The 2022 Abu Dhabi attack was an attack against three oil tanker trucks and an under construction airport extension infrastructure in
Abu Dhabi,
United Arab Emirates conducted by the
Houthi movement using drones and missiles.[2][3][4] Although several missiles and drones were intercepted, 3 civilians were killed and 6 were injured by a drone attack.
Background
Since 2014 Yemen has been embroiled in
civil war. The rebels are led by the
Supreme Political Council, which is composed and led mainly by the
Shia Islamist movement known as the
Houthis. These forces are against the government of
Mansur Hadi. A
Saudi Arabian–led intervention in Yemen, which includes the United Arab Emirates, intervened in 2015 to support and aid Hadi-government forces.
Saudi Arabia and its supporters have accused the
Islamic Republic of Iran of backing and using Houthis as
proxies, which Iran has denied. The UAE plays a significant role in the war, lending major assistance to pro-government militias including the
Giants Brigades.
Throughout the conflict, which has seen what is considered to be the
world's largest humanitarian crisis, Houthis have carried numerous attacks outside Yemen, mainly on
Saudi Arabia. Very few of their attacks have actually taken place outside Saudi Arabia and Yemen. While the Houthis continuously claimed they had organized multiple attacks across the UAE pre-2022, these claims were denied by Emirati authorities.[5]
In 2019,
Houthi forces announced they had struck a major Saudi Arabian oil facility. The Saudi government charged Iran with complicity in the attacks, which it denied. Investigations by the United Nations found little evidence that such a sophisticated operation could not have been carried out by the Houthis without direct assistance from a foreign power.[6][7] In 2020, in retaliation for what it considered to be a threat to the region, the United States
assassinated Iranian major general Qasem Soleimani, entrenching instability further into the Middle East as pro-Iran forces struggled to maintain their foothold in the region. In 2021 Iraqi Shi'a paramilitaries
attempted to assassinate Iraqi Prime Minister
Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, marking a major turning point in the history of the region. Iran was accused by pro-Saudi and pro-Western figures of supplying the drones to the perpetrators. Iran denied all ties to the attack and condemned the attempt to kill Kadhimi.[8] In 2021,
Joe Biden removed the Houthis from the United States list of terrorist organizations on the grounds that otherwise Yemeni civilians would be unable to acquire humanitarian aid.[9]
On January 11, 2022 the Houthis lost three districts during the ongoing clashes in
Shabwah Governorate to Emirati-trained Giants Brigades, resulting in
Ain,
Bayhan, and
Usaylan collapsing. Houthi plans to lead an offensive on the Yemeni city of
Marib were also thwarted.[10][11][12]
A few days before the city was attacked, and on the second anniversary of Qasem Soleimani's death, Houthis captured and raided the Emirati cargo ship Rwabee near
Al Hudaydah, which they claimed was carrying military equipment the UAE planned to supply to pro-government forces. The coalition said the vessel was holding hospital equipment.[13][14][15][16] In response to Houthi territorial losses in Ain, Bayhan, and Usaylan districts in Yemen which were thwarted by the Giants Brigades, Houthi's launched a drone and a missile attack which they called "Operation Hurricane of Yemen" on Abu Dhabi, killing 3 civilians and injuring 6 others with a drone attack.[13]
Attack
At around 10:00 am, on January 17, 2022,[17] drones struck three oil refueling vehicles in an
oil refinery for the
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in
Musaffah.[a][19][20] A Houthi military spokesman said the group fired "a large number" of drones and five ballistic missiles in the attack.[21] The United Arab Emirates stated that several missiles and drones were intercepted.[22] A drone attack simultaneously set an extension of the
Abu Dhabi International Airport on fire, with no recorded fatalities.[23][24][25]Abu Dhabi Police identified two Indian and one Pakistani nationals killed by the attack,[26][27] Six people were injured by the drone strikes.[28]
A study by the
Associated Press of satellite photos taken by
Planet Labs revealed smoke rising above the ADNOC facility. Images taken after the bombing showed "scorch marks and white fire-suppressing foam" on the facility's ground.[17][12]
Shortly after the strikes happened, Saudi authorities reported they had just intercepted nine missiles launched by the Houthis towards Saudi Arabia.[9][6][29]
Yahia Sarei, the Houthi military spokesperson, claimed responsibility for the attack on behalf of the organization.[30] Houthi officials also stated that drones had struck an airport in the city of
Dubai, but the Emirati government did not find any evidence of such an attack.[31]
Victims
Three civilians were killed during the attack. They were identified as two Indian nationals from
Punjab: 28-year-old Hardeep Singh and 35-year-old Hardev Singh;[32][33][34] and a Pakistani national, 29-year-old Mamoor Khan from
