Saudi Arabia Invites Yemeni Factions to Dialogue Amid Escalating Tensions

Mon Jan 05 2026 05:08:14 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

In a bid to diffuse escalating tensions, Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry has urged various Yemeni factions to participate in a dialogue in Riyadh as the conflict intensifies in Southern Yemen.

Saudi Arabia has called for a comprehensive dialogue in Riyadh involving Southern Yemeni factions following a significant escalation of violence marked by confrontations between Saudi and UAE-backed forces. The tensions have grown as the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) pushes for independence and accuses Saudi-supported factions of aggression. The situation in Yemen remains dire, with ongoing humanitarian crises exacerbated by the civil war.

Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry has called for Yemen's southern factions to attend a dialogue in Riyadh, after a dramatic turn of events in the south brought Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates into unprecedented direct confrontation.

Both Gulf powers have intervened on behalf of Yemen's internationally recognised government in the country's long-running civil war, but a fracturing of the alliance has seen them backing different rival groups on the ground.

One of the groups is now pushing to declare the independence of a breakaway state in southern Yemen.

On Friday, the UAE-backed force declared that a war had begun, accusing Saudi-backed ground forces of launching an attack alongside air strikes by the Saudi air force.

The Saudi ministry urged a comprehensive conference in Riyadh to bring together all southern factions to discuss just solutions to the southern cause in a statement on social media. Riyadh said the Yemeni government had issued the invitation for talks.

Yemen's civil war broke out in 2014 and has plunged the already impoverished country into years of deadly violence and one of the world's worst hunger crises.

At the start of the war, the Iran-backed rebel Houthi movement took control of most of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, from the government. The conflict escalated in 2015, when a coalition of Arab states including Saudi Arabia and the UAE launched a military campaign to restore the government's rule.

A ceasefire has de-escalated the conflict with the Houthis in recent years and led to a freezing of the front lines.

But the Saudi-backed ruling coalition - the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), formed in 2022 and designed to unite various anti-Houthi factions - has frayed. At the same time, the vast majority of southern Yemen has been taken by UAE-backed separatists, the Southern Transitional Council (STC), which is formally part of the coalition.

The infighting escalated on 2 December, when the STC - which seeks an independent state in the south - launched a large-scale military offensive in the east of the country and rapidly took control of territory from government forces. The STC's advances included the oil-rich Hadramawt province that borders Saudi Arabia.

Tensions have further escalated with air strikes by the Saudi-led coalition. On Friday, seven people were killed in an air strike on an STC military camp in Hadramawt, an STC official said. That followed air strikes on Tuesday on the southern port of Mukalla, where the coalition accused the UAE of delivering two ships loaded with military equipment to the separatists over the weekend.

The UAE foreign ministry denied the allegations, saying the shipment did not contain weapons and that the vehicles were to be used by Emirati forces in the country.

Following Tuesday's strikes, the head of Yemen's Presidential Council said it had cancelled a joint defence treaty with the UAE and ordered all its forces to leave the country within 24 hours. The Saudi foreign ministry backed the call for Emirati forces to leave, accusing the UAE of pressuring the STC to launch the offensive in the east, which has reached Saudi Arabia's borders. The ministry warned that Saudi Arabia's national security was a red line.

The UAE denied it was behind the STC's recent military campaign but, in a move that was unexpected to many, hours later it conceded to the demand and agreed to withdraw its forces from Yemen.

The UAE's motivations in supporting the STC in Yemen are seen as helping it secure access to key sea ports and challenging an Islamist party that sits in the government. But even if the UAE fully removes its physical presence in Yemen, it won't change anything and does not signify a backdown of the STC forces it supports, according to experts.

In the newly contested areas like Hadramawt, the prospect of a wider conflagration of fighting is alarming families. Years of devastating conflict have ravaged Yemen's economy, with millions in dire need of humanitarian assistance. As tensions escalate, the situation for many could become increasingly precarious.

In conclusion, the division between Saudi Arabia and the UAE over support for rival factions in Yemen poses challenges for regional stability, casting doubt on future negotiations among Yemeni factions for peace and security.