Who Gets the Credit for Yemen’s Latest Battlefield Shift?
The latest military developments around Bab al-Mandab and Mocha have produced competing interpretations across the Gulf. Saudi commentators largely present the operations as a revival of the internationally recognized Yemeni government and the beginning of a broader campaign to change the balance of power against the Houthis. Emirati voices, by contrast, emphasize the battlefield role of the UAE-backed Southern Giants Brigades. Behind the disagreement over credit is a larger debate over the future of Yemen and the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Emirati academic Abdulkhaleq Abdulla places the developments within the wider Saudi-Emirati relationship. His argument is that allies may disagree sharply without ceasing to be allies. He traces the relationship from close coordination between 2015 and 2019 to growing geopolitical and economic competition, particularly in Yemen, Sudan and regional leadership.
