A fire broke out at an extension of Abu Dhabi airport, police said
A fire broke out at an extension of Abu Dhabi airport, police said
Drones sparked an explosion on three oil tankers in Abu Dhabi and may have caused a separate fire at an extension of Abu Dhabi Airport, police said on Monday.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) state-run news agency said that the suspected drone attacks killed three people and injured an additional six.
Senior Emirati diplomat Anwar Gargash blamed Yemen's Houthi rebels for the attack, and the group later claimed responsibility.
At a press conference late Monday, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the group had launched drones and missiles targeting the oil refinery in Musaffah, along with Abu Dhabi and Dubai airport.
Sarea did not offer evidence to back up the claims.
Police had earlier said said an investigation found debris that could possibly be drones at the sites in Musaffah and Abu Dhabi airport, but they did not mention missiles, Reuters news agency reported.
On Monday evening, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned the attacks in a phone call with his UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, the UAE's state news agency reported.
The UAE's Foreign Ministry issued a statement condemning the "terrorist attack by the Houthi militia on areas and civilian facilities on Emirati soil," adding that it "would not go unpunished."
Comment: The UAE wages a years-long war on Yemen in its failing attempts to topple a government that refuses to be subservient to it, creating what the UN has caused one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, but it's the Houthi's that are the terrorists?
What was the extent of the damage?
Abu Dhabi police said in a statement that the airport fire was "minor," adding that it broke out at an extension of the airport that is still under construction.
Comment: It was so minor that they decided to resume airstrikes on Yemen? Although one could ask, did the UAE ever really give up its war on Yemen? Saudi Arabia, Bahrain expel Lebanese ambassadors - Hezbollah MP claims it's revenge for failed war on Yemen
The statement said that there was a separate blast on three petroleum transport tankers near a storage facility for Abu Dhabi's state-owned oil company.
"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," the statement said.
A proxy war
For years, Iran-aligned Houthi rebels have been fighting a war against a Saudi-led coalition.
The Houthis have previously used drones to launch crude and imprecise attacks aimed at Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Comment: Crude, perhaps, but so effective that even though Saudi Arabia has spent billions and deployed its most advanced and devastating weaponry, and with illicit training from the US & UK, that they're still unable to unseat the Houthi's, and, as they're now learning, they've sacrified their own security for this diabolical misadventure.
The UAE is a key member of the Saudi-led coalition which has been fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen since 2015, in support of the country's internationally recognized government.
Comment: 'Internationally recognized' is a euphemism for 'the West'.
The Houthi movement controls most of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.
Earlier this month, Houthis seized an Emirati-flagged vessel that they claimed was a "military cargo ship." The Saudi-led coalition claimed that the ship was carrying medical supplies.
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American media reveals that US commandos were recently involved in the war in Yemen to save their Saudi allies from the Yemeni swamp.
Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar ran an article on Monday, claiming that US special forces are involved in the ongoing battle in Yemen to support the so-called Saudi-led coalition.
Indeed, a senior official from the US Department of Defense (the Pentagon) made public in his day the involvement of US commandos in the war that Riyadh has been waging since 2015 against the poorest country in the Arab world, according to The American Arabic. Al-Hurra was recently cited.
Washington also recognized its indirect involvement in the war against Yemen before current President Joe Biden entered the White House.According to Al-Akhbar, this public recognition contains a series of signs and messages; perhaps most important of which is that the course of events on the battlefield has become such as to force the United States into direct involvement in the war. It also reveals the importance of the conflict, especially in the Marib province (central-west) of Yemen.
The Yemeni ambassador to Iran believes that the possible liberation of the strategic city of Marib would be "a turning point in the war in Yemen".Politically, the Pentagon's announcement of US special forces in Yemen shows that the current US administration, like its predecessors, has failed to undermine the will of the Yemen National Salvation Government's negotiating team, despite all the efforts he has made in recent months to intimidate him and put him under pressure ”, highlighted the Lebanese daily.
The report says that the deteriorating situation of the attackers on the battlefield has led the United States and its Israeli ally to act swiftly to prevent this process and try to delay the takeover of Marib by the military and the committees.
The United States is sinking into the same swamp that its allies are sinking intoAfter highlighting the strength and steadfastness of the Yemeni negotiating team, the daily stresses that Washington will realize that all it has done with its military presence in Yemen is only to sink into the swamp where its allies have sunk; especially if the authorities of the Yemeni National Salvation Government decide to broaden their military response, and this decision embraces US interests in the region.
The Yemeni army, supported by the Ansarolá popular movement, has promised to recover the entire country from Saudi aggressors and ensure that the country is free and independent. Indeed, the Yemeni army has intensified its operations against the Arab kingdom and its allies in recent months, and has made great progress in several fields, particularly in Marib.
If the Yemeni army and people's committees succeed in taking control of the governorate of Marib, the so-called Saudi coalition will suffer a blow from which it cannot recover.