The UAE Finds It Isn’t So Easy to Escape Yemen Conflict
A barrage of attacks by Houthi rebels has unsettled the region and shaken Emirati hopes of a return to business as usual.
Escalating conflict.
Photographer: Mohammed Huwais/AFP/Getty Images
When the United Arab Emirates withdrew most of its forces from Yemen in the fall of 2019, its leaders might have been forgiven a degree of self-satisfaction. Of the four Arab nations that intervened in the Yemeni civil war — the others are Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt — only the UAE salvaged some semblance of military pride after four years of fighting.
While the coalition failed to defeat the Iranian-backed Houthi militia that had overthrown the Yemeni government and overrun Sana’a, the capital, the Emiratis prevented the rebels from capturing the south, including the crucial port of Aden.