Saudi Arabia who alleged that the shipment contained weapons that were sent to support the Abu Dhabi-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), which seeks to establish sovereignty in Yemen’s southern parts since April 2017.
- UAE denied the allegation saying that it had vehicles for use by UAE troops in Yemen and that it would withdraw its forces from Yemen soon.
- The bombardment was followed by airstrikes in Mukalla by the Saudi-led coalition.
- Tensions were on the rise from earlier his month, when STC seized most of the the provinces of Hadramout and Mahra in Yemen, including oil facilities in the region.
- In the opposite side of STC, there is the Yemeni military. They are allied with the Hadramout Tribal Alliance, a local tribal coalition supported by Saudi Arabia.
- Both Saudi Arabia and UAE back these political rival groups based in Yemen which sit on crossroads of shipping lanes on the edge of the predominant energy-exporting region in the Middle East.
- The latest moves reinforced the STC positions across southern Yemen, which could give them leverage in any future talks to settle the Yemen conflict. The STC has long demanded that any settlement should give southern Yemen the right of self-determination.
- Earlier on Friday, Saudi Arabia had targeted the Hadramout region in airstrikes. Analysts described this as a warning for the separatists to halt their advance and leave the governorates of Hadramout and Mahra.
(With inputs from agencies)
