14 killed as coalition bombs Yemen after UAE attack

GBNEWS24DESK//

The Saudi-led coalition killed 14 people in air strikes on Yemen’s rebel-held capital, a medical source said Tuesday, after an attack by Huthi insurgents on the United Arab Emirates sent regional tensions soaring.

Sanaa residents were combing the rubble for survivors of the strikes that levelled two houses, hours after the Huthis had killed three people Monday in a drone and missile attack on the UAE capital Abu Dhabi.

Huthi Brigadier General Abdullah Qassem Al-Junaid, director of the rebels’ air force academy, was killed along with family members, the rebels’ Saba news agency said.

Coalition forces launched further strikes on Sanaa on Tuesday.

“The search is still going on for survivors in the rubble,” said Akram al-Ahdal, a relative of several of the victims.

The UAE, part of the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Iran-backed rebels, had vowed a tough response to Monday’s attack, the first deadly assault acknowledged inside its borders and claimed by the Yemeni insurgents.

The attack on the renowned Middle East safe haven of UAE, which opened a new front in the seven-year war, followed a surge in fighting in Yemen including battles between the rebels and UAE-trained troops.

Crude prices soared to seven-year highs partly because of the Abu Dhabi attacks, which exploded fuel tanks near storage facilities of oil giant ADNOC. The Huthis later warned UAE residents to avoid “vital installations”.

Yemen, whose nearly seven-year-old war has killed hundreds of thousands, occupies a strategic position on the Red Sea, a vital conduit for oil from the resource-rich Gulf.

After the attacks, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed agreed in a phone call to “jointly stand up to these acts of aggression”, UAE state media said.