AFP — For years, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia projected geopolitical and economic power across the Gulf and beyond, seemingly in tandem.

But a growing rivalry and struggle for influence has come to a head — most recently in Yemen — following years of divergence over a tangle of competing interests that reach from regional waterways to the corridors of power in Washington, DC, analysts say.

The once-close relationship between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was long seen as the backbone of the alliance between the two Gulf powers.

But as their ambitions grew apart and MBS accelerated sweeping economic reforms at home while reasserting Saudi dominance abroad, talk has swirled of a rift with the Emirati leader, previously considered his mentor.

Now the pair find themselves on opposing sides over oil production and in Sudan, the Horn of Africa and now Yemen, where the two countries are part of an anti-Houthi military coalition but support rival factions within the internationally recognized government.

Yemen and Gulf expert Baraa Shiban pointed to deep strategic and ideological differences, with Saudi Arabia alarmed by what it views as the UAE’s willingness in war-torn Yemen and Sudan to “break the country” by backing disruptive forces in a bid for influence, with Riyadh preferring instead to preserve existing authorities.

He also said there was an “obsession” among the Emirati leadership over fighting the Muslim Brotherhood and political Islam, a stance the UAE has sought to push across the region but which is not shared to the same degree by Saudi........

© The Times of Israel