&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Yemen’s Aden airport air traffic halted amid Saudi-UAE rivalry as rift deepens; passengers stranded")
All flights to and from Yemen’s Aden International Airport were halted on Thursday as the rivalry between the two Gulf powers, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, has been deepening and reshaping war-torn Yemen. Several passengers crowded the terminal at the airport, which is the main international gateway for parts of Yemen outside Houthi control, and kept waiting for any updates on their flights. Later on Thursday, Yemeni sources said flights between Aden and all destinations outside the UAE would resume.
Air traffic was shut down after a row over curbs on flights to the UAE, though there were contradictory accounts.
“We are suffering, and many other patients and elderly people here are waiting in a difficult situation,” said Awadh al-Subaihi, who was waiting for a flight to Cairo for medical treatment.
The UAE backs the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) that seized large parts of southern Yemen from the internationally recognised government last month, but Saudi Arabia, which backs the government, regarded the move as a threat, triggering the biggest crisis between the two Gulf powers in decades.
The situation is complex, as the UAE-backed STC controls the transport ministry in the internationally recognised coalition government, whose main leadership is supported by Saudi Arabia.
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STC-controlled ministry accuses Saudi Arabia of imposing air blockade
The ministry accused Saudi Arabia of imposing an air blockade, saying Riyadh had instituted measures requiring all flights to go via Saudi Arabia for extra checks. Saudi Arabia clarified that the restriction was only on flights between Aden and the UAE.
A Saudi source denied any role in restricting the air traffic and said that the Yemeni government had imposed the requirement on flights between Aden and the UAE in order to curb escalating tensions.
The Saudi source added that the STC-controlled ministry responded by ordering a full shutdown of air traffic rather than complying with the restrictions on flights to and from the UAE.
Saudi Arabia has accused the UAE of pressuring STC to push towards the kingdom’s borders and declared its national security a “red line”, prompting the UAE to say it was pulling its remaining forces out of Yemen.
The Saudi-led coalition forces also launched an airstrike on the southern Yemeni port of Mukalla that the coalition said was a dock used to provide foreign military support to the separatists.
