Yemeni rebel leader threatens Gulf countries; says ‘Our missiles capable of reaching UAE’

Sana’a, September 15: Amid Gulf crisis, Yemeni rebel leader and chief of Shiite Houthi rebels Abdel-Malek al-Houthi on Thursday threatened to fire missiles at the United Arab Emirates and to attack Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea.

 

Notably, Abdel Malek al-Houthi while giving a speech in the rebel-controlled television station Al-Masirah said that the United Arab Emirates who is a key member of a Saudi-led Arab coalition fighting the Iran-backed rebels in Yemen is now within range of our missiles. “We could target Saudi oil tankers and we could do anything,” he said.

In a televised speech the Yemeni rebel leader Abdel Malek al-Houthi said his group’s ballistic missiles were capable of reaching the United Arab Emirates’ capital of Abu Dhabi and anywhere inside Saudi Arabia. "The companies which have been set up or which have investments in the UAE should no longer consider it a safe country," he added.

Abdel Malek further noted that rebel group Houthi had successfully fired a missile at Abu Dhabi earlier this month, meaning the UAE was no longer safe from attack. However, the rebel leader did not give any further details. On the other side, there has been no indication by the UAE of any missiles landing on their territory.

Yemen has been devastated by more than two years of civil war in which President Abed Rabu Hadi’s government, backed by the coalition, is fighting to drive the Iran-allied Houthis out of cities they seized in 2014 and 2015 in a rapid rise to national power. Interestingly, more than 8,400 people have been killed since the Arab coalition intervened in support of the Yemeni government in March 2015.