On Monday, the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen launched airstrikes on Yemen's capital, just hours after Iranian-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a deadly drone attack in the United Arab Emirates.
According to state-run Emirati media and Houthi sources, the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen assaulted the UAE on Monday in an apparent drone strike that blew up six fuel tankers and killed three persons.
Eight additional persons were injured, including two airport staff and six at another explosion site, Abu Dhabi Police stated in a Facebook statement.
"Airstrikes on Sana'a have begun in reaction to the threat and military need," Saudi Arabia's state-run Al-Ekhbariya news agency stated in a tweet.
"The UAE's brutal attack is a hostile act. The Houthi's targeting of civilians in the kingdom and the UAE constitutes war crimes for which the offenders must be brought to justice," Al-Ekhbariya said.
The representative for Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the strike, saying that the UAE is a "unsafe state" as long as it maintains its violent escalation against Yemen.
Five ballistic missiles and a significant number of drones were used in an operation against Dubai and Abu Dhabi airports, the Musaffah oil refinery in Abu Dhabi, and a number of important and sensitive Emirate sites and facilities," Houthi spokesman Brigadier Gen. Yahya Saree said Monday on the Houthi-controlled Al Masirah TV channel.
United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned the incident during a phone call with his Emirati counterpart, the UAE state news agency stated. National security advisor to the White House Jake Sullivan indicated that the U.S. would try to hold the Houthis responsible.
The Saudi-led alliance commenced airstrikes minutes after the Houthis claimed credit.
According to Al-Masirah, a television station owned by the Houthi rebels that rule Yemen's capital, at least 12 people were killed and 11 injured.
Al-Masirah stated that search and rescue personnel are scouring for survivors among the wreckage of demolished structures.
Additionally, Houthi state-run media said that the Saudi-led coalition launched over 24 airstrikes on various sites in Yemen in the last 24 hours, causing significant material damage.
The incident occurred in the wake of a recent increase of hostilities between the Houthis and Saudi-led forces in Yemen, which has reversed the war's momentum away from the Houthis following months of Houthi successes.
International efforts to broker a cease-fire to end the war have been hampered by the continued offensives, which have resulted in what aid agencies describe as the world's worst humanitarian calamity.