Waziristan.[35] The victims' bodies were repatriated to their homes in India and Pakistan respectively.[36]
Six other civilians were injured, including two Egyptians, two Indians, and two Pakistanis.[37][38][39]
A preliminary investigation by Emirati authorities supported the Houthis' claims of a drone attack, as well as the presence of both ballistic and
cruise missiles.[9]
On January 21 the
United Nations Security Council passed a resolution denouncing "in the strongest terms the heinous terrorist attacks in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on Monday, 17 January, as well as in other sites in Saudi Arabia."[47][48][49][50]
Yemeni
Giants Brigade backed by the United Arab Emirates continued to push in Yemen's energy-producing Marib region against the Houthis despite warnings by the Iran-aligned movement of further attacks on the UAE. On January 25, they announced they took control of
Harib District, a district in Marib that the Giants Brigade entered two weeks ago.[54]
Retaliation
The
Saudi Arabian–led intervention in Yemen announced later that day it had retaliated by air striking Houthi targets in
Sanaa. A Saudi-affiliated media outlet initially reported eleven people had been killed.[14][13][55]The Washington Post and pro-Houthi outlets reported casualty estimates at 14 with 11 wounded. Among the dead were Major General
Abdullah Qassem al-Junaid, a Houthi official and the former leader of the Houthi air force academy in Sana'a and many members of his family, including his wife and 25-year-old son.[56][57][58] An
airstrike in a prison located in the city of
Saada killed around 80 people.[51]
The strikes were described by Reuters as the "deadliest coalition strikes on Yemen's Sanaa since 2019".[59]
Indian Minister of
External Affairs,
S. Jaishankar termed the attacked to be "unacceptable" and expressed "shock and deepest consolidates to the ones who died" while "prayed for faster recovery of the injured".[65]
American National Security Advisor
Jake Sullivan called for the perpetrators to be held accountable and that American "commitment to the security of the UAE is unwavering, and we stand beside our Emirati partners against all threats to their territory."[66]
Israeli prime ministerNaftali Bennett tweeted his condemnation of the "terrorist drone attack," sending a letter of condolence to
Mohamed bin Zayed via his spokesman.[21][14] The next day he told the
World Economic Forum in a speech that Iran was financing terror operations abroad, which has been interpreted as a reference to the attack in Abu Dhabi.[67]
Pakistani Prime Minister
Imran Khan called bin Zayed, telling him he was shocked by the attacks and stood in solidarity with the Emirates. Pakistan had lost one national in the attacks.[68] On January 18 Russian spokeswoman
Maria Zakharova condemned the "provocation against civil infrastructure facilities in the friendly United Arab Emirates." Russia expressed concerns that such attacks could expand from the UAE to other nations.[64][69]Duma member
Leonid Slutsky voiced significant criticism of the Houthis, warning that any further attacks would result in the derailment of the
Yemeni peace process.[70] Turkey's foreign spokesman,
Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, had a phone call with bin Zayed, in which he decried the event.[71][64]
Iran responded later than other countries. The day after the attack, the
Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement that the "solution to any regional crisis is not to resort to war and violence", in response to what it termed to be novel "Yemen-linked developments." While the statement did not explicitly mention the attack on Abu Dhabi, the event was implied.[6]
United Nations Secretary General
António Guterres denounced the events while calling for stability to be maintained in the region. In a statement Guterres condemned the attack, calling attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure as prohibited by international law.[77] French foreign affairs minister
Jean-Yves Le Drian voiced similar sentiments.[43]
Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdel Salam justified the attack, adding that any further attempt by pro-Saudi forces to intervene in Yemen unless "[The Emirates'] hands and other hands who tamper will be cut off." The Houthis also stated they "would not hesitate" to launch more attacks.[13]
The strikes were congratulated by a number of Iraqi Shi'a paramilitaries, including
Kata'ib Hezbollah.
Abu Ali al-Askari, the group's leader, said "God was able to strike fear in the hearts of the Bin Zayeds by the hands of the
mujahideen and the brave people of Yemen."[55]
A week ahead of the
2021 FIFA Club World Cup, the United States raised a travel warning, citing the missile and drone attacks by Houthi rebels in the UAE. The
Biden administration raised a highest level of warning against travel to the Emirates, due to the threat of Houthi attacks and the "very high"
COVID-19 cases in the
Persian Gulf country.[78]
Notes
^The facility was very close to
Al Dhafra Air Base. However, there is no evidence the Houthis specifically targeted this site.[18]