Riyadh ramps up rhetoric on rival

Saudi Arabia’s ‘mudslinging’ of United Arab Emirates threatens new Gulf crisis, writes Haitham el-Tabei

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Saudi Arabian media campaign targeting the UAE has deepened the Gulf’s worst row in years, stoking fears of a damaging fallout in the financial heart of the Middle East.

Fiery accusations of rights abuses and betrayal have circulated for weeks in state-run and social media after a brief conflict in Yemen, where Saudi air strikes quelled an offensive by UAE-backed separatists.

The United Arab Emirates is “investing in chaos and supporting secessionists” from Libya to Yemen and the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia's Al-Ekhbariya TV charged in a report this week.

Such invective has been unheard of in the Gulf since Saudi Arabia and the UAE led a more than three-year diplomatic and trade blockade of Qatar over political differences beginning in 2017.