Long-simmering tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates burst dramatically into the open in the last week. The immediate crisis began last month, when Emirati-backed forces in Yemen moved inland from their stronghold in Aden, capturing several Saudi-controlled oil-rich areas with seemingly little resistance. In mid-December, Saudi Arabia launched a fierce counterattack that drove the UAE not only from the captured areas but potentially from all of Yemen.

The confrontation was more than a local scrimmage. Saudi and Emirati media figures launched ferocious propaganda wars. Emiratis blasted Saudi Arabia for supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and bullying a smaller neighbor. Saudis lambasted the UAE as anti-Islamic and pro-Israel and recklessly backing secessionists across the region. The language of mutual recrimination and accusation between longtime allies recalled the worst of what they used to say about Qatar during their joint 2017-21 blockade.

Long-simmering tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates burst dramatically into the open in the last week. The immediate crisis began last month, when Emirati-backed forces in Yemen moved inland from their stronghold in Aden, capturing several Saudi-controlled oil-rich areas with seemingly little resistance. In mid-December, Saudi Arabia launched a fierce counterattack that drove the UAE not only from the captured areas but potentially from all of Yemen.

The confrontation was more than a local scrimmage. Saudi and Emirati media figures launched ferocious propaganda wars. Emiratis blasted Saudi Arabia for supporting........

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