ISTANBUL

A Yemeni official on Tuesday vowed legal and diplomatic measures against the United Arab Emirates (UAE) if it failed to withdraw its forces from Yemen.

Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council chairman Rashad al-Alimi cancelled a joint defense pact with the UAE on Tuesday and gave a 24-hour deadline for the UAE forces to withdraw. He also declared a state of emergency for a 90-day period, along with a 72-hour air and land ban on all ports and border crossings.

“If the UAE does not respond, there will be legal and international procedures, as Yemen is a member of the United Nations and the Arab League,” Fayyad al-Nu’man, Undersecretary of Yemen’s Ministry of Information, told the Qatar-based channel Alaraby.

The situation escalated in Yemen on Tuesday after the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen launched a "limited" airstrike targeting two ships linked to the UAE at the Mukalla port in Yemen.

The attack came amid rising tensions since the Southern Transitional Council (STC) captured the eastern provinces of Hadramaut and Al-Mahra early this month after clashes with government forces.

The STC repeatedly claims that successive governments have politically and economically marginalized southern regions and calls for their separation from the north – claims rejected by the Yemeni authorities, as they insist on preserving the country’s territorial unity.