Yemen’s anti‑Houthi forces declared a state of emergency Tuesday and imposed a 72‑hour ban on border crossings, airports and seaports in areas they control after Saudi Arabia carried out airstrikes targeting what Riyadh said was a weapons shipment bound for separatist forces backed by the United Arab Emirates.
The strikes hit the port city of Mukalla, where Saudi jets targeted armored vehicles and weapons allegedly offloaded from ships that arrived from the UAE. Saudi officials said the shipment was intended for the UAE‑aligned Southern Transitional Council, a powerful separatist faction in Yemen’s long‑running conflict.
Saudi-led airstrikes on the port city of Mukalla, Yemen
Yemen’s separatist authorities said they were banning all border crossings in territory under their control as well as access to airports and seaports except those authorized by Saudi authorities. The emergency declaration reflected growing tensions between Riyadh and its former partner Abu Dhabi over the conflict.
The Saudi‑backed head of Yemen’s presidential council, Rashad al‑Alimi, also issued a statement Tuesday ordering all UAE forces in Yemen to leave within 24 hours.
A military statement carried by the state‑run Saudi Press Agency said the strikes followed the arrival of vessels, including one identified by analysts as the Greenland, at Mukalla, which allegedly unloaded weapons and combat vehicles.
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A fighter of the UAE-trained Security Belt Force, dominated by members of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) which seeks independence for south Yemen, poses with an AK-47 assault rifle and the southern separatist flag (the old flag of South Yemen), while standing in the back of a pickup truck in the Khor Maksar district of the second city of Aden on August 29, 2019
(Photo: Nabil HASAN / AFP)
"The ships' crew had the disabled tracking devices aboard the vessels, and unloaded a large amount of weapons and combat vehicles in support of the Southern Transitional Council's forces," it said. "Considering that the aforementioned weapons constitute an imminent threat, and an escalation that threatens peace and stability, the Coalition Air Force has conducted this morning a limited airstrike that targeted weapons and military vehicles offloaded from the two vessels in Mukalla," it added.
It was not immediately clear whether there were casualties in the Mukalla strikes or if any forces beyond Saudi Arabia took part. The Saudi military said the attack was timed to minimize collateral damage. The Southern Transitional Council’s AIC satellite news channel acknowledged the strikes without offering details.
Mukalla is in Yemen’s Hadramout province, which the Southern Transitional Council has seized in recent days. The city lies about 300 miles (480 kilometers) northeast of Aden, the temporary seat of Yemen’s internationally recognized government after Houthi rebels took over the capital, Sanaa, in 2014.
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Supporters of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), a coalition of separatist groups seeking to restore the state of South Yemen, hold South Yemen flags during a rally, in Aden, Yemen, Dec. 25, 2025. Arabic reads, 'announcement of South Arab state'
(Photo: AP Photo)
The port assault marks a fresh escalation in frictions between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, two Gulf powers whose relationship has been strained by competing interests in Yemen and beyond. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have backed different factions in the decade‑long war against Iran‑aligned Houthi rebels and have also supported opposing sides in the conflict in Sudan.
The Saudi action in Mukalla came days after Riyadh carried out airstrikes against Southern Transitional Council positions, which analysts described as warnings aimed at curbing the separatists’ advances into the eastern provinces of Hadramout and Mahra. Separatist forces had pushed out units aligned with Yemen’s Saudi‑backed National Shield Forces, further complicating the coalition dynamics.
The Southern Transitional Council has increasingly flown the flag of the former South Yemen — an independent state from 1967 to 1990 — and its recent advances have sparked rallies supporting secession, according to social media footage and local reports.
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People hold a banner with images of the President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia during a rally organised by Yemen's main separatist group, the Southern Transitional Council (STC), in Aden, Yemen December 21, 2025
(Photo: REUTERS/Fawaz Salman)
Analyst Mohammed al‑Basha, founder of risk advisory firm the Basha Report, said the Saudi strikes could curb future arms flows from the UAE to the Southern Transitional Council, especially as Saudi Arabia controls Yemen’s airspace. He predicted a “calibrated escalation” as both sides adjust to the new confrontation.
This breaking development comes amid wider regional tensions. In a separate diplomatic move, Israel over the weekend recognized the independent status of Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland — the first such recognition in over three decades — drawing threats from Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who have vowed to attack any Israeli presence there.