Ambassador Yousef al-Otaiba’s comments marked an official acknowledgment that missiles – and not just drones – were used in Monday’s attack, which was claimed by the Iran-backed Houthis.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels used cruise and ballistic missiles in addition to drones in an attack on Abu Dhabi this week that killed three people and set fire to a fuel depot and an international airport, the emirate in the United States Ambassador said on Wednesday.
Ambassador Yousef al-Otaiba’s remarks marked an official acknowledgment that missiles – and not just drones – were used in Monday’s attack, which was claimed by the Iran-backed Houthis.
In the UAE “multiple strikes – a combination of cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and drones – targeted civilian sites”, Mr. Al-Otaiba said.
“Many were intercepted, some of them were not stopped and unfortunately three innocent civilians lost their lives,” he said at a virtual event organized by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America. The event was held to discuss US policies and Israel’s relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
Mr. Al-Otaiba did not respond to further questions The Associated Press About how many missiles hit the UAE and how many were intercepted.
Gulf Arab states, as well as US, UN experts and others, have previously accused Iran of supplying weapons to the Houthis, a charge Tehran denies.
Missiles and drones with bombs – if they were fired from a Houthis stronghold in northern Yemen – would need to travel about 1,800 kilometers (1,100 mi) to reach the target in Abu Dhabi.
Monday’s attack targeted an Abu Dhabi National Oil Company fuel depot in an industrial area outside the Emirati capital’s city center, as well as an area of Abu Dhabi International Airport still under construction.
Two Indian civilians and a Pakistani were killed in this attack. Six people were also injured at the oil and gas facility when fuel tankers exploded when a fire broke out. Police in Abu Dhabi said preliminary investigations suggested a drone fire was suspected.
The Houthis said they fired five ballistic missiles and several explosive-laden drones in their attack. He said he targeted airports in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the world’s busiest airports for international transit, as well as an oil refinery and other sensitive Emirati facilities. There has been no sign of Dubai being affected in Monday’s attack.
The UAE was a key member of the Saudi-led coalition that entered Yemen’s civil war in 2015 after the Houthis captured the capital of Sanaa last year and removed the country’s president from power. Although the United Arab Emirates has largely withdrawn its military from the conflict, it is heavily involved in the war and supports local militias on the ground in Yemen.
Earlier this month, Yemeni government forces, aided by Saudi air strikes and Emirati-backed fighters known as the Giant’s Brigades, recaptured Shabwa province from the Houthis. The loss of this key province was a blow to Houthi efforts to regain control of the entire northern half of Yemen.
In a statement after the attack, the Houthis warned that they would target other important facilities in the UAE if they continued to advance against the group.
The Houthis have used drones and missiles to attack Saudi Arabia and oil targets in the Persian Gulf during Yemen’s war, which is now in its eighth year. Monday’s attack was the UAE’s first acknowledgment of being hit by the Houthis. Several civilians have been killed in cross-border Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi-led coalition intensified airstrikes on the Houthis in Yemen, including in Sanaa, late on Monday. The group said an airstrike in Sanaa killed at least 14 people, including a senior Houthi military officer. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said five civilians were among the dead.
Meanwhile, the US condemned the attack against the United Arab Emirates. The Biden administration has vowed to work with the UAE and international partners to hold the Houthis accountable, although it has repeatedly criticized the civilian casualties caused by coalition air strikes in Yemen.
Mr. Al-Otaiba said the UAE is pressuring Washington to once again designate the Houthis as a terrorist organization. Ambassador and United Arab Emirates Director of National Intelligence Ali Al-Shamsi is building pressure on this by meeting with White House and congressional officials in Washington on Wednesday.
President Joe Biden’s administration revoked the designation of Yemen’s Houthis as a terrorist group in February, undoing a decision by the Trump administration to brand the group as a terrorist organization.
A US designation of the Houthis as a terrorist group would limit aid to Yemen. The war has killed 130,000 people in Yemen – both civilians and fighters – and has exacerbated hunger and famine in the poor country.
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