{"id":59463,"date":"2026-01-01T00:15:49","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T21:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/?p=59463"},"modified":"2026-01-01T00:15:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T21:15:49","slug":"abu-dhabi-expelled-from-yemen-has-the-era-of-mohammed-bin-salman-begun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/01\/abu-dhabi-expelled-from-yemen-has-the-era-of-mohammed-bin-salman-begun\/","title":{"rendered":"Abu Dhabi Expelled from Yemen: Has the Era of Mohammed bin Salman Begun?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Report \u2013 Sudan Events<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just hours after a statement by the Saudi-led Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen, the United Arab Emirates announced its withdrawal from its headquarters in the country and the redeployment of its forces back to Abu Dhabi. Emirati forces reportedly received immediate orders to pull out of Yemen.<\/p>\n

Earlier, Yemen\u2019s Presidential Leadership Council Chairman, Rashad Al-Alimi, had declared a nationwide state of emergency for three months, renewable, imposing a comprehensive ban covering air, sea, and land. He also ordered the closure of all ports and border crossings for three days, exempting only those authorized by official directives from the Coalition\u2019s command. According to the Saba news agency, Al-Alimi issued a decision canceling the joint defense agreement with the UAE and demanded that its forces leave Yemeni territory within 24 hours.<\/p>\n

Al-Alimi further stated\u2014by virtue of his authority as commander-in-chief of the armed forces under the relevant decree\u2014that all military units and formations in the governorates of Hadramawt and Al-Mahra must coordinate with the Coalition leadership in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, return to their main bases and camps without engaging in combat, and hand over all positions to the \u201cNation\u2019s Shield\u201d forces. He renewed his call on Southern Transitional Council forces to accelerate their withdrawal from Hadramawt and Al-Mahra, stressing that the state would confront any rebellion with decisive force.<\/p>\n

Observers said the UAE fully understood that this move was purely Saudi in nature, and that the Kingdom had decided this time to handle the matter through military force rather than diplomacy. Saudi warplanes were dispatched to strike the port of Mukalla\u2014delivering what was described as the first message: that the Kingdom would no longer hide behind militias or diplomatic language when its borders were at stake.<\/p>\n

Following the sound of gunfire and this initial message, a second message was sent: the necessity of Emirati forces withdrawing and halting support for militias, alongside the cancellation of the joint defense agreement between Yemen and the UAE. At that point, Abu Dhabi found no room for maneuver. Neither the denials it had grown accustomed to, nor the evasions it attempted\u2014claiming that the shipment at Mukalla port was not weapons and was not intended for militias but for the Emirati army\u2014proved effective.<\/p>\n

The Coalition swiftly rebutted what it called the UAE\u2019s failed maneuvering, stating: \u201cWe informed the Emiratis, after the two vessels arrived and their cargo was unloaded, to prevent the ships from departing.\u201d It added: \u201cThe remaining containers of weapons are still present at Al-Rayyan Air Base to this day,\u201d and continued: \u201cWe have information that the vehicles were to be distributed in the Hadramawt valley and desert.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UAE thus found itself confronted with clear facts: the Coalition was aware of the vessels, their weapons and combat vehicles, and their intended destinations\u2014part of what was described as an Emirati gamble to provoke Saudi Arabia\u2019s southern borders, perhaps in hopes of extracting concessions or altering the Kingdom\u2019s positions on several issues. Among these was the war in Sudan, where a growing divergence between Saudi and Emirati stances has become evident, alongside the emergence of new alliances that may include Qatar and Turkey in coordination with Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

The Emirati position appeared subdued after absorbing the shock of the Saudi response and its repercussions, including withdrawal from Yemen and the cancellation of the joint defense agreement. These developments, analysts said, push Abu Dhabi back into the circle of Sudanese accusations that it supports the Rapid Support Forces militia, undermines state institutions, and displaces populations. Media outlets were flooded with reports of escalating opposition to what were described as the UAE\u2019s hostile interventions in Yemen, Libya, and Sudan.<\/p>\n

Media activist Mohammed Abu Salim said the UAE is currently going through difficult times, noting that unfolding events strongly reinforce the accusations leveled against it of sponsoring militias and destabilizing states. \u201cThe Kingdom is now the best witness to what the UAE does by exploiting militias,\u201d he said. \u201cI believe the UAE\u2019s expression of anger over the Kingdom\u2019s recent positions\u2014including its visit to Washington and its stance on Sudan\u2014was childish, attempting to pressure Riyadh by igniting its southern borders. This was a naive and reckless act by Abu Dhabi that enraged Riyadh and prompted it to deal with the matter directly and decisively, in a way the UAE knows could extend to include it and its cities. Abu Dhabi is well aware of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman\u2019s mindset.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abu Salim added that Abu Dhabi is closely watching developments around it, and that the Emirati withdrawal should not be interpreted as an understanding with Riyadh. \u201cRiyadh knows very well that Abu Dhabi will not stop unless a different reality is imposed upon it\u2014and that reality is now beginning to take shape,\u201d he said, citing the visit of Qatar\u2019s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to Saudi Arabia and Turkish and Egyptian behind-the-scenes movements. \u201cAll of this points to a new reality that deeply worries Abu Dhabi and is starting to impose its own rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

He concluded: \u201cI do not believe there is any prospect for the continuation of previous understandings, including the so-called quartet. The new reality now taking shape assigns Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman a central role, with the consent and backing of the US administration\u2014an outcome that could have positive implications for the Sudanese crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Report \u2013 Sudan Events Just hours after a statement by the Saudi-led Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen, the United Arab Emirates announced its withdrawal from its headquarters in the country and the redeployment of its forces back to Abu Dhabi. Emirati forces reportedly received immediate orders to pull out of Yemen. Earlier, Yemen\u2019s Presidential …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59464,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59463"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59463\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59465,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59463\/revisions\/59465"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}