Houthis ‘could strike Dubai’

The UAE warned yesterday that Houthi rebels in Yemen were capable of striking Dubai or Abu Dhabi, as spiralling tensions from the Saudi Arabia oil crisis risked spilling over into the Emirates.

Officials in the UAE told The Sunday Telegraph that if the Houthis, a militia aligned with Iran, were to strike at tourist and global business hubs, they would be ‘‘attacking not only the UAE, but the world’’.

The Houthis made threats against the UAE last week in retaliation for its involvement in the civil war in Yemen. The threats came after the Houthis claimed responsibility for the missile and drone attack on Saudi Arabia’s largest oil processing plants.

While intelligence points to Iran as having been behind the assault, the UAE fears the Houthis could be looking to escalate conflict around the Gulf as Iran’s shadow war with Saudi Arabia and its allies bubbles to the surface.

Abdulmaklik Ejri, a member of the Houthi political bureau, intensified the threats on Saturday, citing the UAE’S continued military involvement in the war in Yemen.

‘‘We can choose times and targets to avoid civilian casualties,’’ he said, referring to Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

While they are still sceptical of Houthi capability to strike the UAE, officials in Abu Dhabi privately conceded that the Emirates’ status as a hub for business and tourism could be shattered in the event of any successful attack. Dubai airport is one of the world’s busiest airports, with more traffic than both London Heathrow and New York’s JFK.

The city also serves as a regional base for international business, and has become a growing tourist destination, with more than 1.5 million Britons visit the UAE each year.

‘‘There is a reason everyone comes to Dubai for business and holiday – it is safe,’’ the UAE official said. ‘‘We have never, ever had an attack. [If there was] nobody would escape the effects.’’

Wary of escalation, UAE officials distanced themselves from US and Saudi rhetoric in May in the wake of a suspected Iranian attack on four commercial ships off the coast of Fujairah, a major UAE shipping port.

Since seizing the Yemeni capital of Sanaa in 2014, the Houthis, who are alleged to be backed by Iran, have fired scores of missiles at targets in Saudi Arabia, killing more than 100 civilians.

Tens of thousands of Yemeni civilians have died in the war during attacks by Saudi Arabia and its allies and thousands mroe from famine.

Any strike on the UAE’S twin cities of Abu Dhabi and Dubai would be likely to have farreaching consequences.

‘‘The UAE has built its image on stability, and any disruption to this would run counter to their narrative and role they seek to play in the region,’’ said Becca Wasser, policy analyst at Rand Corporation.

Yet whilst the stakes are potentially far higher, Alex Mello, regional security analyst at Horizon Access, said the UAE was in a far better position to deal with the threat. ‘‘[UAE] air defence capability is significantly better than the Saudis; their crews are a lot better trained; they’ve got better, more modern equipment,’’ he said.

‘‘Now everyone in the region is going to be alert to this sort of threat.’’

Saudi Arabia is still reeling from last weekend’s strikes on two of the state-owned oil company Aramco’s main plants, which caused severe damage and sent global oil prices rocketing.

– Telegraph Group