The Nobel Peace Prize laureate and human rights activist Tawakkol Karman today called upon the United Arab Emirates to leave Yemen, emphasizing that it is a national duty to expel it from the country that has been in a state of war for about three years. 

"The UAE has occupied vital parts of Yemen, and therefore it is the duty of each Yemeni to expel it from the country," Karman wrote on Twitter today.

She also went on to say: “We have to act towards it as a nation with a long history, which refuses to be humiliated”. 

The UAE entered Yemen in 2015 as part of the Saudi-led coalition to support the Yemeni government in the face of the coup carried out by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia. 

Later, however, the UAE started to support Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council (STC) which calls for secession from northern Yemen. 

Recently, it has been reported that the UAE called on the people of Yemen’s largest island, Socotra, to vote on a referendum of self-determination to join them.