‘Will not hesitate to neutralise threat’: Saudi warns UAE after striking Yemen port over arms supply
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "‘Will not hesitate to neutralise threat’: Saudi warns UAE after striking Yemen port over arms supply")
A photograph shows damaged military vehicles, reportedly sent by the United Arab Emirates to support Southern Transitional Council (STC) separatist forces, following an air strike carried out by the Saudi-led coalition in the port of Mukalla, southern Yemen, on December 30, 2025. Photograph: (AFP)
Saudi Arabia has alleged that the UAE carried out the movement of ships carrying weapons and armoured vehicles from the port of Al-Fujairah to the port of Al-Mukalla, without obtaining official approvals from the Coalition Joint Forces Command.
Saudi Arabia on Tuesday (Dec 30) said that the UAE’s support for a separatist offensive in Yemen was a threat to the kingdom’s national security and stability in the region, hours after the Riyadh-led coalition launched strikes against an arms shipment from the UAE at a port in Yemen. In a statement issued by the foreign ministry of the Kingdom, Riyadh said that the actions of the UAE are “extremely dangerous”. Saudi Arabia also called for the withdrawal of UAE forces from Yemen within 24 hours.
The UAE’s actions in Yemen “constitute a threat to the Kingdom’s national security, as well as to security and stability in the Republic of Yemen and the region,” read the statement. It added that the “steps taken by the sisterly state of the United Arab Emirates are extremely dangerous.”
“The Kingdom stresses the importance of the sisterly state of the United Arab Emirates responding to the Republic of Yemen's request for the withdrawal of its military forces from the Republic of Yemen within 24 hours, and for the cessation of any military or financial support to any party inside Yemen,” the foreign ministry said.
Saudi Arabia has alleged that the UAE carried out the movement of ships carrying weapons and armoured vehicles from the port of Al-Fujairah to the port of Al-Mukalla, without obtaining official approvals from the Coalition Joint Forces Command.
“The steps taken by the UAE are considered highly dangerous, inconsistent with the principles upon which the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen was established, and do not serve the coalition’s purpose of achieving security and stability for Yemen,” the statement added. “In this context, the Kingdom stresses that any threat to its national security is a red line, and the Kingdom will not hesitate to take all necessary steps and measures to confront and neutralise any such threat.”
Saudi-led coalition strikes on Yemen port
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Earlier on Tuesday, the coalition targeted two ships carrying “a large quantity of weapons and combat vehicles to support the Southern Transitional Council forces,” the Saudi state news agency SPA reported.
“Given the danger and escalation posed by these weapons... the Coalition air forces carried out a limited military operation this morning targeting weapons and combat vehicles that had been unloaded from the two ships at the port of al-Mukalla,” it said.
The ships sailed from Fujairah, an eastern port of the UAE, SPA reported. The operation was carried out in accordance with international humanitarian law, adding that there was no collateral damage in the attack.
Meanwhile, Yemen has declared a state of emergency as separatist conflict rages in the country. The UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC), which seeks an independent state of South Yemen, has swept through swathes of the country in recent weeks, expelling other government forces and their allies.
