UAE says it will withdraw from Yemen
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 30 December 2025
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Supporters of southern Yemen's separatist movement have taken to the streets in Aden to protest at an ultimatum delivered by Saudi Arabia to the group's main backer, the United Arab Emirates. The UAE said on Tuesday it would abide by a Saudi demand to end its military involvement in Yemen. Riyadh has been angered by separatist advances towards the Saudi border. Overnight on Monday, a Saudi-led strike force attacked a port in southern Yemen, where Riyadh said two UAE ships had docked with weapons for the separatists. The UAE has denied this.
Also in the programme: Another day of street protests in Iran as inflation soars and the currency tanks - how will the government respond? And after 400 years, Denmark’s national postal service has delivered letters for the last time.
(Photo: The UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) seeks independence for southern Yemen. Credit: Photo by Najeeb Mohamed/EPA/Shutterstock)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:08.8 | Hello and welcome to NewsHour live from the BBC World Service in London. |
| 0:13.9 | I'm Rebecca Kesby. |
| 0:15.7 | Is Yemen on the brink of a new escalation in its 12-year civil war and could the country divide into two separate states? |
| 0:25.5 | Today, a row between the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia has erupted. |
| 0:30.6 | The two countries are former allies in the military campaign against the Iran-backed Houthi movement in the north of Yemen, |
| 0:37.9 | but differences between them have been increasing and not just in Yemen but across the region. |
| 0:43.4 | Each supports rival factions in the south of Yemen. |
| 0:47.1 | Saudi Arabia supports the internationally recognised government that was largely ousted in 2014. |
| 0:53.2 | The UAE backs the Southern Transitional Council, |
| 0:56.8 | or STC, which has nominally been part of the government, but which argues for separate southern |
| 1:03.1 | state of Yemen. In recent weeks, tensions and violence has broken out between the internationally |
| 1:09.3 | recognised government and the STC. |
| 1:11.4 | Then on Monday night, Saudi Arabia conducted air strikes on the southern Yemeni port of Makala, |
| 1:17.7 | saying it was targeting ships taking UAE weapons and munitions to STC separatist fighters. |
| 1:24.6 | This man, Abdullah, witnessed the bombing. |
| 1:30.3 | What happened today is unacceptable to God or his messenger. At around 3.30 or 4 in the morning, they |
| 1:36.3 | bombed the port. Our windows were shattered, the doors were broken, the children were terrified, |
| 1:41.5 | and the women frightened. Well, Saudi Arabia has demanded a full withdrawal of all UAE military operations in Yemen. |
| 1:50.0 | And the government of the United Arab Emirates has agreed to that. |
| 1:53.3 | But following the airstrikes, some took to the streets of the southern city of Aden, |
| 1:58.0 | demanding a separate South Yemen state. |
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