Saudi Arabia has launched an air strike on a Yemeni port, targeting what it said were shipments of weapons and combat vehicles from the United Arab Emirates destined for southern separatist forces.
The attack — Saudi Arabia’s second strike on Yemen in five days — hit sites in the port city of Mukalla and is a dramatic escalation of tensions between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi over the conflict in the war-torn Arab state.
The kingdom for the first time directly blamed the UAE for backing an offensive by the Southern Transitional Council, a southern Yemeni separatist group that triggered a crisis this month by seizing control of two strategic provinces, Hadhramaut and al-Mahra.