SANAA, July 26 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels said on Thursday that their drone attacked the international airport of Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
"The Yemeni Drone Air Force using new type of locally-made unmanned aerial plane, Sammad 3, attacked the Abu Dhabi International Airport on Thursday," read a statement carried by Houthi-controlled Saba News Agency.
Just less than an hour before the Houthi statement, the UAE airport authorities acknowledged that "an incident happened in the Abu Dhabi International Airport," but did not elaborate further, UAE media reported.
The drone attack on Thursday, if confirmed, would be the second of Houthis' long-range unmanned aerial attacks in a week.
Last week, the Houthi rebels said their drone targeted the refinery of the Saudi oil giant Aramco company in Riyadh, capital of Saudi Arabia.
Aramco, however, said on its official Twitter account that the company just suffered "a minor fire due to an operational incident" which was "successfully controlled."
"No personnel are injured and no impact on operations," it added, without referring to any drone attack.
A day earlier, Saudi Arabia said Houthi rebels attacked a Saudi oil ship in the Red Sea, while Houthis said the ship was in a "war zone."
Saudi Arabia later announced the suspension of all oil shipments through the Red Sea strait of Bab el-Mandeb following the attack.
Border cities in Saudi Arabia, especially their vital military and economic facilities, have been the most targeted in Houthi missile attacks, with the majority claimed to have been intercepted.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been leading an Arab military coalition against Houthis in support of the Yemeni exiled government over the last three years.
The coalition forces launched a major military assault on June 13 to retake the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah from Houthis.
The Houthi fighters seized control of much of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, in September 2014, forcing internationally recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government into exile in Riyadh.
The Saudi-led Arab military coalition aims to defeat Houthis, recapture Yemen's northern cities and reinstate Hadi into power.
