Key facts
- UAE to resume payments to some Yemeni forces fighting Houthis.
- Saudi Arabia to provide air cover for anti-Houthi forces.
- Houthi advances have alarmed rival Gulf state rulers.
- UAE quit operations inside Yemen in January, cutting off funding.
- Two missiles struck Aden airport on Friday.
- Five people were killed and 16 injured in a Houthi attack on a presidential palace in Aden.
The United Arab Emirates has agreed to re-enter the Yemen conflict by resuming payments to some government forces fighting Iran-aligned Houthis in the south, according to sources in Yemen. Saudi Arabia has agreed to provide air cover for the anti-Houthi force. This cooperation agreement is the first tangible sign that the rift between the UAE and Saudi Arabia over Yemen’s future is starting to heal, as Houthi advances have alarmed Gulf state rulers. Saudi Arabia faces daily drone and missile attacks, with Houthi strikes immobilizing its airports and some energy infrastructure. Southern forces, previously trained and funded by the UAE, were regarded as some of the most effective in the anti-Houthi coalition, but the UAE quit operations in Yemen in January, cutting off its funding. Neither Saudi Arabia nor the UAE have responded to a demand by southern Yemen separatists for a referendum on secession. The separatist Southern Transition Council has also not yet agreed for its troops to fight outside the borders of the old Southern Yemen. Yemen’s UN-recognised government declared a counteroffensive to drive Houthi forces from the capital Sana’a, but it has met with limited success. On Friday, two missiles fired by the Houthis struck the airport of Aden while a passenger plane was preparing to take off. The strike came a day after at least five people were killed and 16 injured in a Houthi attack on a presidential palace in Aden. Egypt’s president said he was convening an emergency session of parliament to grant his country’s military powers to take action in defence of Saudi Arabia. Discussions are continuing in the UK about a Saudi request for further military aid. The UN security council on 15 October adopted a UN presidential statement asserting Saudi Arabia’s right to act in self-defence. More than 200,000 people have been displaced in Yemen since August, according to the UN.