David Hearst, editor-in-chief of Middle East Eye, explains why, by standing up to Abu Dhabi, Riyadh is reshaping the Middle East.
Abu Dhabi’s policy of strengthening the Southern Transitional Council (STC) in Yemen to the point where it could declare itself an independent state that recognised Israel was close to becoming a reality.
All the STC needed was to take control of two sparsely populated but geographically vast provinces in the east of the country: al-Mahra and Hadhramaut, which together account for nearly half of Yemen’s territory.
Hadhramaut shares a border with Saudi Arabia, and the appearance of the STC in the provincial capital, Mukalla, marked the wake-up call Riyadh needed.