According to state media agency WAM, the United Arab Emirates intercepted two inbound ballistic missiles over its capital Abu Dhabi early Monday morning. “On Monday, the Ministry of Defense stated that its air defense forces had intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles fired by the Houthi terrorist militia at the UAE,” the outlet said. There were no casualties in the incident, and “ballistic missile fragments fell in different regions” around Abu Dhabi, according to the ministry. Following the news, stock markets in the oil-rich area dropped, with Dubai’s major share index, the Dubai Financial Market General Index, plunging by more than 2%. The six most valuable stocks in the index were all down, with Emaar, the world’s largest property developer, losing more than 3.5 percent of its value.
Shortly after the attempted attack, the US State Department issued a security advisory, advising people in the region to take precautions. “Early this morning, there have been reports of a suspected missile attack and associated missile defense activities over Abu Dhabi. “All US citizens in the United Arab Emirates are reminded by the Embassy to maintain a high level of security awareness,” the advisory said. It was a quick answer. On its official Twitter account, the UAE’s Ministry of Defense posted a video showing an F-16 fighter jet destroying what it claimed was a ballistic missile launcher in northeastern Yemen. “An F-16 destroyed a ballistic missile launcher in Al Jawf at 04:10 hours Yemen time, just after it launched two ballistic missiles at Abu Dhabi,” said the MOD Joint Operations Command. Our air defense systems were able to successfully intercept them,” the tweet said.