UAE Accused of Secretly Helping Houthis Target Saudi-Backed Forces in Yemen

For more than a decade, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were supposed to be fighting on the same side in Yemen.

When the Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015, its objective appeared relatively straightforward: reverse the Houthi takeover of Sana’a, restore the internationally recognised Yemeni government and prevent an Iran-aligned movement from consolidating power on the Arabian Peninsula.

Eleven years later, that coalition has fractured, the Houthis remain a formidable military force, and a remarkable new allegation suggests that one former coalition partner may now be quietly helping the enemy it once fought.

An investigation published by Drop Site News on October 27 alleges that UAE-aligned Yemeni forces have supplied targeting assistance to the Houthis, officially known as Ansarallah, in their fight against forces backed by Saudi Arabia. More significantly, two sources cited by the outlet alleged that the UAE itself had directly passed intelligence to the Houthis for operations against Saudi-backed forces inside Yemen.

The claims have not been independently verified, and a senior Houthi official has denied receiving Emirati assistance. But if substantiated, they would represent an extraordinary development in a war already defined by shifting alliances.

From Partners to Rivals

Saudi Arabia and the UAE entered Yemen together, but they never had exactly the same vision for what should emerge from the conflict.

Riyadh has generally supported Yemen’s internationally recognised government and sought a political order capable of securing Saudi Arabia’s long southern border.

Abu Dhabi developed close relationships with powerful forces in southern Yemen, including separatists who sought to restore an independent South Yemen.

Those competing priorities gradually transformed what began as a coalition into a complicated struggle for influence.

The disagreement became particularly serious as Saudi-backed and UAE-aligned Yemeni factions competed over territory and political authority in the south. By 2026, the Saudi-Emirati dispute over Yemen had become sufficiently serious that regional diplomacy was focused partly on repairing relations between the two Gulf powers.

That rivalry provides the crucial context for the latest allegations.

What Is the UAE Accused of Doing?

Drop Site's investigation cites four sources with knowledge of the alleged arrangement.

According to the report, UAE-aligned Yemeni forces provided targeting assistance to the Houthis while Abu Dhabi tolerated the activity. Two sources went further, alleging that Emirati authorities directly supplied intelligence that could help the Houthis attack Saudi-backed Yemeni forces.

One Yemeni source familiar with the alleged backchannel told the outlet that communication between the two sides remained open.

Yemen Monitor, reporting on the allegations, said the purported cooperation included information used to identify military targets and communications between Houthi authorities and military commanders aligned with the UAE.

The distinction here is important.

The allegation is not that the UAE is helping the Houthis launch missiles at Riyadh or attack Saudi territory.

Sources cited in the reports specifically said the alleged assistance was restricted to operations against Saudi-backed forces inside Yemen and did not include targeting support for attacks inside Saudi Arabia.

That makes the alleged arrangement less straightforward than an Emirati alliance with the Houthis.

Instead, it would suggest something more transactional: two adversaries temporarily finding common ground against another competitor.

The Houthis Deny It

There are significant reasons to treat the allegations cautiously.

Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a senior Houthi official, denied receiving UAE assistance. He told Drop Site that Abu Dhabi had provided no support to the Houthis against either Saudi Arabia or Saudi-backed Yemeni forces.

An official associated with the southern separatist movement also rejected claims that it maintained channels with the Houthis.

Perhaps more importantly, there has yet to be public confirmation of the alleged intelligence relationship from Washington, Riyadh or Abu Dhabi.

Drop Site reported that a senior American official had warned the UAE that Washington knew about the alleged assistance and wanted it stopped. But the White House did not confirm that account, according to the reporting.

The central allegation therefore remains just that: an allegation based largely on anonymous sources rather than a publicly documented intelligence assessment.

An Even Stranger Contradiction

What makes the story particularly intriguing is that the UAE appears simultaneously to be moving back toward supporting forces fighting the Houthis.

On October 17, The Guardian reported that Abu Dhabi had agreed to resume financial support for southern Yemeni forces fighting the Houthis, with Saudi Arabia providing air support.

