UAE Distancing from S. Arabia after Riyadh-Ankara Rapprochement

Sources in the Arab country were quoted by al-Rai al-Youm newspaper as saying that relations between Saudi Arabia and the UAE have darkened in recent months, raising the possibility for Abu Dhabi to withdraw from the anti-Yemen Arab coalition.

They added that Saudi Arabia and the UAE have differences on certain issues, including the war in Yemen and relations with Ikhwan al-Muslimoun (Muslim Brotherhood) group while Riyadh and Ankara are strengthening their ties.

The Arab daily also revealed that an internal stream inside the UAE government is pressuring officials to weaken coalition with Saudi Arabia, seek a way out of the Yemen war and reinvigorate the UAE-Egypt alliance to confront Saudi Arabia and Turkey's rapprochement.

Yildirim arrived in Riyadh on Wednesday and held a meeting with Saudi King Salman and Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman al-Saud.

Saudi Arabia has been striking Yemen since March 2015 to restore power to fugitive president Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh. The Saudi-led aggression has so far killed at least 15,300 Yemenis, including hundreds of women and children.

Despite Riyadh's claims that it is bombing the positions of the Ansarullah fighters, Saudi bombers are flattening residential areas and civilian infrastructures.

According to several reports, the Saudi-led air campaign against Yemen has driven the impoverished country towards humanitarian disaster, as Saudi Arabia's deadly campaign prevented the patients from travelling abroad for treatment and blocked the entry of medicine into the war-torn country.

The cholera outbreak in Yemen which began in April, has also claimed over 2,200 lives and has infected about one million people, as the nation has been suffering from what the World Health Organization (WHO) describes as the “largest epidemic in the world” amid a non-stop bombing campaign led by Saudi Arabia. Also Riyadh's deadly campaign prevented the patients from traveling abroad for treatment and blocked the entry of medicine into the war-torn country.

According to reports, the cholera epidemic in Yemen, which is the subject of a Saudi Arabian war and total embargo, is the largest recorded in modern history.