ALBAWABA- Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) has cancelled its joint defense agreement with the United Arab Emirates and declared Abu Dhabi a hostile actor, ordering all Emirati forces to withdraw from Yemeni territory within 24 hours, President Rashad Mohammed al-Alimi announced early Tuesday.
Yemen declares 90-day emergency as Saudi airstrikes hit UAE-backed arms shipment at Mukalla portIn a nationally televised address, al-Alimi said the Yemeni state would act “with complete firmness” against any rebellion targeting its legitimate institutions, stressing that protecting civilians and preserving the unity of the military and security apparatus remain top priorities.
He warned that escalating actions by the Southern Transitional Council (STC) in the eastern provinces of Hadhramaut and Al-Mahra, backed by external support, pose a grave threat to national stability.
Al-Alimi said the latest developments come at a critical moment as Yemen faces what he described as a “fateful battle” against the Iran-backed Houthi movement, while enduring one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Opening new internal fronts of conflict, he warned, directly endangers Yemen’s unity, security, and territorial integrity.
The president stated that the government had, over recent years, prioritized restraint, dialogue, and political solutions, making concessions to avoid bloodshed and preserve partnerships within the framework of the transitional phase. However, he said this approach was met with “clear disregard” and attempts to impose realities by force outside constitutional institutions.
Al-Alimi directly accused the UAE of backing the STC’s armed escalation, citing a statement by the Saudi-led coalition’s Joint Forces Command regarding unauthorized shipments of weapons and military equipment unloaded at Mukalla port. He described the shipmentsو intended to supply STC forcesو as a “dangerous escalation” that undermines state authority and violates Yemen’s sovereignty.
He further added that movements by STC-affiliated formations amounted to an “unacceptable rebellion” against legitimate state institutions.
As commander-in-chief, al-Alimi stated that he had issued explicit orders to prevent any military or security deployments outside official command structures, warning that such actions risked triggering internal clashes. Those orders, he said, were ignored.
Addressing claims used to justify the escalation, al-Alimi said the redeployment of National Shield Forces in Wadi Hadhramaut was part of an official, state-approved plan aimed at enhancing security without provoking conflict. Counterterrorism operations, he stressed, are a sovereign state decision and cannot be used as a pretext to impose a fait accompli through armed force.
On the political front, al-Alimi reaffirmed that the southern issue is a just cause central to Yemen’s state project, with guaranteed political, economic, and administrative rights under the transitional framework. He warned, however, against monopolizing representation of the issue or exploiting it for illegitimate ends.
Al-Alimi stressed that while the STC formally operates under the umbrella of the internationally recognized government, continued UAE military support to separatist militias pursuing unilateral agendas has, he said, transformed that relationship into a direct challenge to the Yemeni state and the coalition’s stated objectives.
Notably, the crisis escalated further after Saudi-led coalition airstrikes targeted two vessels loaded with weapons that had sailed from Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates to Mukalla port, destroying ammunition intended for UAE-backed separatist forces.
The strikes underscored an unprecedented confrontation between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, two Gulf allies that jointly engineered the creation of Yemen’s eight-member Presidential Leadership Council in April 8, 2022, as a political umbrella to coordinate their interests and replace former President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
Instead of unifying the anti-Houthi camp, the deepening rift has fractured pro-coalition forces into direct confrontations, further destabilizing Yemen and diverting the coalition from its stated objective of countering the Houthis and limiting Iranian influence, while pushing the country into a new and more dangerous phase of internal conflict.
