Double enmity: Saudi Arabia UAE… coalition against Yemen or a project to liquidate?
SANAA, Nov. 06 (YPA) – The agreement that brought Saudi Arabia and the UAE inside the Saudi embassy in Washington to announce the start of a military operation on Yemen was nothing but an exceptional case in the history of the relationship between the two countries.
Beyond the facade of the coalition,” the relationship between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi has always been governed by a mixture of rivalry and conflicting interests, in addition to longstanding border disputes and economic and geopolitical ambitions extending as far as the Arabian Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait.
Despite the apparent political differences between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, the essence of their relationship regarding Yemen has revealed a shared animosity that transcends mere circumstantial calculations.
Since the start of the aggression against Yemen in March 2015, the two countries have presented themselves as leaders of a military coalition supported by the United States, Britain, and Israel under the banner of “Decisive Storm Operation”, whose stated objective was “restoring legitimacy.” However, subsequent years have proven that the true, hidden objective was to dismantle and weaken Yemen and neutralize it from the regional power equation.
The Alliance of Hostility: From Slogans to Realities
The Wall Street Journal revealed on October 18, 2023, that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman described the UAE as having “stabbed the Kingdom in the back,” threatening punitive measures against it.
But behind this apparent tension, the two countries’ interests aims at preventing Yemen from emerging as an independent power with its own decision-making authority and sovereignty over its strategic maritime borders and geography stretching from Bab al-Mandab to Mahra province.
Brigadier General Mohammed al-Sharif, an advisor to the Ministry of Defense in Sanaa, told the Yemeni Press Agency: “Saudi Arabia and the UAE disagree on the spoils, but they agree on their hostility towards Yemen”, adding that Riyadh seeks to keep Yemen economically and politically dependent, while Abu Dhabi is working to fragment its coastline and geography and seize control of its strategic islands, most notably the Socotra archipelago and Mayon Island, to secure its commercial and military interests.
“Both parties are operating under a clear American-Israeli umbrella, whose goal is to ensure control over the Red Sea and international waterways, and to prevent any Yemeni role that could alter the balance of power in the region,” he explained.
Systematic Hostility Against Yemen, Not a Power Struggle
Over the past years, Decisive Storm Operation has not translated into a political or military victory, but rather into a deep-seated hostility against Yemen as a state and its people.
Both sides have worked to fragment Yemen’s territory under different pretexts, imposing Saudi guardianship over political decisions and controls resources, oil, and aid, while the UAE has taken control ports and islands and manages armed factions outside the framework of the coalition-backed government.
Brigadier General Mohammed al-Sharif says: “Saudi Arabia and the UAE are not only at war with Yemen, but with its very existence as independent states. What the two countries are doing today is the direct implementation of an American-Israeli project aimed at weakening Yemen and ensuring control over the Red Sea and maritime routes.”
“The military alliance has transformed into an alliance of hostility,” Al-Sharif added. “Riyadh pretends to mediate, Abu Dhabi funds internal subversion operations, and both are acting at the behest of Washington and Tel Aviv.”
The Economy and the Blockade: The Silent Arms of Hostility
Economically, both countries have been pursuing a systematic policy of strangulation to keep Yemen in a state of perpetual crippling dependency.
Saudi Arabia has maintained a tight grip on oil and gas resources in the eastern provinces, controlling exports, imposing import restrictions, and controlling financial aid and the flow of imports. Meanwhile, the UAE is working to transform vital Yemeni ports and islands into spheres of influence under its control, from Al-Mahra, Hadramout, and Socotra to Abyan, Aden, Lahj, and Mocha of Taiz.
“The UAE treats Yemen as a port farm, and Saudi Arabia treats it as a backyard. Neither wants Yemen to be an independent country or capable of building a self-sufficient economy. Even the reconstruction agreements are designed to keep the country hostage to Gulf funding”, Yemeni economic analyst Rashid al-Haddad told the Yemen Press Agency.
H added: “The blockade imposed on Yemen can only be understood as part of a strategy of starvation and control. The UAE and Saudi Arabia share the roles: the former strangles maritime trade, and the latter prevents internal development. The goal is one: to weaken the state and turn it into a dependent entity.”
Security and Military Hostility
On the military front, the Saudi-Emirati coalition has not ceased despite the so-called “humanitarian truce.”
Saudi bombing has been continued in the border areas of Saada province, north of Yemen, and Yemeni ports, and islands remain under Emirati control. Meanwhile, recruitment and arming operations have been continued within Yemeni territories under the control of coalition forces, without any official authorization.
