ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia launched a precise airstrike on December 30, 2025,targeting a shipment of military vehicles and equipment at Yemen’s Mukallaport, which Riyadh publicly attributed to the United Arab Emirates andalleged was destined for UAE-backed southern separatists. Thisunprecedented public naming of the UAE by Saudi authorities, accompanied bydetailed documentation including videos of unloading operations,effectively stripped away layers of deniability in what has been a covertlogistical network supporting the Southern Transitional Council.
The operation marked a significant escalation in the longstanding riftbetween the two Gulf allies, who once coordinated closely in the Yemenconflict but have increasingly pursued divergent interests. Saudi officialsdescribed the shipment, arriving from Fujairah port aboard two vessels, ascontaining over 80 armored vehicles and ammunition, posing an imminentthreat to regional stability and Riyadh’s national security interests inbordering provinces.
By releasing footage broadcast on state television showing the unloadingprocess and subsequent strike, the Saudi-led coalition demonstratedmeticulous tracking of maritime routes and material transfers. Coalitionspokesman Major-General Turki al-Maliki emphasised that the action wastaken at the request of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council,highlighting coordinated attribution that correlated temporal, material,and logistical data points to directly implicate Emirati involvement.
The UAE swiftly denied the allegations, stating the vehicles were intendedsolely for its remaining counterterrorism units in Yemen and not for anylocal factions. Abu Dhabi expressed surprise at the strike, claiming priorknowledge by the coalition, and announced the voluntary withdrawal of itsforces, effectively ending its limited military presence in the countryamid the deepening crisis.
This episode distinguishes itself through Saudi Arabia’s strategic shifttoward informational and diplomatic domains. Rather than relying solely onkinetic force, Riyadh employed public exposure to challenge the ambiguitythat has characterised gray-zone operations in Yemen, where proxy supportoften evades direct accountability through plausible deniability.
Analysts note that the strike followed recent advances by the SouthernTransitional Council, which seized control of key eastern provincesincluding Hadramout, bordering Saudi Arabia. These moves, perceived asencroaching on Riyadh’s sphere of influence, prompted warnings and priorlimited airstrikes, underscoring the redefinition of engagement rules inthe fragmented Yemeni theatre.
The public attribution signals a message beyond the immediate destruction:exposed covert networks become liabilities, constraining future operationsreliant on obscurity. By targeting the credibility of deniability itself,Saudi Arabia has introduced non-kinetic countermeasures as equally decisivetools in regional power dynamics.
The fallout saw Yemen’s Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Councildeclare a state of emergency, impose temporary blockades, and demand UAEwithdrawal within 24 hours, actions Riyadh endorsed while calling for anend to external support for separatist groups.
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International reactions included calls for restraint from the UnitedStates, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussing the tensions withSaudi counterparts, reflecting concerns over stability in the strategic RedSea corridor amid ongoing Houthi threats.
This development potentially reshapes risk calculations for regionalactors, as overt signalling and documentation elevate escalation thresholdsin proxy conflicts, moving confrontations from battlefields to legal andinformational arenas with broader diplomatic repercussions.
Source:https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/saudi-led-coalition-yemen-calls-civilians-mukalla-port-evacuate-saudi-state-news-2025-12-30/
Tags: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Southern TransitionalCouncil
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