The Oil Plateau on the Path of Fire… How Will the UAE Respond to Saudi Arabia?

NYN | Reports and Analyses 

All eyes in Yemen are turning toward the Hadramout desert, where Saudi military movements continue to strengthen its control over the area amid escalating tensions with the UAE.

The new reinforcements deployed by Riyadh in recent hours to the eastern Yemeni desert—stretching from Al-Jawf in the north to Hadramout in the east—have sparked concern among local tribes and political observers.

Southern platforms circulated images showing massive military convoys belonging to the so-called “Shield of the Nation” forces, part of a broad deployment plan across the Empty Quarter desert region, which holds a huge oil reserve. The deployment underscores the strategic importance of controlling these lands.

The Saudi expansion comes after airstrikes carried out two days ago—the first of their kind in the area—amid objections from the Al-Say’ar tribes to the Saudi plan and their insistence on empowering tribal fighters to secure the Yemeni side of the border.

Meanwhile, a Saudi-backed faction known as the “Hadramout Tribal Alliance” is also moving on the ground. The alliance’s supreme leader, Sheikh Amr Ali bin Habreesh Al-Ali, issued a decision appointing Lt. Col. Salem Omar Ahmed BaWazir as head of the Armament Division in the General Command of the Hadramout Protection Forces—an escalation that signals the potential for growing military conflict between competing factions vying for influence over the oil plateau.

Observers believe that Saudi Arabia is proceeding with tightening its grip over decision-making in Hadramout and is seeking to strengthen its military and administrative influence in the region, at a time when competition with the UAE is intensifying over strategic and oil-rich areas of the Hadramout plateau.