Salem Breik formally submitted the resignation, which was approved by the council, before Zindani was named to form the next cabinet, Saba said.

Yemen has been a source of heightened tensions in recent months between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

A UAE-backed separatist group, the Southern Transitional Council, gained control of areas across southern and eastern Yemen in December, advancing to within reach of the Saudi border, which the kingdom considered a threat to its national security. Saudi-backed fighters have since largely retaken those areas.

Sharp differences over a range of other issues from geopolitics to oil output have also been a cause of friction between the two Gulf powers.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE had previously worked together in a coalition battling the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen’s civil war, which brought on one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.