A suspected Yemeni rebel drone in Houthi en route to a key oil depot in Abu Dhabi killed three people and sparked a separate fire at Abu Dhabi International Airport, police said.
United Arab Emirates police have identified the dead as two Indians and one Pakistani national.
“Small flying objects” were found as three fuel tanks exploded in an industrial area and set fire to the airport, police said, as Houthi rebels declared “military operations” in the UAE.
The UAE, which had greatly reduced its military presence in Yemen by 2019, continues to hold armed Yemeni forces and train them.
Drone attack is a symbol of the Houthis’ invasion of Saudi Arabia, the UAE coalition leading a coalition fighting for the Yemeni government in the ongoing civil war.
The Yemeni conflict has been a disaster for millions of its displaced people, many on the brink of starvation, in what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Concerns about the oil market
MENA chief analyst at the end-of-state intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft, Torbjorn Soltvedt, said the alleged drone attack would affect observers of the oil market at a time when the international community is trying to rescue a nuclear deal with Iran.
“As negotiators run out of time, the risk of deteriorating security in the region increases,” Reuters news agency reported.
Houthi announces ‘military operation’
A Houthis military spokesman said the group had launched a military operation “deep in the UAE”.
More details will be announced in the coming hours, a spokesman for the organization said.
“The military has announced that it will announce significant military operations in the UAE in the coming hours,” military spokesman Yahya Saree tweeted.
Three people have died in the UAE allegedly in a drone attack
At least three people were killed and six others injured when three oil tankers exploded in Abu Dhabi in a drone attack.
The blast “killed a Pakistani national and two Indian nationals, while six others sustained minor injuries,” according to the state news agency WAM.