Brigadier General Mohammed al-Sharif points out that what is happening today is a multi-pronged aggression like a Saudi blockade on oil derivatives, while the UAE is implementing a military agenda on the coasts. The hostility towards Yemen is not accidental, but rather part of a regional strategy aimed at curtailing Yemen’s independent role, especially after it became active in supporting the Palestinian resistance.”
Al-Sharif clarified: “The military alliance has transformed into an alliance of hostility. While Riyadh pretends to mediate, Abu Dhabi funds internal subversion operations, and both are acting at the behest of Washington and Tel Aviv.”
Normalization: The Political Face of Hostility
Analysts believe that the UAE’s normalization and Saudi Arabia’s covert normalization with the Israeli entity constitute the most dangerous dimension of this hostility. Yemen is being dealt with from an “Israeli” perspective that views Yemen as part of Zionist efforts to control the Red Sea.
Recent Hebrew reports confirm that “security coordination between Saudi Arabia and the Israeli entity has not stopped despite the genocidal war in the Gaza Strip, and that Riyadh contributed to intercepting Iranian aircraft that were en route to the occupied territories.”
The Hebrew reports also revealed the existence of undeclared security coordination between Riyadh and the Israeli occupation government to intercept Yemeni missiles and drones, in addition to increasing cooperation in the areas of maritime surveillance and electronic espionage against Yemen.
“The Gulf-Israeli alliance against Yemen is no longer a secret,” Rashid al-Haddad goes on to say. “Saudi Arabia has justified its hostility by claiming to protect navigation, and the UAE has used the pretext of fighting terrorism, but the real objective is to strike Yemen as part of the resistance axis and weaken its defensive capabilities.”
He added: “The new economic corridors projects between India, the Gulf and Europe were designed to bypass Yemen and remove it from the international trade map, as a way of punishing it for its supportive stance towards Palestine.”
From an Alliance of Necessity to a Project of Liquidation
The ten-year old aggression and blockade against Yemen have proven that the alliance that began under the banner of “restoring legitimacy” was, in essence, a project to liquidate an independent Yemen.
Even the disagreements between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have not altered this trajectory, as both operate under a single umbrella led by Washington and serving the Israeli entity.
Brigadier General Mohammed al-Sharif affirmed that Saudi Arabia and the UAE had different roles to play on the same stage. This is not a fleeting war of interests, but rather a strategic enmity against a free Yemen and against any independent Arab project that emerges from under the American cloak.”
A Systematic Hostility, Not a Fleeting Dispute
Despite the tactical differences between the two states, the facts confirm that they are pursuing a parallel path of hostility toward Yemen, based on the logic of “subjugation and control, not partnership, in additional to the impoverishment of Yemen, the fragmentation of its territory, and the confiscation of its political will.
In concluding his remarks, Brigadier General Mohammed al-Sharif stated that the Saudi-Emirati hostility towards Yemen is not a recent phenomenon; rather, it is a long-term project aimed at erasing Yemen’s independence and subjecting it to Gulf tutelage. However, what Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have failed to grasp is that Yemen, having endured blockade and aggression, is now more aware than ever of the necessity to break free from this stranglehold.
Meanwhile, the facts on the ground confirm that the Saudi-Emirati hostility towards Yemen cannot be separated from the American-Israeli project to reshape the Middle East according to the equation of “hegemony in exchange for survival”.
Riyadh and Abu Dhabi are not merely acting out of a conflict of interests, but rather as functional tools within a broader strategy that get the survival to the Israeli entity and Western hegemony, by crushing the will of free peoples and aborting any Arab independence project, foremost among them Yemen.
In this sense, Saudi-UAE hostility towards Yemen is part of a larger battle to thwart Arab independence and neutralize any power that rejects normalization or submission.
From war and blockade to the control of islands and ports, culminating in normalization with the Zionist entity, these steps are integrated into a single plan: to strip Yemen of its ability to exert influence, sever its ties with the resistance axis, and subjugate it to become a back door for Israeli security in the Red Sea.
Thus, we can say that the Saudi-Emirati hostility towards Yemen is no longer a political choice, but rather a strategic commitment imposed on Saudi Arabia and the UAE in exchange for American protection, arms deals, and economic interests.
Regardless of the differing rhetoric of the two “Mohammeds,” they converge on one point: a shared animosity towards an independent Yemen and a deep-seated fear of its political and military resurgence.
Ironically, this very hostility has rekindled the Yemenis’ awareness of their shared destiny, awakened in them the spirit of resistance and sovereignty, and spurred their resilience, transforming the war into a school of awareness and dignity that transcends Yemen’s borders and extends to the entire region.
So, whoever was meant to be a follower, it has today become a force to be reckoned with in the equation of regional liberation and advocacy for the nation’s causes, and a center of balance against the axis of normalization and subservience.
AA