The missile strikes, claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in retaliation for the airstrikes, are raising tensions.
The United Arab Emirates intercepted two ballistic missiles claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the skies over Abu Dhabi on Monday morning, the government said. This is the second attack in a week on the capital of the Emirates.
The missile launches a further escalation of tensions in the Persian Gulf, where there have been a series of attacks near Emirati soil, but never unquestionably, amid years of war in Yemen and the collapse of the nuclear deal between Iran and global powers.
The attacks threaten the business-friendly, tourism-focused efforts of the Emirates, a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian peninsula which is also home to Dubai. For years, the country has marketed itself as a safe corner of an otherwise-dangerous area.
Videos posted on social media showed Abu Dhabi’s skies lighting up ahead of Monday, with what appeared to be interceptor missiles racing through the clouds to attack incoming fire. Then two explosions erupted in the city. The videos showed well-known features of Abu Dhabi.
The state-run WAM news agency said that missile fragments fell harmlessly over Abu Dhabi.
The UAE “is in a position to deal with any risk and takes all mandatory measures for the state in the face of all attacks,” WAM quoted as saying through the UAE Ministry of Defense.
The missile fire disrupted traffic into Abu Dhabi international airport, home to the long-haul carrier Etihad, for about an hour after the attack.
Houthi army spokesman Yehia Sarei claimed responsibility for the attack in a televised statement, saying the rebels had attacked the United Arab Emirates with ballistic missiles and drones. He warned that the United Arab Emirates would remain a target “as long as attacks against other Yemeni people continue. ” “.
“We warn foreign corporations and investors to leave the UAE!Sarei shouted from a podium. “It’s a harmful country!”
The U. S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi then issued a security alert for Americans living in the UAE, warning citizens to “maintain a high level of security awareness. “The alert included commands on how to deal with missile strikes, something unheard of before in the United States. United Arab Emirates.
Subsequently, the UAE Ministry of Defense tweeted a black-and-white video showing an F-16 hitting the ballistic missile launcher used in the Abu Dhabi attack. The site is known to be near al-Jawaf, a Yemeni province about 1,400 kilometers (870 miles) southwest of Abu Dhabi.
The F-16 is flown by both Bahrain and the UAE, but not Saudi Arabia. The ministry did not acknowledge which country flew the mission.
The attack came a week after Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for an attack on the UAE capital, targeting the airport and an Abu Dhabi National Oil Co fuel depot on the outskirts of Mussafah. The attack on the fuel depot killed three other people and injured six others.
New high-resolution satellite photographs received via AP from Planet Labs PBC show repair paints at the fuel depot on Saturday. Emirati officials have published photographs of the sites attacked, and have not allowed journalists to see them.
In recent days, a Saudi-led coalition subsidized through the United Arab Emirates has introduced punitive airstrikes against Yemen, depriving the Arab world’s poorest country of a detention center and killing more than 80 more people.
The Houthis had threatened to take revenge against the Emirates and Saudi Arabia over those attacks. On Sunday, the Saudi-led coalition said a Houthi-launched ballistic missile landed in an industrial area in Jizan, Saudi Arabia, slightly wounding a foreigner.
Iran’s ultra-conservative daily Kayhan, whose editor-in-chief was appointed through Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, published a front-page article on Sunday quoting Houthi officials that the UAE would be attacked and titled: “Evacuate the Emirates’ Trading Towers. “
The newspaper in 2017 had faced a two-day publication ban after it ran a headline saying Dubai was the “next target” for the Houthis.