By Yomna Ehab, Nayera Abdallah and Maha El Dahan
Dec 30 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia said on Tuesday its national security was a red line and backed a call for UAE forces to leave Yemen within 24 hours, shortly after a Saudi-led coalition carried out an airstrike on the southern Yemeni port of Mukalla.
The warning represented Riyadh's strongest language against Abu Dhabi yet, as the coalition struck what it described as foreign military support to UAE-backed southern separatists, and the head of Yemen's
Saudi-backed presidential council set the deadline for Emirati forces to leave.
Saudi Arabia urged the Emiratis to comply with the demand.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are both major players in the OPEC oil exporters' group, and any disagreements between the two could hamper consensus on oil output decisions.
The group is meeting virtually on Sunday.
Yemen's presidential council head, Rashad al-Alimi, also cancelled a defence pact with the UAE, the Yemeni state news agency said, and accused the UAE in a televised speech of fuelling internal strife in Yemen with its support to the Southern Transitional Council (STC).
"Unfortunately, it has been definitively confirmed that the United Arab Emirates pressured and directed the STC to undermine and rebel against the authority of the state through military escalation," he added.
The UAE's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Major stock indexes in the Gulf were trading down on Tuesday after the flare-up in tensions.
OFFENSIVE BROUGHT ALLIES CLOSER TO CONFRONTATION
The UAE was a member of the Saudi-led coalition battling the Iran-aligned Houthi movement in Yemen from 2015. In 2019 it started a drawdown of its troops in the country but remained committed to the Saudi-backed internationally recognised government.
The STC later decided to seek self-rule in the south and this month advanced in a surprise offensive against Saudi-supported Yemeni government troops, bringing the Gulf allies UAE and Saudi Arabia closer than ever to confrontation in Yemen and risking reigniting a long civil war.
The advance broke years of stalemate, with the STC claiming broad control of the south, including the strategically key province of Hadramout. Saudi Arabia had warned the STC against military moves in the eastern border province of Hadramout and sought withdrawal of its forces.
The STC dismissed the Saudi call.
The limited airstrike early on Tuesday followed the weekend arrival of two ships from the UAE port of Fujairah on Saturday and Sunday without its authorisation, the coalition said.
After arriving in Mukalla, the vessels disabled their tracking systems and unloaded large quantities of weapons and combat vehicles to support the STC, it added.
The Saudi state news agency published a video showing a ship it identified as "Greenland" from which it said weapons and combat vehicles were unloaded, adding that it came from the Emirati port of Fujairah.
STRIKE CAUSED NO CASUALTIES, SAUDI STATE MEDIA SAY
The coalition said the Mukalla port strike caused no casualties or collateral damage, according to Saudi state media.
Two sources told Reuters that the strike targeted the dock where the cargo of the two ships was unloaded.
Reuters could not immediately verify what had been struck or the nature or origin of any cargoes that may have been targeted.
Footage on Yemen's state TV showed what it said was black smoke rising from the port in the early morning after the strike, with burned vehicles at the port.
Yemeni presidential council head Alimi imposed a no-fly zone, and a sea and ground blockade on all ports and crossings for 72 hours, except for exemptions authorised by the coalition.
Hadramout borders Saudi Arabia and has cultural and historical ties with it. Many prominent Saudis trace their origins to the area.
Aidarous al-Zubaidi, the head of the STC and the deputy head of the presidential council, said in a joint statement with three other members of the council that the UAE remains a main partner in the fight against the Houthis.
The statement rejected Alimi's orders and said they lacked consensus.
"We categorically affirm that no individual or entity within or outside the leadership council has the authority to remove any country from the Arab Coalition," the statement said.
"This is a matter governed by regional frameworks, alliances, and international agreements that are not subject to whims or individual decisions."
Since 2022 the STC has been part of an alliance that controls southern areas outside Houthi control, under a Saudi-backed power-sharing initiative.
The Houthis control the northern region, including Sanaa, the capital, after forcing the Saudi-backed government to flee south.
"We will continue to prevent any military support from any country to any Yemeni faction without coordination with the legitimate government," the coalition added.
(Reporting by Yomna Ehab, Hatem Maher and Mohammed Ghobari in Cairo; Nayera Abdallah, Ahmed Elimam and Jana Choukeir in Dubai, writing by Maha El Dahan and Nayera Abdallah; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Aidan Lewis)