The arrangement reportedly included UAE-trained forces such as the Giants Brigades and was interpreted as an attempt by Riyadh and Abu Dhabi to cooperate again following significant Houthi battlefield gains.

Taken together, the two reports appear contradictory.

On one side, the UAE is reportedly financing forces expected to resist Houthi expansion.

On the other, it is accused of allowing UAE-aligned commanders — and possibly Emirati intelligence itself — to help the Houthis target Saudi-backed rivals.

But in Yemen's fragmented political landscape, both could conceivably happen at the same time.

The UAE's interests are not necessarily defined simply by whether a faction is “pro-Houthi” or “anti-Houthi.” Abu Dhabi has its own relationships, territorial interests and preferred political order in southern Yemen. Saudi Arabia has its own.

That means the identity of the enemy can depend on where the battle is being fought and who stands to control the territory afterward.

Yemen Has Become a Competition Within a Competition

This is what makes Yemen increasingly difficult to understand through the old framework of a Saudi-Iranian proxy war.

Iran remains the Houthis' principal external partner. Saudi Arabia remains deeply opposed to Houthi military dominance. And the UAE has spent years supporting forces that have fought the Houthis.

But another struggle has developed underneath that conflict: a competition among nominal allies over who will shape Yemen if the war ever ends.

For Saudi Arabia, the overriding concern is security. A powerful Houthi state capable of firing missiles and drones across the border represents a direct strategic threat.

For the UAE, southern Yemen also matters because of geography.

Aden, the Gulf of Aden, Yemen's southern coastline and the approaches to the Bab al-Mandab sit alongside one of the world's most strategically important maritime corridors. Influence over southern Yemen therefore carries significance far beyond Yemen itself.

That helps explain why Abu Dhabi invested so heavily in relationships with southern forces rather than simply following Riyadh's political strategy.

The Houthis Benefit From Their Enemies' Divisions

Whatever ultimately emerges about the alleged intelligence sharing, one consequence of the Saudi-UAE rivalry is already visible.

The Houthis have benefited from fragmentation among their opponents.

Saudi Arabia entered the war with vastly greater conventional military resources. Yet more than a decade later, the Houthis remain entrenched and capable of threatening both Yemeni territory and Saudi infrastructure.

One reason is that the anti-Houthi camp has never functioned as a single political or military force. Saudi-backed government units, southern separatists, tribal formations and UAE-supported forces have repeatedly pursued competing objectives.

Recent Houthi advances have made those divisions even more consequential. In September, the movement pushed toward the strategically vital Bab al-Mandab area, adding urgency to efforts to rebuild cooperation among its opponents.

The latest allegations suggest those divisions could run considerably deeper than previously understood.

A Gulf Alliance That Is Becoming Harder to Read

Saudi Arabia and the UAE remain important regional partners. They share economic ties, security interests and concerns about Iranian influence.

But partnership does not mean identical interests.

From Yemen to regional commerce and geopolitical influence, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi increasingly operate as ambitious powers pursuing their own strategies.

Yemen may simply be where those differences are most difficult to hide.

If the allegations of Emirati intelligence assistance to the Houthis are eventually substantiated, the significance would extend well beyond a covert exchange of information.

It would demonstrate that Yemen's war has entered a phase in which the alliances created in 2015 can no longer reliably explain who is helping whom.

For now, the evidence does not justify saying that “the UAE has joined the Houthis.”

What can be said is more precise — and perhaps more consequential.

A new investigative report alleges that UAE-linked forces, and possibly the Emirati state itself, have provided intelligence to the Houthis against Saudi-backed forces inside Yemen. The Houthis deny it, the allegation remains independently unverified, and Abu Dhabi is simultaneously reported to be renewing support for forces fighting Houthi expansion.

In Yemen, yesterday's ally can become today's competitor without necessarily becoming tomorrow's enemy.

And increasingly, the war is not simply about who defeats the Houthis.

It is about who gets to shape Yemen when the fighting finally stops.

Card summary: A new investigation alleges that the UAE secretly provided intelligence to Yemen's Houthis against Saudi-backed forces, exposing the widening strategic divide between Abu Dhabi and Riyadh. The claims remain unverified and have been denied by a senior Houthi official.