SANA’A, YEMEN — Yemen’s air force said in a statement issued Sunday that an unmanned long-range drone, dubbed the Sammad-3 (Invincible-3), targeted the Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates for the second time, in retaliation for the Saudi coalition’s ongoing blockade of Yemen’s Sana’a International Airport.
A source said that the drone successfully bombed the airport, but did not mention whether the aircraft returned to its base in Yemen. There are no immediate reports about casualties or the extent of damage caused.
Meanwhile, Emirati authorities denied the attack and Dubai International Airport said it was operating as normal. An airport spokesman said:
With regards to reports by questionable sources this morning, Dubai Airports can confirm that Dubai International (DXB) is operating as normal without any interruption.”
Mohammed AbdulSalam, the official spokesman of Ansar Allah (Houthis) said that UAE will be forced to admit to the larger operations that it will face should the aggression and siege on Yemen continue. AbdulSalam wrote on his official Twitter page:
Even though Emirati authorities are currently trying to conceal the attack at their airport, they will be forced to expect more operations should thier aggression and siege on the Yemeni people continue.”
On August 27, Yemen’s Army used a Sammad-3 drone to strike the world’s third busiest airport, located over 1100 km (680 miles) away from Yemen’s capital, Sana’a. Emirati authorities also denied that attack.
Yemen’s army spokesman, General Sharaf Ghaleb Luqman, told local media that drones and ballistic missiles would continue to reach Dubai as long as the aggression against Yemen continues.
Luqman also warned foreign investors that the UAE would no longer be safe if the war on Yemen does not end, adding:
The attacks on the UAE and the Saudi region of Jizan show Yemen’s growing power to retaliate against the crimes committed against the country by the Saudi-led coalition.”
High-ranking sources in Yemen’s navy and Yemen’s air force, speaking on condition of anonymity, told MintPress News:
UAE’s strategic areas are all within the range of fire — including the Port of Jebel Ali, strategically located in Dubai, the largest marine terminal in the Middle East and the flagship facility of DP World’s portfolio of over 65 marine terminals across six continents.”
In July, an unmanned long-range Sammad-3 drone targeted the Abu Dhabi airport, 1,600 kilometers away from the Yemen’s capital. The attack sparked a lot of questions about the capability of Yemen’s army, which is loyal to Houthis and constitutes a major component of Yemen’s resistance movement Ansar Allah. Despite a brutal scorched-earth campaign waged by Saudi Arabia and its allies since 2015, the Houthis show no sign of surrender.
The Sammad-3 is named after the late president of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, Saleh Ali al-Sammad, who was assassinated in a Saudi-led coalition drone strike in Hodeida on April 23, 2018. Sammad was chosen by the only parliament actively operating in Yemen.
Yemen’s navy retaliates
Yemen’s navy also targeted multiple border-patrol vessels belonging to Saudi Arabia in the Kingdom’s port of Jizan. Yemen’s army spokesman Luqman said the attack was in response to Saudi Arabia’s targeting of fishing boats in Hodeida, western Yemen.
A military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told MintPress News that the vessels were targeted with guided missiles and claimed the attack caused heavy losses and destroyed many of the boats. MintPress was not able to independently verify those claims.
Saudi Arabia’s state-run SPA reported that the Saudi-led coalition foiled an attack by two explosives-laden remote-controlled boats deployed by Yemen`s army against Saudi Arabia’s Jizan port.
Saudi coalition spokesman Colonel Turki Al Malki said in a statement carried by SPA:
The Royal Saudi Navy Forces detected the movement of two remote control explosive boats headed to the port of Jizan. They were intercepted and destroyed… which has led to minimal damage. The attack occurred in the early hours of the morning on Sunday.”
The attack is the second in less than two months in which Yemen’s naval forces have attacked Saudi military targets off of the coast of Jizan. On September 1, the naval forces targeted a Saudi military barge in the same area.
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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