Saudi Arabia has publicly accused the United Arab Emirates – a fellow Gulf Arab state and former partner in the Yemen war – of undermining its national security, an unusually blunt charge that exposes a rift long kept behind closed doors.
The language is among the sharpest Riyadh has used against its ally and reflects growing Saudi unease with the UAE’s increasingly independent foreign policy, tensions that last week culminated in Saudi strikes on a UAE-linked shipment in Yemen.
CNN has learned that Riyadh is particularly concerned about the UAE’s role in Yemen, which shares a long border with Saudi Arabia, and in Sudan, which lies across the Red Sea from the kingdom’s west coast. Saudi officials worry that instability or state collapse in either country could have grave consequences for its own national security.
Those concerns extend beyond Yemen and Sudan. Riyadh is also wary of the UAE’s policies in the Horn of Africa and in Syria, where it believes Abu Dhabi has cultivated ties with elements of the Druze community, some of whose leaders have openly discussed secession.
A UAE official told CNN that the country’s foreign policy prioritizes international cooperation and long-term prosperity, framing it as part of a broader commitment to “responsible leadership” and “enduring progress.”
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