Yemen’s Ansarullah Claims It Bombs Abu Dhabi International Airport In Drone Attack
Yemen’s Ansarullah movement declared on Thursday that it has conducted a successful drone attack the international airport of the UAE capital, forcing Abu Dhabi rulers to halt airport’s operation.
Yemeni TV station Al Masirah said Ansarullah has attacked Abu Dhabi International Airport with their latest home-made drone, Samsad 3, that was unveiled just today.
The report said the drone staged several bombing raids, causing disruption in the normal operation of the airport.
Few hours later, a United Arab Emirates official denied the report, saying, “Operations at the airport are business as usual.”
But the Abu Dhabi International Airport acknowledged the halt in operation on its twitter page, yet it said the disruption was due to an unspecified incident caused by a car.
On Wednesday, Head of the Supreme Committee of Yemen Revolution Mohammad Ali al-Houthi warned that the Yemeni missiles are capable of targeting the ports of other members of the Saudi-led coalition, one day after Yemeni popular forces attacked a second Saudi warship off the Western coast.
“Our missiles are able to target the ports of other member states of the aggressive Saudi-led coalition,” al-Houthi was quoted as saying by al-Jazeera.
The Yemeni resistance fighters also warned all foreign companies, specially energy firms, this week to leave UAE and Saudi Arabia immediately, saying that the two states that have been at war with Yemen for more than three years now are no more safe from drone and missile attacks.
World’s top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, temporarily suspended all oil shipments through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait after it claimed that the last night attack by the Yemeni troops targeted crude-carrying vessels, while Yemen’s senior officials reiterate that they aimed warships.
Following the attack, Yemen’s army underlined that it had destroyed a second Warship, but hours later Saudi officials claimed that a Saudi oil tanker came under attack off the Western coast on Wednesday, announcing that they are temporarily halting oil exports through the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait.
Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih stated on Thursday the kingdom would halt all oil shipments through the strait immediately.
The suspension will last “until the situation becomes clearer and the maritime transit through Bab al-Mandeb is safe”, Falih said in a statement.
Bab Al-Mandeb is a potential choking point for Saudi oil shipments. Any lasting disruption of traffic through it would result in turmoil on the crude market. Brent crude rose 38 cents to $73.82 a barrel on Wednesday.
Several warships and military boats have been hit by the Yemeni army and popular committees since the start of the military operations conducted in reaction to the Riyadh and its allies aggression.
Ansarullah fighters have also threatened that they could strike warships and oil tankers of the Saudi-led coalition in retaliation for the blockade the military alliance has imposed on the Yemeni ports, particularly the key port of Hudaydah.
The Saudi-led war has killed and injured over 600,000 civilians, according to the latest figures released by the Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights. However, the coalition failed to make any major gains in the face of stiff resistance from Ansarullah fighters and their allied forces.
