Dubai: The United Arab Emirates intercepted a ballistic missile fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels early Monday, authorities said, the third such attack in recent weeks.
The UAE's state-run WAM news agency reported the interception, saying that "the attack did not result in any losses, as the remnants of the ballistic missile fell outside the populated areas.”
It wasn't immediately clear where the missile remnants fell. The country's civilian air traffic control agency said there was no immediate effect on air travel in the UAE, home to the long-haul carriers Emirates and Etihad.
Already, the country's top prosecutor has threatened that people who film or post images of such an incident would face criminal charges in the UAE.
The Emirati Defense Ministry released black-and-white footage it described as showing the destruction of a ballistic missile launcher in Yemen's al-Jawf province some 30 minutes after the attack.
Al-Jawf is some 1,350 kilometers (840 miles) southwest of Abu Dhabi.
Houthi military spokesman Yehia Sarei wrote on Twitter that the rebels would make an announcement about an attack in the coming hours that reached into "the depths of the UAE." He did not elaborate. The Houthis' Al-Masirah satellite news channel later reported that airstrikes had begun targeting Sanaa, Yemen's rebel-held capital.
Last week, a similar attack saw both Emirati and U.S. forces fire interceptor missiles to bring down a Houthi attack as the missiles came near Al-Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi, which hosts some 2,000 American troops.
The week before that saw a Houthi drone-and-missile attack strike an Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. fuel depot, killing three people and wounding six others. Another attack targeted Abu Dhabi International Airport.
