How did Saudi Arabia and the UAE become enemies?
India Today
Once inseparable partners who shaped oil markets and regional politics together, Saudi Arabia and the UAE now compete for ports, gold mines and strategic corridors across Yemen and Sudan.
For more than a decade, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi appeared virtually inseparable. They crushed Islamist movements, dictated oil markets, blockaded Qatar and presented themselves as the ultimate power brokers in the Arabian Peninsula. The two kingdoms were often described as strategic siblings, bound by shared vision, capital and a mutual obsession with stability on their terms.
But alliances in the Middle East rarely break from a single betrayal. They corrode quietly, layer by layer, over conflicting ambitions, proxy wars and competition for resources. And then, one day, the guns point inward.
The rupture between Saudi Arabia and the UAE became visible between 2023 and 2026, moving from subtle disagreements to proxy confrontations, and now, open military actions. Yemen and Sudan have become the arenas where longstanding tactical differences hardened into strategic competition.
Take Yemen first. Once a unified front against jihadist groups, it is now a battlefield of conflicting objectives. Riyadh seeks a unified Yemen under its influence: manageable, stable and friendly to Saudi security interests. Abu Dhabi, however, is pursuing a different vision through its backing of the Southern Transitional Council. For the UAE, Yemen is not just a war; it is a map of economic and strategic corridors. Ports become leverage points. Maritime routes become assets. The Red Sea, the Arabian Sea and the southern Gulf littoral are now under competing influence.
By 2024, Riyadh quietly acknowledged what had long been feared: the UAE was no longer a partner in Yemen. It was reshaping the country's map to suit its own ambitions.
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