Saudi Arabia Accuses UAE of Smuggling Separatist, Forgetting Their Own Yemen Adventure
The Associated Press dutifully reports Saudi Arabia's pique over the UAE allegedly spiriting away a Yemeni separatist leader, Aidarous al-Zubaidi, to Abu Dhabi. The Saudi military statement, attributed to Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki (the same official who often downplays civilian casualties in Yemen), claims al-Zubaidi fled by boat to Somalia before his Emirati airlift. This public spat merely
confirms what was always obvious: the Saudi-Emirati 'coalition' in Yemen was a marriage of convenience, each backing different proxies from the start, often at cross-purposes. The UAE has explicitly supported the Southern Transitional Council (STC) for years, funneling resources and training to them, while Saudi Arabia nominally supported the internationally recognized government it was supposedly
restoring. One might wonder if Saudi Arabia's indignation stems from the UAE's effective operational success in influencing its chosen faction on the ground, a success Riyadh has largely failed to replicate despite its overwhelming airpower advantage. The 'treason' al-Zubaidi is accused of by Saudi Arabia is simply pursuing the STC's long-stated goal of southern independence—a goal the UAE has
tacitly, and often overtly, supported while in 'coalition' with the Saudis. The current theatrical outrage simply highlights the ongoing, brutal fragmentation of Yemen, prolonged by external powers whose primary interest remains geopolitical leverage, not humanitarian relief.