New Delhi, 17th January 2022: Yemen’s Houthi rebels carried out a suspected drone attack on Monday in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). So far, three people have been reported killed in these explosive attacks, including two Indians and a Pakistani national.

Abu Dhabi Police said, “two Indians and a Pakistani national were killed and six others were injured when three petroleum transport tankers caught fire near ADNOC’s storage tank in the industrial city of Abu Dhabi.”

Abu Dhabi Police have informed that unidentified assailants exploded in the Mussafah area.

Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for these drone attacks in the UAE. Iran-backed Yemen’s Houthi rebels said, “we were behind suspected drone strikes in the United Arab Emirates. We took this step in response to the recent action by the United Arab Emirates in Yemen and targeted Abu Dhabi.”

Last week, Emirati-backed “troops” dealt an unexpected defeat to the Houthis in the oil-rich province of Shabwa. The emirate has recently stepped up its efforts to support local ‘soldiers’ in the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.

The Houthi movement officially called Ansar Allah and colloquially Houthi is an Islamic political and armed movement that emerged from Saada in northern Yemen in the 1990s. The Houthi movement is a predominantly Zaidi Shia force, largely led by the Houthi tribe. It is the largest tribal organization of Shia Muslims in the northern region of Yemen. The Houthis are opposed to the expansion of the Salafi ideology of Sunni Islam in northern Yemen.

The Houthis have a history of poor relations with Yemen’s Sunni Muslims. The movement discriminated against Sunnis but also recruited and formed alliances with them. Led by Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, the group emerged as an opposition to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, whom they accused of widespread financial corruption and criticized for being backed by Saudi Arabia and the US.

After becoming a rebel force in the 2000s, the Houthis fought six times with the forces of Yemen’s President Saleh from 2004 to 2010. In 2011, after the intervention of Arab countries (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, and others), this war was pacified.

However, the dictator Saleh had to leave the post due to the demonstrations of the people of the country. After this Abdarabbu Mansour Hadi became the new President of Yemen. Despite the expectations, the Houthi were not pleased with them and again gave up the rebellion and took over the capital Sanaa, removing him from the presidency.

When the Houthi occupied Yemen’s power, an atmosphere of fear spread among the Sunni Muslims of neighboring countries. Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia and the UAE were terrified of this, after which they reached out to the US and Britain for help. With the help of Western countries, they started air and ground attacks against the Houthis, and these countries supported Hadi, who was ousted from power. As a result, Yemen has now become a battlefield of civil war. Here the forces of Saudi Arabia, UAE are facing the Houthi rebels.

The Saudi-led coalition received military and intelligence support from the US, Britain, and France. Saudi officials at the start of the war predicted that it would only last a few weeks. But the six-year military standoff continues. After landing in the port city of Aden in August 2015, coalition ground troops helped drive the Houthi and their allies out of the south. However, the rebels could not be driven out of Sanaa and most of the northwest.