(DUBAI, United Arab Emirates) — The United Arab Emirates intercepted two ballistic missiles targeting Abu Dhabi early Monday, its state-run news agency reported, the latest attack to target the Emirati capital.
The attack on Abu Dhabi, after another last week killed three people and wounded six, further escalates tensions across the Persian Gulf as Yemen’s yearslong civil war grinds on.
That war, pitting Iranian-backed Houthi rebels against a Saudi-led coalition, has become a regional conflict as negotiations continue over Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers. An array of regional attacks have been started since the fall of the agreement.
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According to the state-run WAM news agency, missile fragments were not detected above Abu Dhabi’s capital.
The Emirates “is ready and ready to deal with any threats and that it takes all necessary measures to protect the state from all attacks,” WAM quoted the UAE Defense Ministry as saying.
Photos posted on social media showed the sky above the capital glowing brightly before Monday dawn, and points of light appearing to be interceptor missiles. They corresponded with known Abu Dhabi features.
About an hour following the missile attack, traffic was disrupted at Abu Dhabi International Airport. This is home to Etihad’s long-haul carrier Etihad.
The attack was not immediately blamed by anyone. However, the attack came a week after Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed an attack on the Emirati capital that killed three people and wounded six others.
In recent days, a Saudi-led coalition that the UAE backs unleashed punishing airstrikes targeting Yemen, knocking the Arab world’s poorest country off the internet and killed over 80 people at a detention center.
Houthis have threatened revenge against Saudi Arabia and the Emirates over these attacks. Saudi Arabia’s coalition led by the Saudi-led alliance said that on Sunday, a Houthi ballistic missile launched from Jizan was reported to have landed near Jizan, Saudi Arabia. This incident slightly injured a foreigner.
A Houthi military spokesman did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press on Monday’s attack.
The hard-line Iranian daily newspaper Kayhan, whose editor-in-chief was appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, just Sunday published a front-page article quoting Houthi officials that the UAE would be attacked again with a headline: “Evacuate Emirati commercial towers.”
The newspaper in 2017 had faced a two-day publication ban after it ran a headline saying Dubai was the “next target” for the Houthis.
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This report was contributed by Amir Vahdat, Tehran, Iran and Isabel DeBre, Dubai, Associated Press.
