Click to see full-size image, Via Google Earth
A source in the Yemeni Air Force [loyal to the Houthis] announced, on September 30, that a “Samad-3” armed unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) carried out a “series of airstrikes” on the Dubai international airport, which is located more than 1,200km away from Yemen territory.
Minutes later, the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) denied the Houthis’ claims and said that the Dubai international airport is operating as usual. Furthermore, flight monitoring sites didn’t show any delay in air traffic over Dubai, which confirms that the attack failed for some reason.
“They [UAE] will be forced to acknowledge bigger operations that will reach them one day as long as the aggression and siege continued on the Yemeni people,” a spokesman for the Houthis, Mohamad Abdu al-Salam said in a tweet commenting on the GCAA’s statement.
This was not the first time the Houthis attack the Dubai international airport. The first attack occurred on August 28 and was carried out with the same type of UAV. Prior to that, a Samad-3 was used to target the Abu Dhabi international airport.
The new attack will likely trigger a violent response from the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, because such operations have a huge economic impact on the UAE where shipping and transportation are a big sector of the market.
