The masks of the aggression coalition against Yemen are falling at the first real test of interests, as the rival parties enter a phase of open confrontation described as a “bone-breaking” struggle, following years of partnership. In this new phase, contradictions over influence and spoils have erupted, turning competition over strategic ports and international maritime corridors into an overt clash between two sides once united by Zionist-US hegemonic projects, but later divided by calculations of control and division.
As the scope of the conflict expands from the Red Sea coast to the Horn of Africa, Yemen’s occupied governorates are once again being pushed into the role of experimental arenas for settling regional scores through proxy networks and militias, laying bare the true nature and objectives of the aggression.
The Washington Post published a lengthy report titled “After Yemen rift, Saudi Arabia aims to quash UAE’s power in wider region,” stating that the dispute has evolved into a struggle over influence, with each side attempting to dismantle the other’s networks through proxies, bases, and ports.
The newspaper noted that recent clashes in the occupied governorates exposed the depth of rivalry between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, following Saudi intervention against UAE-backed forces. This marked the beginning of a phase of score-settling between two parties competing over geography, decision-making, and Yemen’s strategic wealth through local tools, in service of expansionist Zionist-US projects in the region.
According to the report, the Saudi enemy is moving to cut Emirati influence across the region, accompanied by unusually public and escalatory media rhetoric, while Abu Dhabi is working to preserve a network of influence built through bases, ports, mercenary militias of Yemeni and other nationalities, secret prisons, and alliances extending from Bab al-Mandab to the Gulf of Aden.
In this context, the Saudi-led aggression kingdom has intensified coordination with Egypt and Somalia, while Mogadishu has begun canceling defense agreements with the Emirati enemy. Indicators also point to changes in Emirates Airlines flight routes, underscoring that the conflict has turned into an open confrontation under the supervision, encouragement, and planning of the greater enemy of the nation—the US and the Zionist entity.
The newspaper further pointed to accusations against the Emirati enemy of fueling separatist projects and expanding its influence through military and commercial structures without the approval of the so-called legitimate government based in hotels in Riyadh, Cairo, and Ankara. This pattern, the report said, has been repeated in Yemen, Libya, and Sudan, reflecting a proxy-based influence project rooted in political and economic coercion.
In the same context, the Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat published a report revealing the existence of secret detention facilities at Al-Dhabba Port in Mukalla. The report said the prisons were operated for years outside any legal framework, with allegations of violations, torture, and unmonitored detention, exposing the abuse of Yemen’s sovereignty and the dignity of its people under Emirati occupation and its arms.
The newspaper described the site as containing prisons made of sealed containers and extremely narrow cells, whose walls were covered with pleas for help, prayers, and calls to mothers, alongside traces of blood and signs of torture—scenes documenting the daily terror endured by detainees.
The report also raised major questions about claims of transparency and opening prisons to the media, asking who committed the violations and who will be held accountable, given the long record of abuses carried out under Emirati influence without genuine accountability.
Citing a military source, the report said arbitrary arrests were carried out without evidence, and that those released from such prisons return psychologically shattered, warning that freeing individuals involved in crimes could lead to some becoming double agents, including elements linked to the so-called al-Qaeda organization.
In this regard, writer and political researcher Hassan Alyan stated that what is unfolding between the Saudi and Emirati adversaries is a war of influence fought through proxies, aimed at implementing a broader external agenda that targets the entire nation and the region, under the guise of sharing decision-making and wealth in Yemen.
Speaking to Al-Masirah TV’s Sada Al-Khabar program, Alyan said the situation in the occupied governorates confirms that Emirati occupation has caused security crises and human rights violations, most notably the secret prisons exposed by Saudi and Yemeni reports.
He noted that the Saudi-Emirati rift has been evident since the 2015 aggression, when Riyadh sought allies and Gulf cover, while Abu Dhabi pursued a long-standing ambition to expand its influence by controlling ports and strategic sites in Yemen, acting as a primary agent for the Zionist enemy in the region.
Alyan said the Saudi enemy opened the door for Emirati expansion through bases and ports, only to later speak of the “monster” it created with its own hands inside Yemen and along the Red Sea coast, placing direct responsibility on Riyadh for this expansion.
He added that the Emirati enemy has worked to undermine Saudi stability by mobilizing local forces to seize strategic governorates, encircle the Bin Salman regime from the northeast, and impose a new agenda on the Yemeni scene. This rivalry, he said, is linked to Zionist-US expansion in the region through military bases and economic and cultural cooperation, explaining the current media escalation between the two sides.
Overall, the unfolding developments indicate that the Saudi-Emirati conflict in Yemen exposes the true face of their alliance under a Zionist-US scheme, with their dispute amounting to mutual exposure of occupation crimes inside Yemen. Meanwhile, Yemen’s sovereignty and the dignity of its people remain hostage to external influence projects, as the Yemeni people—fully prepared in the free governorates under the authority of the Government of Yemen in Sana’a—await the zero hour and the leadership’s directives to wage the battle of liberation across all Yemeni territory and cleanse it of the defilement of occupiers, their tools, and their exposed projects.
Source: Almasirah English website
