UAE 'aggressively' lobbying US to designate Yemen's Islah as a terror group, sources say

UAE 'aggressively' lobbying US to designate Yemen's Islah as a terror group, sources say Submitted by Faisal Edroos on Mon, 04/27/2026 - 11:00 Abu Dhabi has been pressuring Washington to label Islah as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group, a move that could likely inflame tensions with Saudi Arabia Supporters of Yemen's Islah political party attend a meeting in the southwestern Yemeni city of Taiz on 30 September 2023 (Courtesy) Off The United Arab Emirates is "aggressively" lobbying the Trump administration to designate Yemen 's Islah party as a terror organisation, a move that is likely to inflame tensions with Saudi Arabia which serves as a principal backer of the group. US, Saudi and Yemeni sources told Middle East Eye that Abu Dhabi had spent the last four months pressuring Washington to label Islah as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) group, after telling the Trump administration that the January designations of three Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated groups did not go far enough. Earlier this year, Washington designated the Muslim Brotherhood's Egyptian, Jordanian and Lebanese branches as terror organisations, a move that elicited a laconic statement from Abu Dhabi.