ABU DHABI — A
suspected drone attack killed three people in a fuel tank blast in
Abu Dhabi on
Monday, officials said, as Yemen's Huthi rebels announced a "military
operation" in the UAE.
اضافة اعلان
Two Indians and a Pakistani died as three
petrol tanks exploded near the storage facility of oil giant
ADNOC, while a
fire also ignited in a construction area at Abu Dhabi airport.
Yemen's Iran-backed
Huthi rebels announced a
"military operation" in the UAE, a partner in Yemen's pro-government
coalition, in what would be a major escalation in the seven-year war.
Police said "small flying objects"
were found at both places, suggesting the sort of deliberate attack that is
almost unheard of in the wealthy UAE, a renowned safe haven in the volatile
Middle East.
"Preliminary investigations indicate
the detection of small flying objects, possibly belonging to drones, that fell
in the two areas and may have caused the explosion and fire," police said
in a statement, adding that the incidents were under investigation.
Although the UAE gave few details about the
incidents or the alleged perpetrators, neighboring Saudi Arabia and
Gulf ally Bahrain both labelled them "terrorist" attacks.
Huthi military spokesman Yahya Saree tweeted
that the rebels' armed forces would "announce an important military
operation in the UAE in the coming hours".
And while there was no formal claim of
responsibility, Abdul Ilah Hajar, adviser to the president of the Huthis'
Supreme Political Council in Sanaa, said it was a warning shot from the rebels.
"We sent them a clear warning message
by hitting places that are not of great strategic importance," he told
AFP.
"But it is a warning if the UAE
continues its hostility to Yemen, it will not be able in the future to
withstand the coming strikes."
'Booby-trapped drones'
Drone attacks are a hallmark of the Huthis'
assaults on Saudi Arabia, the UAE ally which is leading the coalition fighting for
Yemen's government in a grinding civil war.
The rebels have previously threatened to
target Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the gleaming crown jewels of the UAE which last
year opened its first nuclear power plant.
Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry condemned
"in the strongest terms the cowardly terrorist attack" while Bahrain
also slammed the "terrorist Huthi militia's launch of a number of
booby-trapped drones".
The incident follows a surge in fighting in
Yemen and comes two weeks after the rebels seized a UAE-flagged ship, the
Rwabee, and released footage purporting to show military equipment on board.
The UAE said the Rwabee, whose 11 crew are
now hostages, was a "civilian cargo vessel" and called the hijacking
a "dangerous escalation" in the busy Red Sea shipping route.
The rebels later rejected a
UN Security
Council demand for the ship's immediate release, saying it was "not
carrying... toys for children but weapons for extremists".
Yemen's conflict has been a catastrophe for
millions of its citizens who have fled their homes, with many on the brink of
famine, in what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
The UAE joined the coalition against the
Huthis before announcing a change of tack in 2019.
The pro-government Giants Brigade, backed by
the Saudis and UAE, recently delivered a significant blow to the rebels by
retaking three districts in Shabwa governorate.
The clashes were part of an upswing in
violence in the shattered country, where the war is being fought on several
fronts.
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