Saudi Arabia attacked Yemen, Mukalla port bombed

(Patria) - Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday that it bombed the port city of Mukalla in Yemen due to, as they stated, a shipment of weapons intended for separatist forces, which arrived at this port from the United Arab Emirates.

The attack indicates a new escalation of tensions between the kingdom and the Southern Transitional Council, which is supported by the UAE. It also further strains relations between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, who have supported opposing sides in the decade-long war in Yemen against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, writes ABC News.

A military statement carried by the state-run Saudi News Agency stated that the attacks were carried out after ships arrived from Fujairah, a port city on the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates.

"Given the danger and escalation posed by these weapons, which threaten security and stability, the Coalition Air Forces conducted a limited military operation this morning, targeting weapons and armored vehicles unloaded from two ships in the port of al-Mukalla," the statement said.

There has been no comment from the United Arab Emirates so far.

The attack followed days after alleged Saudi airstrikes on separatist positions in Yemen's Hadramawt province – and after Washington called for restraint in the rapidly escalating conflict.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stated: "We call for restraint and continued diplomacy, with the aim of achieving a lasting solution".

Saudi Minister of Defense Khalid bin Salman announced on X that the troops of the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) should "peacefully hand over" two regional governorates to the government.

"It is time for reason to prevail at this sensitive moment, by withdrawing from the two provinces peacefully," he wrote.

However, the STC warned on Friday that they were not discouraged by the attacks, which they blame on Saudi Arabia, and which hit their positions, in the latest escalation since they took control of large parts of the provinces of Hadramawt and Mahrah, reports France24.

Since taking control, separatist supporters regularly gather in cities, including Aden, demanding the declaration of independence, with the largest rallies held every Friday.

On Saturday, hundreds of Yemeni tribesmen gathered in Aden to call on STC leaders to declare the independence of South Yemen, according to the separatist-affiliated Aden Independent Channel.

The channel broadcast footage of a large crowd marching and waving the flag of South Yemen's independence, along with the flag of the United Arab Emirates.

A Yemeni military official stated on Friday that about 15,000 Saudi-backed fighters had been deployed near the Saudi border, but they had not been ordered to move towards the territories held by the separatists.

The areas where they are deployed are on the edges of territories seized by the UAE-backed STC in recent weeks.

The government is composed of a number of different groups, including separatists, and is held together by a common opposition to the Iran-backed Houthis.

In 2014, the Houthis ousted the government from Yemen's capital, Sana'a, and established control over most of the country's north.