The Israeli intelligence system is analyzing the precise drone strikes carried out by the Houthi rebels in Yemen on January 17 on the Al-Musafa industrial zone and at Abu Dhabi International Airport.
This is a well-planned military operation that the Houthi rebels call a “Yemen storm” and are proud of.
In the attack, 3 people were killed and 6 were injured and 3 fuel tankers were set on fire. In response, Saudi-led coalition planes attacked Houthi targets in Yemen.
The Houthis claim that the attack was carried out using 5 Quds 2 and Zulfiker ballistic missiles and a large number of Qamad 3 drones. Including Israel and Israeli companies, in which he said: “All countries and companies that have investments in the UAE should not treat the UAE as a safe country.”
#Yemen #Houthi #UAE #KSA #To whom #UAE #Saudi Arabia #Houthi
Statement of the Yemeni Armed Forces on#Operation_cyclone_Yemen
(targeting the Emirati depth)
January 17, 2022 pic.twitter.com/4eYLGyFISS— AMERICAN COP (@cop_american) January 17, 2022
The Houthi attack on UAE economic facilities is a continuation of the escalation after two weeks ago they hijacked a Emirate ship in the Red Sea and still own it.
The Houthis rejected a UN call for the release of the ship, claiming it was “loaded with weapons.”
The attack was preceded by an explicit threat from the Houthis in escalation after the Saudi-led Arab coalition, which also included the United Arab Emirates, advanced on the ground in the al-Bawaida and Shabua provinces and had achievements at the expense of the Houthis.
Gulf officials say the situation in Yemen is defined as “critical” in light of the advance of Arab coalition forces and heavy attacks by coalition planes on Houthi rebel strongholds.
Iran is responsible for the attack
The assessment in Israel is that the “Quds” force of the Iranian “Revolutionary Guards” was behind the attack, just as it was behind the attack by the drones and ballistic missiles on the Aramco oil facilities in Saudi Arabia on September 14, 2019.
The possibility that Iran carried out the attack cannot be ruled out. It has recently developed many vessels from which it can launch UAVs, it has also been able to launch these UAVs from the islands of the UAE that it has taken over.
A security source in Israel estimates that even if the Houthi rebels carried it out in practice, it was after receiving a “green light” from Iran in light of the recent political dialogue between Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
In his opinion, the attack on the United Arab Emirates was intended to make her withdraw from participating in the Saudi-led Arab coalition or to signal to her to ease the pressure on the Houthi rebels.
#Saudi Air Force planes and anti-aircraft gunships today shot down eight #Houthi UAVs carrying explosives. pic.twitter.com/blGU2jF0sG
– Venkatesh Ragupathi (@venkatesh_Ragu) January 19, 2022
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett last night condemned the attack on the United Arab Emirates, saying that “the attack was carried out under the direction of Iran and Israel is under the auspices of the United Arab Emirates.”
The Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar reported on January 18 from military sources in Sanaa that this was a “strategic deterrent phase” on the part of the Houthi rebels and that “the United Arab Emirates has not fulfilled its commitments to withdraw from Yemen.”
Sources estimated that “strategic deterrent actions are expected that will completely change the military equation and the UAE will suffer heavy losses.”
At the end of last year there were important developments in Iran’s relations with the United Arab Emirates, last December Sheikh Tahanon Ben Zaid, the UAE’s national security adviser, visited Tehran and met with Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi and his colleague Ali Shimkhani.
That same month, Ali visited Jerry Kani, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for political affairs and in charge of nuclear talks in Vienna in the UAE, and met with its foreign minister and political adviser Anwar Krakash, declaring he was “opening a new page in Iran’s relations with the UAE.”
The Iranians or the Houthi rebels beat the UAE in its “soft underbelly”. The United Arab Emirates is a small country that relies on oil trade, foreign investment and tourism. Lipa in Dubai.
Arab commentators estimate that the Houthi attack on the UAE is a clear message to the UAE that it has nothing to rely on in the US or Israel and must recalculate its path.
The Houthi rebels’ patience has run out and they do not believe the UAE and its promises can be believed, the UAE has reduced its military involvement in Yemen in the past year but recently renewed it, angering the Houthis and Iran, so the scenario of further attacks on it by the Houthi rebels ‘S is certainly possible.
Iranian suicide bombers have become very effective weapons in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are also having difficulty in the military confrontation with them and their interception.
The pro-Iranian militias are using them to attack American targets in Iraq and Syria as well as foreign targets in the middle of the sea, see the attack on the ship “Mercer Street” near Oman on July 29, 2021.
The Israeli defense establishment is very concerned about the attack on the UAE, the distance from Yemen to Abu Dhabi is about 1500 km, about the distance from Yemen to the city of Eilat, the attacking UAVs in the UAE were of the “Kamad 3” type with a flight range of 1700 km .
The Houthi rebels have already threatened Israel several times and even announced that they have a “target bank” that includes all the major cities in Israel.
According to Gulf officials, the UAE has asked the Biden administration following the recent Houthi attack to return the Houthis to the list of terrorist organizations after the government expelled them a year ago for fear it would harm the humanitarian situation in Yemen. And vis-à-vis Iran while negotiations on the nuclear deal continue in Vienna.