SANA, Yemen — The Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen attacked the United Arab Emirates on Monday in an obvious drone strike that blew up a number of gas tankers and killed three individuals, in accordance with state-run Emirati media and Houthi officers.
The Houthis, who’ve fought a yearslong battle with a Saudi-led navy coalition that features the United Arab Emirates, mentioned they used drones and missiles within the assault. The Emirati authorities mentioned the Houthis had been accountable and the international ministry condemned it as a “cowardly act to unfold terrorism and chaos within the area,” however didn’t say what weapons had been used within the assault.
“We reiterate that these answerable for this illegal concentrating on of our nation will probably be held accountable,” the ministry assertion mentioned.
The Houthis in Yemen continuously goal neighboring Saudi Arabia with drone strikes, together with one on Saudi oil services in 2019 that severely disrupted the nation’s oil exports, they usually have additionally claimed strikes on the U.A.E. a number of instances, although the U.A.E. has constantly denied it.
A minor fireplace additionally broke out within the Abu Dhabi Worldwide Airport, elevating the likelihood that it, too, was the goal of a drone strike. The police in Abu Dhabi mentioned there have been indications that “small flying objects, probably belonging to drones” began two fires, one on the airport and the opposite resulting in the explosion of the three petroleum gasoline tankers in an industrial district in southwestern Abu Dhabi close to storage tanks for the Abu Dhabi Nationwide Oil Firm.
The assault got here amid a current escalation of tensions between the Houthis and the Saudi-led forces in Yemen that has shifted the battle’s momentum after months of Houthi beneficial properties. The continued offensives have difficult worldwide efforts to dealer a cease-fire to finish the battle, which has triggered what assist teams name the world’s greatest humanitarian catastrophe.
Days earlier, U.A.E.-backed Yemeni militias launched an offensive towards Houthi fighters within the central province of Marib, the place a lot of the worst combating in Yemen has occurred over the past 12 months because the Houthis search to grab essential oil and gasoline infrastructure managed by the Saudi-backed authorities. The Saudi-led coalition mentioned on Twitter that it had carried out 39 operations towards the Houthis in Marib prior to now 24 hours, killing 230 fighters and destroying 21 navy autos.
Emirati-backed forces just lately claimed that that they had taken the close by province of Shabwa from Houthi management. And Houthi fighters have additionally refused to launch the cargo and crew of a U.A.E.-flagged ship they seized earlier this month that they claimed was carrying weaponry, regardless of calls to take action from the United Nations. The Saudi-led coalition has mentioned that the ship was as an alternative carrying medical provides from a subject hospital, calling the seizure an act of “piracy.”
The U.S. strongly condemned the assaults.
“The Houthis have claimed accountability for this assault, and we’ll work with the U.A.E. and worldwide companions to carry them accountable,” the nationwide safety adviser, Jake Sullivan, mentioned in a press release. “Our dedication to the safety of the U.A.E. is unwavering and we stand beside our Emirati companions towards all threats to their territory.”
Muhammad al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthis’ political bureau, mentioned in an interview that the group had shunned attacking the U.A.E. in recent times as a result of Emirati floor troops had left the nation. However with the U.A.E.’s current Shabwa offensive, he mentioned, the Houthis had determined to renew assaults.
“The aim of putting the center of the U.A.E. is to discourage it,” he mentioned. “We advise the U.A.E. to be taught from this lesson. In any other case, our strikes will proceed. And its potential to resist such strikes is way weaker than that of Saudi Arabia.”
The 2 sides have been at battle since 2015, when the Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen, looking for to push out the Houthis after the insurgent group had seized Yemen’s capital and toppled the internationally acknowledged authorities.
The U.A.E. initially dedicated its personal troops to the combat, however later withdrew as casualties mounted.
The Houthis have claimed strikes on Emirati targets past Yemen’s borders earlier than, together with by firing a cruise missile at an Abu Dhabi nuclear energy plant in 2017. However the U.A.E. denied that declare.
Nonetheless, the nation has continued to be a serious participant in Yemen, supporting anti-Houthi fighters on the bottom. Its backing for the Southern Transitional Council, a gaggle that splintered away from — after which waged battle on — the internationally-recognized authorities, has triggered violent divisions within the marketing campaign towards the Houthis.
The Abu Dhabi police mentioned the tanker explosions had killed one Pakistani nationwide and two Indian nationals and injured six different individuals.
Nada Rashwan contributed reporting.
