UAE agrees to resume funding Yemen's anti-Houthi forces as Saudi offers air cover
The Guardian reports the UAE will resume funding Yemeni government forces in the south while Saudi Arabia provides air cover, a potential thaw after the UAE withdrew from Yemen in January.
The United Arab Emirates has agreed to resume funding Yemeni forces fighting the Houthis, in a potential rapprochement with Saudi Arabia as the Iran-aligned group makes gains across the country, according to sources cited by The Guardian on Saturday.
Under the reported agreement, Saudi Arabia would provide air cover for the anti-Houthi forces, including the UAE-trained Giant Brigades, described as among the most effective units in Yemen’s fragmented anti-Houthi coalition. The UAE withdrew from military operations in Yemen in January, cutting off funding for the forces.
Neither government has publicly confirmed the deal, but the reported agreement could signal a thaw between the two Gulf states, whose differences over Yemen’s future have strained their ties.
The report came as the conflict intensified. Yemen’s Houthis fired missiles at the presidential palace complex in Aden on Thursday, killing five people and wounding 16, the Yemeni government said. The Saudi-led coalition said the Houthis had launched 20 attacks on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport this month, killing 17 people and wounding 333.
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