Sana’a: A week after their drone strike on Abu Dhabi that killed two Indians and a Pakistani national, the Houthi rebels on Monday launched a “missile and drone” attack on Dubai, and have warned investors in the UAE “to leave as it is no longer a safe country”.
Houthi military spokesperson General Yahya Saree in a statement said that the Houthi forces carried out the second ‘Operation Yemen Hurricane’ in response to the escalation of aggression by the Saudi-led coalition.
Saree said, “Our missile and drone forces carried out the second Operation Yemen Hurricane in response to the escalation of aggression and its crimes, during which Al-Dhafra Air Base and other vital sites in Dubai were targeted with a large number of missiles.” The drones used during the operation are Samad-3, he revealed.
He said the Houthis also attacked positions of the Saudi-led coalition in the Jizan and Asir provinces with several missiles and drones, most notable of which are the Samad-3 and Qasef-2K. Mohammad al-Bakhiti, a leader of Ansarullah’s political bureau, advised investors in the UAE to leave the UAE saying it is no longer a safe country.
Al-Bakhiti said: “The UAE will be another battlefield and the value of investments in the UAE will reach zero.” “The UAE is no longer a neutral point in the region after intervening in the Yemeni war, it did not learn and act according to its interests.”
“The Yemeni armed forces were more patient with the UAE than with Saudi Arabia to give the country a chance to retreat. Attacks on Yemen are US-Israeli attacks, but Saudi Arabia and the UAE are tools and pay a high price,” he claimed. Al-Bakhiti said they would not target civilian positions in the UAE.
Al-Bakhiti said the UAE “acted only in accordance with US and Israeli interests, and it will pay a heavy price for that.” Al-Bakhiti said the UAE “had the opportunity years ago to withdraw from its involvement in the aggression on Yemen; we were so patient with the UAE and froze targeting the depth of Emirates, but now it has returned to escalation.” “The UAE is no longer neutral and it did learn from previous lessons, acting according to its interests.”
He made it clear that the current escalation was not prompted by Yemen and the resistance axis, but by the US and its regional allies. “The US axis in the region will be the biggest loser in any upcoming confrontation”, he concluded. Over 3.4 million Indians live and work in the UAE, and some 2.5 million in Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates’ defense ministry said they had intercepted and destroyed two Yemeni ballistic missiles targeting the Persian Gulf country on Monday with no casualties.
“The remnants of the intercepted ballistic missiles fell in separate areas around Abu Dhabi,” the ministry said, adding it was taking necessary protective measures against all attacks.
Saudi state media said the coalition intercepted a ballistic missile, with remnants damaging workshops and vehicles in the south of the kingdom. It said late on Sunday that a ballistic missile fell in the south, injuring two foreigners and causing damage in an industrial area.
Monday’s attack is the second on UAE soil since the January 17 strike that hit a fuel depot in Abu Dhabi, killing two Indians and a Pakistani national, and causing a fire near its international airport. The international community, including India, has condemned the January 17 strike as a terrorist attack.
The Houthi attack on Abu Dhabi comes in response to the presence of UAE-backed mercenaries in key energy producing provinces in Yemen, though the UAE had reduced its armed presence in Yemen in 2019 amid a military stalemate.
Meanwhile, at least 82 people were killed in the Saudi-led air strike on a temporary detention center in northern Saada province on Friday. Saudi Arabia, backed by the United States and regional allies, launched the war on Yemen in March 2015, with the goal of bringing the government of former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi back to power and crushing the Ansarullah (Houthi) movement.
The war has left hundreds of thousands of Yemenis dead and displaced millions more. It has also destroyed Yemen’s infrastructure and spread famine and infectious diseases there.
