Sawt Falasteen - UAE to pull forces out of Yemen as 24-hour deadline set

The United Arab Emirates' defence ministry said it was withdrawing "counter-terrorism teams... of its own volition". Abu Dhabi had denied being behind the separatists' advance.

Earlier, Yemen's presidential council and Saudi Arabia, the UAE's rival powerbroker in the Arabian Peninsula's poorest country, both demanded Emirati troops pull out.

Before dawn, the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Huthi rebels had struck an Emirati shipment at Mukalla port, saying it was carrying weapons for the separatists, a claim the UAE denied.

AFP footage of the port showed dozens of parked military vehicles and pick-ups, several of which were burnt out and smouldering as workers hosed them down.

Tuesday's rapid-fire events come after forces from the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) marched across resource-rich Hadramawt and Mahra provinces this month, bringing fresh upheaval after a decade-long civil war.

The advance has raised the spectre of the return of South Yemen, a separate state from 1967 to 1990, while dealing a hammer-blow to slow-moving peace negotiations with Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

Emirati troops arrived in Yemen as part of the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis, who had forced the government from the capital Sanaa in 2014 and seized much of the country.

The UAE pulled out most of its forces in 2019, leaving only a limited number in the government-run south where a patchwork of militias hold sway.

- 'Unreasonable' -

Its final withdrawal follows a rare public dispute with Riyadh, which accused Abu Dhabi of pressuring STC forces "to conduct military operations" on Saudi Arabia's southern border.

"The steps taken by the UAE are considered highly dangerous," a foreign ministry statement said, adding: "The Kingdom stresses that any threat to its national security is a red line."

Also on Tuesday, the leader of Yemen's presidential council dissolved a defence pact with the UAE and declared a 90-day state of emergency.

Abu Dhabi denied being behind the separatist advance and insisted the shipment targeted at Mukalla contained only vehicles destined for its own forces.

The UAE "condemns the claims made regarding the exertion of pressure or direction on any Yemeni party to carry out military operations", a statement said.

It added: "The shipment in question did not contain any weapons, and the vehicles unloaded were not intended for any Yemeni party."

Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia expressed a willingness to engage in dialogue.

"Diplomacy is still an option to stop any further escalation," a source close to the Saudi military coalition told AFP.

However, the STC remained defiant, insisting there was "no thinking about withdrawal" from its newly seized positions.

"It is unreasonable for the landowner to be asked to leave his own land. The situation requires staying and reinforcing," STC spokesman Anwar Al-Tamimi told AFP.

- 'Unacceptable to God' -

"We are in a defensive position, and any movement toward our forces will be responded to by our forces," he added.

Tamimi said Saudi Arabia had moved around 20,000 security forces along its border with Hadramawt, adjacent to positions held by the STC.

The STC is also a key member of the government -- a fractious alliance held together by its opposition to the Houthis.

Mukalla resident Abdullah Bazuhair, whose home overlooks the port, showed AFP the damage to his property, with windows blasted clear out of the walls and glass strewn across the floor.

"The children were terrified and the women frightened," he said, calling the strikes "unacceptable to God".

The Saudi-led coalition had warned that it would back Yemen's government in any military confrontation with separatist forces, and urged them to withdraw.

Tuesday's strike came days after reported Saudi air raids on separatist positions in resource-rich Hadramawt last week.

A Yemeni military official said on Friday that around 15,000 Saudi-backed fighters were massed near the Saudi border but had not been given orders to advance on separatist-held territory.

burs/ds/th/lg

C.AbuSway--SF-PST