'UAE bans' Yemen president from entering Aden

Hadi’s flight from Riyadh to Aden had been cancelled on Wednesday after arriving at Riyadh’s King Khalid bin Abdulaziz airport, sources said.

The Yemeni President did not board his flight because "there were specific instructions from the UAE government banning from entering his home-city Aden," the sources added. 

The news was also reported by Yemeni Nobel Peace laureate Tawakkol Karman on her Twitter account, to which she referred to the UAE as an “occupying force in Yemen”.

The Hadi government has refused to comment on the reports.

Hadi has been living in exile in Saudi Arabia for more than two years, after he was forced to resign by the Houthi rebels. He was placed under house arrest for a month in January 2015 after the resignation, after which he fled to Aden a month later, only to escape to Saudi Arabia when the military offensive began against Yemen in March 2015.

Since then, he has visited Aden numerous times, and had attempted to establish it as Yemen’s temporary capital city.

Many Yemenis perceive Emirati forces, which operate as part of the Arab coalition, as pursuing a different agenda to seize strategic regions and ports in Yemen, especially since the division of tasks has placed Abu Dhabi in charge of operations in southern and eastern provinces.

In June, accusations emerged that the UAE has 'colonised' the Yemeni island of Socotra. 

Reports claimed that Yemen's government leased Socotra and nearby Abd al-Kuri island to the UAE for 99 years.

The UAE has also been extending its influence in south Yemen, reportedly backing the leaders of a recent secession attempt, amid accusations it is running torture and detention facilities in the country.

The war in Yemen has killed more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, and wounded 44,500 since the Saudi-led coalition intervened against the Houthi rebels it says are supported by regional arch-rival Iran.