The rapprochement of Saudi Arabia and Turkey in Yemen; Is this done on the UAE’s account?

Although Turkey’s condemnation of the Yemeni Houthi rocket attacks on Saudi Arabia is nothing new, its recent condemnation of the Houthi attack on an oil facility near the Saudi city of Dammam on Sunday (March 7th) tastes different.

While the previous few statements were limited to condemnation, the last statement was “warmer” because the Turkish Foreign Ministry “expressed strong concern about the attacks that targeted the territory of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” and added.

Turkey yesterday said it would fight alongside Saudi Arabia against Houthi attacks on the Kingdom.

“Turkey stands alongside Saudi Arabia and its people against the Houthi attacks targeting Saudi oil facilities,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry announced in a statement. The ministry also expressed its concern over what it described as “increasing attacks on Saudi Arabian territories,” referring to a recent missile attack by the Houthis on Saudi Aramco Farm in the Dammam province and the petroleum tank farms at the Ras Tanura port in Dhahran, one of the world’s largest oil shipping ports.

The change in tone of the statement appears to be due to an agreement reached between Ankara and Riyadh at the end of last year to improve bilateral relations. Relations between the two countries have been strained since the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as well as historical ideological differences between the two parties and their struggle for influence in the region.

The statement came two days after the Houthis announced the downing of a Turkish-made “spy” plane in Yemeni airspace.

According to Turkish media sources, last year, Saudi Arabia signed a $ 200 million contract with the Turkish defense industry company Vestel, which is part of the joint production of Carial drones. The Reform Party (affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood) may be the link between Turkey and Saudi Arabia in Yemen, as Saudi Arabia cooperates in its conflict with the Houthis with a party that is ideologically close to the Turkish government, and the party in recent battles Participates in the Marb area.

Although the issue of Turkey’s involvement in the Yemeni war with Saudi Arabia is still speculated, among the lack of official sources, if recent Turkish intervention in Libya and the Nagorno-Karabakh region, to which areas of military equipment and Syrian mercenaries depend. The two countries are likely to work together in Yemen.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed last year that Turkish intelligence had hired Syrian mercenaries in northern Syria to send them to fight in Yemen.

According to the observatory’s director, Rami Abdul Rahman, Turkish intelligence agents have set up an operation room in the Syrian city of Afrin to send Turkish-backed Syrian opposition mercenaries to Yemen.

Abdul Rahman added: “Mercenaries who want to go to Yemen will receive $ 500 in advance and then receive a monthly salary of $ 900.”

Convergence at the expense of the UAE?

Yemeni sources close to Turkey spoke late last year about the proximity of Turkey and Saudi Arabia to Yemen, as Yemeni websites quoted Saleh al-Jubwani, a former transport minister in Hadi’s government, as saying that Turkey was close. He spoke of the “imminent alliance between Saudi Arabia and Turkey in Yemen” and said that the new alliance was being formed “with the aim of ending the ambitions of the UAE children” in the region.

Mujtahid also said in a statement that Turkey’s acceptance of Saudi Arabia’s request for aid to Yemen was “conditional on angering the UAE” without the condition being disclosed.

Although Turkey’s condemnation of the Yemeni Houthi rocket attacks on Saudi Arabia is nothing new, its recent condemnation of the Houthi attack on an oil facility near the Saudi city of Dammam on Sunday (March 7th) tastes different on condition that Turkey suspends support for the Muslim Brotherhood, but the agency said the UAE’s actions towards Turkey were “due to tensions,” Bloomberg reported. And the struggle for influence is temporary.

In another report, Bloomberg stressed that the UAE is working to reduce its role in foreign conflicts and to expedite the abandonment of its post-Arab Spring 2011 policies for reasons such as the presence of the new US administration.

The statement called for an “immediate cessation of these attacks,” expressing Turkey’s “best wishes for the kingdom and its people.”

Ankara’s remarks came as part of widespread Arab and international condemnation of the attack, including from the United States and Egypt.

Since March 2015, Riyadh has led an Arab coalition to fight the Houthis, who have captured large swathes of Yemen including the capital Sanaa.