Saudi-UAE Tension: At the beginning of the new year, the long-running war in Yemen has once again taken a sharp turn. In fact, the Saudi-led coalition carried out air strikes on UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council positions. Meanwhile, let us know when Saudi Arabia and UAE have fought each other before and also who among them is more powerful.

History of serious controversies

Although Saudi Arabia and UAE have never fought a large-scale direct war against each other, their relations are not free from conflict. One of the earliest conflicts was the Buraimi dispute, which lasted between 1952 and 1955. It was a regional conflict over the Al Buraimi Oasis involving Saudi Arabia and the Trucial States, then a British protectorate. Later, the Jeddah Treaty of 1974 formally demarcated the borders between Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

yemen crisis

In this conflict, one of the most serious conflicts, both the countries initially fought the Houthi rebels together. Over time their strategic goals diverged. Saudi Arabia supported Yemen’s internationally recognized government, while the UAE supported the Southern Transitional Council, which seeks independence for southern Yemen.

This tension increased considerably between December 2025 and January 2026 when Saudi Arabia allegedly attacked an arms consignment belonging to the UAE at the Mukalla port in Yemen. After this there was a direct clash between Saudi-backed and UAE-backed forces.

power of saudi arabia

If seen from the perspective of traditional power, Saudi Arabia’s influence is quite high. It has more than 2.5 lakh active military personnel. Along with this, it spends approximately 75 billion dollars annually on defence. This empire has advanced fighter jets like F-15 and Eurofighter Typhoon, heavy armored vehicles and missile systems. Along with this, the huge oil reserves and geographical size of this country make it quite big in economic and strategic terms.

UAE’s strength

The UAE army is much smaller. UAE has about 65000 soldiers. But the special thing is that it is considered one of the most professional and technologically advanced armies in this region. Often known as Little Sparta, the UAE has shown operational influence in Yemen, Libya and other foreign interventions.

Economically, UAE exerts more influence than its potential. Its sovereign wealth fund, whose total value is about one and a half trillion dollars, is one of the most diversified funds in the world.

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Amidst the increasing attacks from the border of Afghanistan and the security crisis, Pakistan’s tone has become more poisonous. On Wednesday (15 October 2025), Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said that now it has become difficult to trust the Taliban government of Afghanistan. He claims that the recent decisions of the Taliban government are against the interests of Pakistan and India’s influence is clearly visible in them.

While talking to a Pakistani TV channel, Khawaja Asif said that terrorist attacks from Afghanistan are continuously increasing. According to him, in the last few months, terrorists have carried out several attacks on the border posts of Pakistan, but the Taliban government has not taken any concrete action against them. Pakistan says that it tried several times to talk to Afghanistan through diplomatic channels, but no satisfactory response was received from there.

working at the behest of India

Asif alleged that Taliban is now working at the behest of India. He claimed that Taliban is fighting India’s proxy war against Pakistan. Tension remains between Pakistan and Afghanistan over the presence of cross-border terrorism Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and refugee issues. After Taliban came to power, Pakistan thought that Afghanistan would understand its security concerns, but the opposite happened. TTP has again increased its activity in the tribal areas of Pakistan, due to which Islamabad’s concern has increased further. However, in the current conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan, dozens of people have died from both sides.

What is proxy war?

Proxy war is a war which is not fought directly by any country, but is fought by some other group or country. Simply put, the real fight is someone else’s, but a third party gets the benefit. Pakistan alleges that terrorist activities are increasing on Afghan soil, which is causing losses to them. Let us tell you that proxy war has been used many times in international politics, like during the Cold War, America and the Soviet Union fought wars in other countries through their respective supporters.

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