Yemen's Aden airport shuts over deepening Saudi-UAE tensions

Flights at Yemen’s Aden International Airport were suspended on January 1, underscoring an escalating dispute between Gulf powers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates that is increasingly shaping the conflict in war-ravaged Yemen.

At the airport, the primary international gateway for areas outside Houthi control, passengers filled the terminal as they awaited information on delayed or cancelled flights, Caliber.Az reports, citing Reuters.

Air traffic was halted amid a dispute over restrictions on flights to the UAE, although accounts differed over the precise circumstances and responsibility for the shutdown.

The UAE supports the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC), which last month seized large areas of southern Yemen from the internationally recognised government.

Saudi Arabia, a key backer of that government, viewed the STC’s advance as a direct threat, sparking the most serious crisis between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi in decades.

The UAE-backed STC holds influence over the transport ministry within the internationally recognised coalition government, whose senior leadership is supported by Saudi Arabia.

In a statement, the ministry accused Saudi Arabia of enforcing an air blockade, claiming Riyadh had introduced measures requiring all flights to undergo additional checks via Saudi territory.

The dispute marks the latest development in a deepening crisis in Yemen that has laid bare a widening rift between the two Gulf oil powers.

Earlier this week, Saudi Arabia accused the UAE of pressuring the STC to advance toward the kingdom’s borders and described its national security as a “red line,” prompting the UAE to announce it would withdraw its remaining forces from Yemen.

The tensions followed a Saudi-led coalition airstrike on the southern Yemeni port of Mukalla on December 30, 2025, which the coalition said targeted a dock used to supply foreign military support to the separatists.

By Jeyhun Aghazada