Page 8 - MEOG Week 03 2022

MEOG POLICY & SECURITY MEOG

Houthis strike UAE on same day

Tehran diplomats return to Saudi

MIDDLE EAST IRANIAN-BACKED Houthi forces on January Houthi advance.
17 expanded the Yemen conflict into the United A Houthi military spokesperson, Yahia Sarei,
Arab Emirates (UAE) with apparent drone on January 17 stated that the group launched an
strikes in Abu Dhabi on the same day that Teh- attack deep inside the UAE.
ran announced that three of its diplomats had He said a statement detailing his claims would
arrived in Saudi Arabia in an effort meant to help soon be released. Later in the day, speaking with
repair regional relations. AFP, Abdul Ilah Hajar, advisor to the president
The attack, which left three people dead, of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, warned
also comes amid the ongoing Vienna talks in the attack would be the first of many if the UAE
which Iran and six major powers are attempting did not end its hostility towards Yemen.
to negotiate a path to reviving the 2015 nuclear
deal, or JCPOA, in another attempt at defusing First experienced by UAE
tensions in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia has been targeted by drones and
One of the strikes in the UAE, near the air- missiles fired from Yemen throughout the war,
port of the capital Abu Dhabi, which also injured but this drone attack was the first experienced
six people, left flames billowing from oil storage by the UAE.
tanks owned by the firm ADNOC, The Associ- Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been
ated Press reported. attempting to devise formulas for ending the
A separate explosion at a construction site war. The Saudis in recent months readily agreed
at the airport, also thought to have been caused to proposals from Iran to hold talks in Baghdad
by a drone, ignited a fire but caused minor dam- to help repair bilateral relations.
age, it said. Two Indian nationals and one Paki- Tehran and Riyadh broke diplomatic ties in
stani were killed in the oil tank fireballs. All the 2016 after crowds of people attacked the Saudi
wounded were reported to be lightly hurt. embassy in Tehran and a consulate office in
Mashhad following the execution of a promi-
Quickly claimed nent Shia religious leader by the Sunni-majority
The attack was quickly claimed by the Houthi kingdom.
leadership. The UAE police said it was likely to “I believe the Saudi side is interested in talks
have been conducted with small flying objects. on some regional issues as well, but our negotia-
“UAE authorities … are dealing … with the tions, for now, are focused on bilateral issues and
heinous Houthi attack on some civilian instal- on when to return relations to a normal state,”
lations in Abu Dhabi,” tweeted UAE presidential Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdolla-
advisor Anwar Gargash, referring to the Yemeni hian told Al Jazeera last week.
rebels. “The tampering of the region’s security by The Iranian foreign ministry said on January
terrorist militias is too weak to affect the stability 17 that the three Iranian diplomats, granted visas
and safety in which we live,” he added. by the Saudis, had arrived in Jeddah, Saudi Ara-
The strikes, however, may come to be seen bia, to reopen Iran’s representative office to the
as representing a sharp escalation in hostili- Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), an
ties in Yemen’s seven-year war in which Saudi organisation with 57 members. The office was
and UAE forces are aligned against the Houthi closed six years ago during the diplomatic spat
rebels. The Houthis lately threatened to launch over the execution.
strikes against the UAE after losing the key area The war in Yemen has killed around 130,000
of Shabwa, near the city of Ma’arib in northeast people—both civilians and fighters—and has
Yemen, after Saudi forces and UAE-backed exacerbated hunger and famine across the
ground troops played a part in pushing back a country.™

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 03 19•January•2022