UAE agrees to resume funding Yemen's Giants Brigades as Saudi Arabia offers air cover amid Houthi advances

The United Arab Emirates has agreed to re-enter Yemen’s conflict by resuming payments to southern Yemeni forces fighting the Iran-aligned Houthis, while Saudi Arabia has agreed to provide air cover, according to sources in Yemen quoted by The Guardian on Saturday (Newsmax).

The arrangement is the first tangible sign that the deep rift between the two Gulf states over Yemen’s future is starting to heal — driven by alarm at accelerating Houthi advances (The Business Standard).

At the centre of the deal are the Giants Brigades, previously trained and funded by the UAE and regarded as among the most effective units in the disjointed anti-Houthi coalition. That support ended when the UAE quit operations inside Yemen in January and cut off funding (SarBangla).

The deal comes as Saudi Arabia faces daily drone and missile attacks, with Houthi strikes immobilising airports and energy infrastructure. On Friday, two Houthi missiles struck Aden airport while a Yemenia Airways passenger aircraft was preparing to depart — landing about 500 metres from the plane and 100 metres from the runway’s midpoint, with no casualties — a day after a strike on the presidential palace in Aden killed at least five people and injured 16, according to Yemeni information minister Moammar al-Eryani (Newsmax). Houthi forces have also besieged Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city (SBS).

The separatist Southern Transitional Council’s demand this week for a secession referendum remains unresolved (News89).