UAE, Saudi Arabia deny reports of involvement in talks about land offensive in Yemen

The UAE and Saudi Arabia have denied reports of talks with the U.S. over a potential ground offensive in Yemen, dismissing the claims as false and unsubstantiated amid ongoing tensions with the Iran-aligned Houthi movement.

A senior UAE official strongly rejected the reports, describing them as baseless, while a Saudi source similarly dismissed the claims as false.

The denials follow a Wall Street Journal report earlier this week alleging that Yemeni factions were planning an offensive along the Red Sea coast to capitalize on recent U.S. airstrikes targeting the Houthis. The report also suggested that the UAE had raised this plan with American officials. Bloomberg later reported that anti-Houthi Yemeni forces were engaged in discussions with the U.S. and Gulf allies about a possible ground operation.

Responding to the reports, Lana Nusseibeh, the UAE’s Assistant Minister for Political Affairs, told Reuters, “Among all the wild unsubstantiated stories going around, that one surely wins the misleading-news-of-the-week award, by a wide margin.”

The Pentagon has not yet commented on the matter.

The UAE was a key member of the Saudi-led coalition that launched a military intervention in Yemen in 2015 to support the internationally recognized government against the Houthis, who had taken control of the capital, Sanaa, the previous year. The UAE largely withdrew its forces in 2019, and major hostilities subsided following a truce and peace talks in 2022. Since then, the Houthis have retained control over significant territory and much of Yemen's population.

The Houthi movement, aligned with Iran and staunchly opposed to Israel, began targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea in November 2023, claiming it was in solidarity with Palestinians amid the Gaza conflict. In response, U.S. President Donald Trump escalated airstrikes in March, warning the group of severe consequences if the attacks continued.

Despite years of military pressure, including sustained airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition, the Houthis have maintained their positions on the front lines. The Red Sea coast, the focus of the reported offensive, was previously the site of a major but ultimately unsuccessful attempt by coalition forces to seize the strategic port of Hodeidah from Houthi control.

Coalition efforts in Yemen have long been complicated by internal divisions among Yemeni factions, including Sunni Islamist groups and southern separatists. Analysts note that Saudi Arabia and the UAE backed different factions during the conflict.

Saudi Arabia began scaling back its involvement in Yemen after the 2022 ceasefire, which preceded its broader diplomatic thaw with Iran.

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