As armed provocations by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen escalate, Saudi Arabia has extended a surprise invitation to a top-ranking official of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Attention is focused on whether the two nations can mend their overt rift over dominance in southern Yemen that flared up earlier this year and rebuild their alliance against the Houthis and Iran, which threaten Gulf security.

According to foreign media reports including Reuters on the 28th (local time), Saudi Arabian Minister of Defense Prince Khalid bin Salman formally invited UAE Vice President and Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

The UAE's state-run WAM news agency reported that Vice President Sheikh Mansour accepted the invitation and will make a friendly visit to Saudi Arabia on the 29th.

Minister Khalid bin Salman is the younger brother of Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, while Vice President Sheikh Mansour is the brother of UAE President and Ruler of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

This invitation comes at a time when Houthi rebels have taken control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait area at the entrance of the Red Sea, threatening Saudi oil export routes and launching massive offensives targeting the Saudi mainland.

Notably, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were at serious loggerheads over the Yemen situation until just a few months ago.

The two countries, which had demonstrated a firm alliance as core pillars of the Arab coalition during their initial intervention in the Yemeni civil war in 2015, began showing friction over control of southern Yemen and post-war dominance.

At the core of the conflict were separatist forces in southern Yemen.

While Saudi Arabia sought to support Yemen's internationally recognized government and focus on its top priority of defeating the Houthi rebels, the UAE focused on supporting armed groups under the Southern Transitional Council (STC), which advocates for the secession and independence of southern Yemen, thereby expanding its independent influence.

The conflict between the two nations reached its peak earlier this year when these southern separatist forces launched independent military operations against government forces backed by Saudi Arabia, leading to armed clashes.

At the time, Saudi Arabia judged that the provocations by separatist forces not only fractured the anti-Houthi coalition front but also posed a direct threat to Saudi national security.

Saudi authorities effectively pointed to the UAE as the mastermind behind them and strongly criticized it. As bilateral relations cooled rapidly, the UAE eventually resorted to the strong measure of withdrawing its troops stationed in Yemen.

The two countries also clashed during the Iran war.

The UAE, which suffered the most airstrikes by Iran among Middle Eastern nations, argued for a strong military response, but cracks were exposed as Saudi Arabia showed a lukewarm attitude.

Saudi Arabia was also known to have refused the UAE's request for air defense network support.

Furthermore, when the UAE withdrew from the Saudi-led Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) effective May 1, bilateral relations became strained to the utmost.

The conflict was temporarily patched up in July after ministers and senior officials from both nations posted messages on social media highlighting bilateral friendship.

Diplomatic circles analyze that as the military threat from Houthi rebels reaches the doorstep of Saudi Arabia and concerns over a widening war in the Middle East escalate, Saudi Arabia is reaching out first to the once-awkward UAE in an attempt to forge solidarity and normalize relations.

(Photo: Yonhap News)