Houthi terrorist attack targeting Abu Dhabi
A suspected Houthi drone attack near Abu Dhabi airport killed at least three people and sparked multiple explosions in the United Arab Emirates’ capital on Monday.
An Abu Dhabi police statement said three tanker trucks carrying fuel exploded in the emirate’s Mussafah area after catching fire, with preliminary investigations pointing to a drone attack.
One Pakistani and two Indians were killed, and six other people were injured, the UAE’s official news agency WAM said.
Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels said they would soon make a statement about “a special military operation that was carried out in the heart of the UAE,” the Houthi-owned Al Masirah TV channel said Monday.
UAE officials have blamed the Houthis for the incident, and said it “reserves the right to respond,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said in a statement according to state-news agency WAM.
Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed said that the Monday attacks, which struck Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) fuel facilities and the airport, will not go unpunished, WAM reported.
Gargash, a former minister of state for foreign affairs, said that the UAE is dealing with the attack and that the “reckless” attempt is too weak to shake the stability of the country.
“UAE authorities are dealing transparently and responsibly with the heinous Houthi attack on some civilian facilities in Abu Dhabi,” said Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE leadership.
Deadly attacks are extremely rare in the UAE, long considered an island of stability in a turbulent region.
In recent years, Houthi rebels claimed to have launched multiple attacks on the country, but Emirati authorities have denied the allegations. Houthi rebels frequently target neighboring Saudi Arabia, with the kingdom intercepting the vast majority of those missiles.
“Abu Dhabi police confirmed that a fire broke out this morning, which led to the explosion of three petroleum tankers in ICAD 3, Mussafah, near ADNOC’s storage tanks,” a statement said on WAM. “A minor fire also broke out in the new construction area of Abu Dhabi International Airport.”
Our journalist heard two explosions with a black plume of smoke rising from the direction of the airport. also seen a fighter jet — likely belonging to the UAE — circling the area.
The Pakistani Embassy is in contact with UAE authorities after the Pakistani national died after in the incident, its foreign ministry said Monday.
The UAE has been part of a Saudi-led military campaign against the Houthi rebels in Yemen since 2015. In 2019, the United Arab Emirates said it reduced its forces in Yemen as part of a “strategic” redeployment.
Last Thursday, the Saudi-led coalition said they detected multiple explosive-laden drones launched from the airport in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, which is controlled by Houthis.
On Monday, Houthi spokesperson Mohammad Abdulsalam called the UAE a “statelet” that is “desperate to serve the US and Israel.”
“(The UAE) had claimed that it distanced itself from Yemen, but it has recently been exposed, contrary to what it claimed. As a result, if it does not stop meddling in Yemen, by the power of God, we will cut off its hands,” said Abdulsalam.
“Operations like this will continue so long as the offensive and blockade continue and it will encompass strategic targets,” tweeted Ali al-Qhoom, a member of the Houthi’s political bureau. “These operations will happen within the context of a legitimate response to the crimes and attacks of the UAE in Yemen.”
An expert told our reporters that the Houthi rebels may be trying to deter further UAE intervention in Yemen in one of the major flashpoints in that conflict, Marib. “The intervention of the UAE-supported forces was a game-changer. This angered the Houthis,” said Maged al-Madhaji, executive director and co-founder of the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies. “The Houthis are trying to create some sort of balance by striking the the image of stability and security in the Emirates.”
Saudi Arabia condemned the attack in a statement. “We condemn in the strongest of words the cowardly terror attack that targeted Abu Dhabi International Airport in the UAE,” the kingdom’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. “The kingdom also points out that this terror attack which the Houthi militia is behind reconfirms the danger that this terror group poses and its threat to the security, peace and stability in the region and the world.”
