The United Arab Emirates is secretly helping the Houthis fight Saudi Arabia in Yemen The United Arab Emirates, a key American and Israeli ally in the Gulf, is quietly aiding the Houthis in its conflict against Saudi-backed forces inside Yemen, four sources with knowledge of the situation told the news site. Specifically, various Yemeni forces aligned with the UAE have been providing targeted assistance to the Houthis in their fight against Saudi-backed government forces in Yemen while Abu Dhabi has looked the other way, the sources said. According to two sources with knowledge of the secret arrangement, the UAE's assistance also included the direct sharing of intelligence by the UAE itself with the Houthis in order to target Saudi-backed forces. A Yemeni source familiar with the back channel of the Houthis confirmed that "the United Arab Emirates has transferred a significant amount of intelligence to the government based in Sana'a; the line of communication between the two sides remains open." The Yemeni source told Zaruk Eter that the Houthis "established their own communication channels with military commanders" who remained loyal to the UAE. The sources requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the settlement. The fact that the UAE is directly aiding one of its main regional adversaries is unusual. The UAE and the Houthis are fierce ideological enemies with geopolitical goals that are in direct opposition to each other. The United Arab Emirates is a close ally of Israel and the US, while the Houthis are a close ally of Iran. However, when it comes to Yemen, their interests overlap to some extent, creating a classic enemy-of-the-enemy situation. The UAE was shut down in Yemen earlier this year by Saudi Arabia, and is poised to regain a strategic foothold in Yemen in the current conflict.