Yemen’s internationally recognized Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) has abruptly terminated its security and defense agreement with the United Arab Emirates and ordered all UAE military forces to leave the country within 24 hours. The dramatic move on Tuesday followed a Saudi Arabian airstrike targeting an alleged UAE-origin arms shipment destined for Yemeni separatists.

The Council’s leader, Rashad al-Alimi, also declared a state of emergency and imposed a 72-hour closure of all land, sea, and air ports under government control, with exceptions only for crossings authorized by Saudi Arabia. These sweeping measures mark a severe escalation of long-simmering tensions within the Saudi-led coalition that has been fighting the Houthi movement since 2015.

The crisis was triggered by a Saudi military announcement earlier on Tuesday. In a statement carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the coalition said it conducted a “precision strike” in the southern coastal port city of Mukalla, in Hadramawt governorate. The target was described as a shipment that had arrived from Fujairah on the UAE’s eastern coast.

According to the Saudi statement, the vessel’s crew had “disabled tracking devices” and unloaded a “large amount” of weapons and military vehicles intended for the armed forces of the Southern Transitional Council (STC). The STC is a UAE-backed separatist group that is a nominal part of the anti-Houthi coalition but seeks an independent South Yemen, putting it at odds with the Saudi-backed PLC government.

The PLC, headquartered in Aden, holds the UAE directly responsible. By canceling the defense pact and issuing the expulsion order, it has taken its most direct action yet against its erstwhile Emirati ally. The UAE is a key member of the coalition and maintains significant influence and forces in southern Yemen, particularly in areas controlled by the STC.

There has been no immediate public comment from the UAE government on the strike or the PLC’s retaliatory measures. The incident exposes the deep fractures within the anti-Houthi alliance, where rivalries between Saudi and UAE proxies have repeatedly erupted into open conflict, complicating the already devastating nine-year war.