The United Arab Emirates said on Tuesday it was pulling its remaining forces out of Yemen after Saudi Arabia backed a call for UAE forces to leave within 24 hours. Hours earlier, Saudi-led coalition forces had attacked the southern Yemeni port of Mukalla.
The airstrike on what Riyadh said was a UAE-linked weapons shipment was the most significant escalation to date in a widening rift between the two Gulf monarchies.
In Washington, the US State Department said Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud about regional security.
Once the twin pillars of regional security, the Gulf heavyweights have seen their interests diverge on everything from oil quotas to geopolitical influence.
The UAE defence ministry said it had voluntarily ended the mission of its counterterrorism units in Yemen, its only forces still there. The ministry said its remaining mission was limited to specialised personnel as part of counterterrorism efforts, in coordination with relevant international partners.
Recent developments had prompted a comprehensive assessment, according to the state news agency WAM.
Saudi Arabia had accused the UAE of pressuring Yemen's separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) to push towards the kingdom's borders.
It was Riyadh's strongest language yet in the falling-out between the neighbours, who have seen their interests there steadily diverge.
The UAE withdrawal of the few forces it had kept in Yemen may ease tensions for now. The real issue remains whether it will keep supporting the STC.
Riyadh has continued, through the coalition it heads, to back Yemen's internationally recognised government. The coalition bombed what it said was a dock used to provide foreign military support to the separatists.
Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen's Saudi-backed presidential council, gave Emirati forces 24 hours to leave.
The UAE said it had been surprised by the airstrike and claimed the shipments in question did not contain weapons.
Alimi said it had been confirmed that the United Arab Emirates directed the STC to rebel against the state through military escalation.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE are both major players in the OPEC oil exporters' group, and any disagreements could hamper consensus on oil output. They and six other OPEC+ members meet online on Sunday to discuss maintaining first-quarter production levels.
The UAE was a member of the Saudi-led coalition battling the Houthi movement from 2015 until it began to draw down its troops in 2019. The STC later decided to seek self-rule in the south and this month launched an offensive against Saudi-supported Yemeni troops.
The advance broke years of stalemate, with the STC defying Saudi warnings to claim broad control of the south.
Tuesday's airstrike followed the weekend arrival of two ships from the UAE port of Fujairah without coalition authorisation.
The Saudi state news agency published a video showing a ship it identified as Greenland, from which it said arms were unloaded. The registered owner and operator of the Greenland is Salem Al Makrani Cargo Company, headquartered in Dubai.
The coalition said the strike caused no casualties or collateral damage, according to Saudi state media. Two sources told Reuters that it targeted the dock where the cargoes were unloaded.
Reuters could not immediately verify what had been hit or the origin of any cargoes that may have been attacked.
Yemeni state TV showed what it said was black smoke rising from the port with burned vehicles. Alimi declared a no-fly zone and a sea and ground blockade on all ports and crossings for 72 hours.
Aidarous al-Zubaidi, head of the STC, said the UAE remained a main partner and rejected Alimi's orders.
(Reporting by Yomna Ehab, Hatem Maher and Mohammed Ghobari in Cairo; Nayera Abdallah, Ahmed Elimam and Jana Choukeir in Dubai and Doina Chiacu in Washington; writing by Maha El Dahan and Nayera Abdallah; Editing by Aidan Lewis, Michael Georgy, William Maclean and Kevin Liffey)
