The attacks on the Abu Dhabi oil fields by the Houthi rebels has raised the spectre of the UAE's vulnerability, according to a report on Al Jazeera. The UAE is clearly not as safe and secure as it maintains. If you come from a country where any attack by foreign forces is highly unlikely, the UAE is a place that feels vulnerable to attack.
More attacks are planned, say the Houthi rebels who have claimed responsibility for the drone attacks at a storage oil facility and at the construction site at the airport. Three people were killed - two Indians and a Pakistani.
Dubai prides itself for being a secure and safe place to live and work but this may no longer be the case, according to some reports. Some people argue that the UAE has tried to go too far with its foreign policy; it is trying to be "too big for its boots", some analysts say. Maybe! It will be interesting as to what it does next.
Saudi and UAE forces are attacking Yemen, which the UN now says is the worst humanitarian disaster in the world. UAE dialled back its involvement in the war in 2019.
The US has responded to the attack by trying to reinvigorate peace talks in Yemen. Maybe US involvement in the region was one of the problems in the first place?
This is what Al Monitor had to say.
January 19, 2022
The US special envoy for Yemen will travel to the Gulf region and London this week in an effort to reinvigorate peace efforts, the State Department said Wednesday.
Timothy Lenderking will "press the parties to de-escalate militarily and seize the new year to participate fully in an inclusive UN-led peace process," the State Department said.
His visit follows aerial attacks on United Arab Emirates Monday that were claimed by Yemen's Houthi rebels, who said they used missiles and drones on Abu Dhabi's state-owned oil facility and airport. The Houthi attack, which destroyed several fuel tankers and killed at least three people, was met with retaliatory airstrikes from the Saudi-led military coalition on Tuesday. The coalition strikes on the capital Sanaa killed at least 20 people, including civilians, the Houthis said.
The Iran-backed rebels regularly launch cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia, but Monday's attack marked the first on Emirati soil acknowledged by the UAE. Several weeks ago, the Houthis seized an Emirati-flagged vessel in the Red Sea.
Yemen has been embroiled in chaos since the Houthis overran much of the country, including Sanaa, in 2014 and expelled the internationally recognized government led by President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. A US-backed, Saudi-led military coalition intervened in the conflict in March 2015 to restore the Yemeni government.
After seven years of conflict, around half the population in the Arab world's poorest country is considered food insecure. The State Department said Lenderking's visit this week will also focus on addressing Yemen's dire humanitarian and economic crises.
"It is imperative that donors, especially regional donors, provide additional funding and that all parties to the conflict take steps to improve humanitarian access and address Yemen's fuel crisis," the department said.
Following Monday's attack, Axios reports that the UAE reportedly asked the Biden administration to redesignate the Houthis as a terrorist organization. Biden revoked the Trump administration's designation in February 2021 following pressure from aid agencies who warned the rebels' blacklisting would complicate their humanitarian work and cut off commercial imports.