In brief
In light of escalating tensions between rival Yemeni factions supported by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the Saudi foreign ministry has invited southern Yemeni factions to a dialogue. The UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) has recently declared a 'war' against Saudi-backed forces, which has resulted in military offensives and air strikes in southern Yemen. As both Gulf powers attempt to navigate their differing alliances, the fragile stability within Yemen remains at risk amid ongoing violence and humanitarian crises.
Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry has called for Yemen's southern factions to attend a 'dialogue' in Riyadh, after a dramatic turn of events in the south brought Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates into unprecedented direct confrontation.
Both Gulf powers have intervened on behalf of Yemen's internationally recognised government in the country's long-running civil war, but a fracturing of the alliance has seen them backing different rival groups on the ground.
One of the groups is now pushing to declare the independence of a breakaway state in southern Yemen.
On Friday, the UAE-backed force declared that a 'war' had begun, accusing Saudi-backed ground forces of launching an attack alongside air strikes by the Saudi air force.
The Saudi ministry urged 'a comprehensive conference in Riyadh to bring together all southern factions to discuss just solutions to the southern cause' in a statement on social media. Riyadh said the Yemeni government had issued the invitation for talks.
Yemen's civil war broke out in 2014 and has plunged the already impoverished country into years of deadly violence and one of the world's worst hunger crises.
At the start of the war, the Iran-backed rebel Houthi movement took control of most of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, from the government. The conflict escalated in 2015, when a coalition of Arab states including Saudi Arabia and the UAE launched a military campaign to restore the government's rule.
A ceasefire has de-escalated the conflict with the Houthis in recent years and led to a freezing of the front lines.
But the Saudi-backed ruling coalition - the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), formed in 2022 and designed to unite various anti-Houthi factions - has frayed.
At the same time, the vast majority of southern Yemen has been taken by UAE-backed separatists, the Southern Transitional Council (STC), which is formally part of the coalition.
The infighting escalated on 2 December when the STC launched a large-scale military offensive in the east of the country and rapidly took control of territory from government forces. The STC's advances included the oil-rich Hadramawt province that borders Saudi Arabia.
The STC said the offensive was necessary to 'restore stability' in the south. But it was denounced as a 'rebellion' by the head of the PLC, Rashad al-Alimi.
Following recent air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition that resulted in casualties, sharp criticisms mounted as both the UAE and Saudi Arabia grappled with the ramifications of their conflicting interests in Yemen.
The situation remains highly volatile, with both nations struggling to reconcile their differing objectives while the humanitarian crisis in Yemen continues to escalate.
