Yemen’s Shiite Houthi rebels said today they had launched an offensive against the United Arab Emirates after authorities in the Gulf country reported two fires in the capital Abu Dhabi that may have been triggered by a drone strike.

Abu Dhabi police say three tankers carrying fuel exploded in the Musafah industrial area near the ADNOC oil depot, killing three people and setting fire to a building at the city’s international airport.

“Initial searches revealed parts of a small aircraft, which may have been a drone, at both points. This may have caused the explosion and the fire”, police said in a statement issued by the official WAM news agency.

Footage from 4 hours ago in #AbuDhabi, #UAE from Snapchat shows a large plume of smoke rising from the area near the reported attack. Footage was taken from https://t.co/TX9XEzHluv pic.twitter.com/9mWdgXRUMW

— Aurora Intel (@AuroraIntel) January 17, 2022

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A spokesman for the Houthi military, which is fighting a Saudi-led coalition in the United Arab Emirates, said the rebels had launched “a large-scale military operation deep in the United Arab Emirates” and would release more details in the coming hours.

For its part, the Arab League said a number of drones carrying explosives had taken off from the airport in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital controlled by the Houthis, according to the al Arabiya network.