SANA’A, YEMEN — A source inside of Yemen’s Air Force said in a statement that an unmanned long-range drone, dubbed the Samad 3 (Invincible-3), targeted Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates — located over 1100 km ( 683 miles) away from Yemen’s capital, Sana’a — in retaliation for recent Saudi-led coalition airstrikes against civilians in Yemen.
The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the drone successfully bombed the airport and returned to its base in Yemen, adding “this was the first time that Yemeni forces used a drone to attack the airport.” The UAE is Saudi Arabia’s key ally in its deadly war against Yemen.
Yemen’s Army spokesman, General Sharaf Ghaleb Luqman, said the drone’s strike achieved its goal and caused the airport to shut down for some time. No comments have been issued by Emirati aviation authorities thus far, and there are no immediate reports about possible casualties or the extent of damage caused.
The unnamed source said that the attack came in retaliation for the Saudi-led coalition’s attack against a school-bus full of children in Dhahian and another attack targeting displaced civilians in Dreihimi, saying “we renew the invitation to investors to stay away from the UAE.”
Two weeks ago, the Saudi-led coalition carried out two separate airstrikes targeting children in Yemen. One, north of Sadaa in Dhahian city on August 9, killed more than 30 children; in the second attack, which took place on on August 24, the coalition targeted a group of displaced civilians in Dreihimi, leaving more than 20 children dead.
The new drone attack comes one month after the Abu Dhabi International Airport was targeted by Yemeni forces in a separate attack, also using a long-range Sammad-3 unmanned drone, on July 26, 2018. A military source confirmed that Yemeni forces will continue targeting the infrastructure of countries that have taken part in the war against Yemen.
The new drone — the Sammad 3 — is named after the late president of the Supreme Political Council, Saleh Ali al-Sammad, who was assassinated in a Saudi-led coalition drone strike in Hodeida on April 23 , 2018. Sammad had been chosen by the only parliament actively operating in Yemen.
While Yemen’s Air Force has used drones to carry out attacks on Saudi and UAE fighters in the past — including in a recent strike on coalition bases in the al-Jaribat area of the al-Bayda district — the drone strike in Dubai is the first of its kind, as it struck the UAE’s most important city and commercial center, and is likely to have economic repercussions on the UAE.
The U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition launched a military campaign against Yemen in 2015, killing civilians including children and women, and targeting hospitals, schools, markets, and camps for the internally displaced. Yemen’s military has responded by firing ballistic missiles and drones against economic and vital targets inside UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Top Photo | An Emirates Airline plane taxis at the Dubai airport in the United Arab Emirates, Wednesday, May 9, 2018. Emirates, the Middle East’s largest airline. Kamran Jebreili | AP
Ahmed AbdulKareem is a Yemeni journalist. He covers the war in Yemen for MintPress News as well as local Yemeni media.
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