Saudi Arabia alleged Thursday that the United Arab Emirates smuggled a separatist leader in Yemen wanted for treason out of the country and flew him to Abu Dhabi.

The UAE had no immediate reaction to the claim, which further escalates tensions between the neighboring nations on the Arabian Peninsula as their partnership in the yearslong war in Yemen breaks down.

Yemen is threatening to fracture even further, exposing a growing rift between Middle East powers Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The latest friction is among members of the Saudi-led coalition based in Yemen's south that for years has been fighting Iranian-backed Houthi rebels based in the north.

Here's a look at the forces involved as Saudi Arabia pursues dialogue among all the players in the south of Yemen, the Arab world's poorest nation:

Israel on Thursday condemned the Syrian government over what it described as attacks against the Kurdish community in Aleppo, just days after the two sides agreed to establish a joint mechanism aimed at lowering bilateral tensions.

"Attacks by the Syrian regime's forces against the Kurdish minority in the city of Aleppo -- are grave and dangerous... Systematic and murderous repression of Syria's various minorities contradicts the promises of a 'new Syria'," Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on X.

Turkey's military was ready to "support" Syria in its battle with Kurdish fighters in the northwestern city of Aleppo if Damascus asks for help, a defense ministry official said Thursday.

Deadly clashes erupted this week between Syrian government forces and the Kurdish-dominated Syrian Defense Forces (SDF) after the two sides failed to reach a year-end deadline to merge the Kurdish fighters into the main Damascus military.

Syrian authorities warned civilians to leave a contested area in the northern city of Aleppo on Thursday and opened a corridor for them to evacuate for a second day as clashes continued between government and Kurdish forces.

The government of Aleppo province gave residents until 1 p.m. local time to evacuate in coordination with the army. State news agency SANA, citing the army, said the military would begin "targeted operations" against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid half an hour after that deadline.

Hamas officials told AFP that search operations for the remains of the last Israeli hostage held in Gaza resumed on Wednesday after a two-week pause due to bad weather.

Israel has previously said it is awaiting the return of Ran Gvili's body before beginning talks on the second phase of the fragile ceasefire agreement with Hamas which came into effect in October.

Israel has cleared the final hurdle before starting construction on a contentious settlement project near Jerusalem that would effectively cut the West Bank in two, according to a government tender.

The tender, which seeks bids from developers, would clear the way to begin construction of the E1 project.

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged calm after a bus driver ran over and killed a teenage boy Tuesday night during a protest in Jerusalem against a law seeking to draft the ultra-Orthodox community into Israel's military.

"I call for restraint to prevent the mood from becoming further inflamed so that, heaven forbid, we do not have additional tragedies," Netanyahu said in a statement early Wednesday, adding that the death would be thoroughly investigated.

The United Nations said on Wednesday that decades of discrimination and segregation of Palestinians in the West Bank by Israel were intensifying and creating a kind of "apartheid system".

Rights chief Volker Turk said there was "a systematic asphyxiation of the rights of Palestinians in the West Bank", creating a "particularly severe form of racial discrimination and segregation, that resembles the kind of apartheid system we have seen before".

A council fighting against Yemen's Houthi rebels said Wednesday that it had expelled the leader of a separatist movement and charged him with treason after he reportedly declined to travel to Saudi Arabia for talks.

The latest upheaval in southern Yemen is revealing a growing divide among the Persian Gulf powers, cracking the coalition fighting the Iran-aligned Houthis. Longstanding differences between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — from Sudan to energy policy — have spilled into Yemen, where they back rival factions. The rift has deepened strains between the two neighbors, who officially share the goal of countering the Houthis, in control of the capital, Sanaa, since 2014.