Dubai: The Defence Ministry of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced that it intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles fired by Yemen’s Houthi militia.
Monday’s launch, which came a week after a deadly Houthi attack on the UAE’s capital Abu Dhabi on January 17, caused no casualties, as the ballistic missile fragments fell in several locations around Abu Dhabi, Xinhua quoted the official Emirates News Agency citing a statement of the ministry.
The ballistic missile launcher in Yemen’s Al Jawf governorate was destroyed shortly after it launched the two missiles against Abu Dhabi, the Ministry announced in a post on its Twitter account.
Video footage posted on the Ministry’s Twitter account showed a huge fire erupting at an infrastructure, which was described by as a ballistic missile launcher in Yemen.
The missile was reported to have been launched by an F-16 fighter jet.
The Ministry also said in a statement that it is ready to deal with any threats and will “take all necessary measures to protect the state from all attacks”.
Meanwhile, Houthi military spokesman Yehya Sarea asked foreign companies and investors in the UAE to leave, because Yemen has become “unsafe”.
“As long as the UAE continues its assault and siege of the Yemeni people, it will be repeatedly targeted,” he said.
The Houthis on Monday claimed responsibility for using ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones to strike a number of facilities deep within the UAE and Saudi Arabia, both of which have joined a military coalition fighting the militia.
The strike had targeted the Al Dhafra Air Base and other sensitive sites in Abu Dhabi, as well as important sites in Dubai, Sarea said.
The militia also used “a large number of drones” to attack multiple military bases in Saudi Arabia’s Sharurah and other areas, and fired ballistic missiles against the Jazan and Asir regions, according to Sarea.
The strike against Saudi Arabia, according to the Saudi-led coalition, resulted in material losses but no casualties.
Turkey and Lebanon condemned the Houthi missile attacks shortly after they occurred.
The Houthis have frequently launched cross-border missile and drone strikes on Saudi Arabia, and on January 17, they staged the unexpected attack on the UAE, in which three petroleum tankers caught fire near Abu Dhabi National Oil Company storage facilities.
The attack resulted in the deaths of three people and the injuries of six more.
In the week following January 17, the Saudi-led coalition conducted a series of airstrikes across Yemen, hitting various Houthi-controlled targets and killing dozens of people.
(IANS)
