Saudi Arabia bombs Yemen’s Mukalla Port over weapons shipment

Saudi Arabia bombed the port city of Mukalla in Yemen on Tuesday. A military statement carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency announced that the airstrikes were launched after ships arrived there from Fujairah, a port city on the UAE’s eastern coast. The statement said weapons unloaded from the ships posed a threat to security and stability, prompting the operation to destroy them. The attack signals a new escalation in tensions between the kingdom and the Southern Transitional Council. Saudi ‍Arabia said its national security ⁠is a “​red line” ‍it will defend hours after a coalition it leads attacked vehicles and cargo in Yemen that it said were supplied by a foreign military to separatists in the south. The coalition’s “limited military operation” at Mukalla port came days after it warned the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) group against taking military action in Hadramout province.

BREAKING: Saudi Arabia bombs Yemen’s Mukalla port city over shipment of weapons from UAE — reports pic.twitter.com/nax6I6LKEu

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Meanwhile, Yemen’s anti-Houthi forces have declared a state of emergency following the air strikes.Yemen’s Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) named the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the country that supplied the assistance to the STC that was targeted in Tuesday’s air strikes.Head of PLC, Rashad ⁠al-Alimi, ​said after the air strikes all forces from the UAE must leave Yemen within 24 hours. Saudi Arabia said it hopes the UAE will respond to the demand, adding it’s committed to the “security, stability, and sovereignty of Yemen”.  The demand, issued by the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, followed a “limited military operation” by coalition aircraft to destroy equipment offloaded at the port of Al-Mukalla. The ministry expressed “disappointment” with its Gulf ally, accusing Abu Dhabi of pressuring Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces to conduct military operations along the Saudi border in Hadramout and Al-Mahara.

The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement it “categorically rejects any attempt to implicate it in the tensions between Yemeni parties and condemns the allegations of pressuring or directing any Yemeni party to carry out military operations that threaten the security of the sisterly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or target its borders”.Dealing with the recent developments “must be done responsibly and in a manner that prevents escalation”, it added.