The U.S. Air Power mentioned that it had intervened on Monday to repel an assault on the United Arab Emirates amid an escalation of tensions between the Gulf nation and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen.
In a separate assertion, the Emirati Ministry of Protection mentioned its air protection forces had intercepted and destroyed two missiles fired by the Houthi rebels, including that there have been no casualties, though missile fragments had fallen across the capital, Abu Dhabi. It was the second Houthi assault in every week focusing on the United Arab Emirates, which is a part of the Saudi-led coalition that has been at conflict with the Houthis in Yemen for years.
“U.S. navy forces efficiently reacted to a number of inbound threats throughout an assault close to Abu Dhabi,” the U.S. Air Power mentioned, with out offering additional particulars.
At Al Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi, which hosts the U.S. Air Power’s 380th Air Expeditionary Wing, American forces had been on a heightened state of alert and spent about an hour in safety bunkers after the missile alert sounded, based on a press release from Lt. Col. Phillip Ventura, a spokesman for the U.S. Air Forces within the Center East.
“U.S. forces at Al Dhafra stand with the U.A.E. and our coalition companions throughout the area,” mentioned Brig. Gen. Andrew Clark, commander of the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing. “Now we have a powerful partnership with the Emiratis and can proceed working collectively in help of our mutual pursuits.”
It was not instantly clear whether or not the U.S. and Emirati defenses had been deployed in separate assaults or had been responding to the identical missile strike.
The Emirati protection ministry affirmed its “full readiness to cope with any threats,” and promised to take all crucial measures to guard the state from assaults, based on the state information company WAM.
The missile fireplace got here every week after the Houthis claimed duty for an additional assault on the Emirates focusing on the airport in Abu Dhabi and a gasoline depot. That assault on the gasoline depot killed three folks. The Saudi-led coalition struck again with airstrikes on northern Yemen, killing scores of individuals at a detention middle and knocking out the web throughout the impoverished nation.
The Houthis had threatened to avenge these assaults and to assault the United Arab Emirates once more.
In a video assertion, a Houthi navy spokesman, Yahya Sarea, mentioned the Houthis had carried out the assault in response to an escalation by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen and that it had additionally included drones and missile assaults focusing on websites in Dubai, one other Emirati metropolis, and Saudi Arabia.
Mr. Sarea warned international corporations and traders within the Emirates to depart “because it has grow to be an unsafe nation that might be focused recurrently so long as it continues its aggression and siege of the Yemeni folks.”
The escalation in hostilities is recent proof of the battle’s obstinacy a yr after President Biden took workplace vowing to deliver the conflict — and one of many world’s worst humanitarian disasters — to an finish.
After months of territorial positive factors by the Houthis, who management northern Yemen, forces backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have managed to claw again some territory and shift the momentum of the conflict. These offensives have snarled worldwide efforts to push the 2 sides towards peace.
Mona El-Naggar reported from Cairo and Eric Schmitt from Washington, D.C. Ben Hubbard contributed reporting from Beirut, Lebanon.
