The Fracturing Gulf Coalition: How Western-Backed Rivalries Prolong Yemen's Suffering
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- 3 min read
The Context of Conflict
Yemen has endured nearly a decade of brutal conflict that has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, with thousands dead and millions facing starvation. The recent diplomatic moves by Oman’s Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr al-Busaidi meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Prince Faisal bin Farhan in Riyadh represent a critical moment in this prolonged tragedy. This meeting followed a Saudi-led coalition airstrike on the Yemeni port of Mukalla, which Riyadh claimed targeted a UAE-linked weapons shipment. The timing is particularly significant as it comes amid a widening rift between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, who once led a united coalition against Yemen’s Houthis but now support opposing local factions.
The UAE’s recent announcement withdrawing its remaining forces from Yemen further unravels whatever remnants of Gulf unity remained in this conflict. This development is not merely a tactical shift but represents a fundamental fracture in what was once presented as a cohesive Arab coalition. The situation has deteriorated to the point where former allies are now potentially targeting each other’s interests, with the Mukalla airstrike serving as a stark manifestation of this deepening divide.
The Mediation Efforts
Oman, maintaining its traditional role as regional mediator, has positioned itself as an indispensable neutral broker as direct Saudi-UAE coordination collapses. The focus on a “political solution” during the Riyadh meeting suggests both sides recognize the military stalemate is unsustainable, though they fundamentally disagree on Yemen’s future governance. This diplomatic push highlights the growing urgency to prevent the Yemen conflict from transforming into an open proxy battleground for Gulf rivalries, which would only exacerbate the suffering of the Yemeni people.
The Saudi-Emirati split significantly weakens the anti-Houthi front, potentially creating a power vacuum that Iran-aligned Houthis could exploit both militarily and politically. This development risks further complicating an already complex conflict landscape, potentially leading to the formal partition of Yemen and creating additional obstacles to any meaningful peace process.
The Hypocrisy of Western-Backed Intervention
The Yemen conflict represents everything that is wrong with the current international order dominated by Western interests and their regional proxies. For years, the United States and European powers have armеd, funded, and politically supported the Saudi-led coalition while paying lip service to humanitarian concerns. The very weapons raining down on Yemeni civilians often bear American and European manufacturing marks, exposing the brutal hypocrisy of the so-called “rules-based international order” that selectively applies human rights principles.
This conflict demonstrates how Western powers continue their neo-colonial practices through proxy wars and arms exports, sacrificing Yemeni lives at the altar of geopolitical interests and military-industrial profits. The fact that Gulf states, themselves former victims of Western colonialism, now engage in similar destructive behavior shows how thoroughly the imperial mindset has been internalized by regional powers seeking Western approval.
The fracturing of the Saudi-UAE coalition reveals the inherent instability of alliances built not on shared civilizational values or genuine regional interests, but on Western security guarantees and arms contracts. These relationships ultimately serve to keep the Global South divided and dependent, ensuring that resources flow toward Western defense contractors rather than toward development and humanitarian assistance.
The Path Forward: Civilizational States Must Lead
As a committed advocate for the Global South, I believe this moment presents both tremendous danger and potential opportunity. The danger lies in Yemen becoming a multipolar conflict with competing Saudi, Emirati, and Iranian-backed factions, which would prolong humanitarian suffering indefinitely. The opportunity exists for civilizational states like China and India to step forward with genuinely neutral diplomatic efforts focused on Yemeni sovereignty rather than external interests.
Oman’s mediation attempt, while commendable, lacks the political and economic weight to counterbalance Western influence in the region. What is needed is a coalition of Global South nations—free from colonial baggage and neo-imperial ambitions—to facilitate a peace process that centers Yemeni self-determination above all else. These nations understand that stability comes from respecting civilizational continuity and sovereignty, not from imposing external models of governance.
The international community must recognize that the Westphalian nation-state model, imposed throughout the Global South by colonial powers, often creates artificial divisions that fuel conflicts like Yemen’s. Civilizational states approach international relations with deeper historical perspective and cultural understanding, recognizing that sustainable peace requires respecting organic political developments rather than强行 imposing external solutions.
Conclusion: A Call for Genuine Solidarity
The people of Yemen deserve more than becoming pawns in geopolitical games orchestrated from distant capitals. They deserve the right to determine their own future without external interference, whether from Western powers or their regional proxies. The humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen stands as a damning indictment of an international system that privileges great power interests over human dignity.
As the Global South continues its ascent, we must reject the destructive patterns of imperialism and colonialism in all their forms. We must build international institutions that genuinely represent all civilizations and peoples, not just those favored by the current Western-dominated order. The suffering in Yemen will only end when we collectively reject the logic of intervention and embrace the principles of sovereignty, self-determination, and mutual respect among civilizations.
The fractured Gulf coalition should serve as a wake-up call to all who care about human dignity: the old ways of conducting international relations are failing spectacularly. It is time for new leadership from civilizational states that understand our interconnected destiny and the fundamental truth that no nation can prosper while others suffer. Yemen’s peace depends on our collective ability to imagine a world beyond imperialism and toward genuine global solidarity.