UAE Capital Rocked By Explosions, Huge Emergency Response Underway
In the late night hours local time, the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi was shaken awake after reportedly two large explosions sent people panicking, resulting in a large police and emergency response, and parts of the city on effective lockdown.
FIRE IN ABU DHABI CAUSED BY GAS EXPLOSION – AUTHORITIES
Social media footage and images showed at least one explosion erupting at the top of a high residential or hotel building, which many fear may have been a missile or drone attack from nearby Yemen. There’s also speculation the blasts came from within the high-rise building, possibly the result of a gas explosion.
Click the tweets to see the videos…
At the moment the city has many foreigners and soccer teams staying at hotels, given Abu Dhabi is set to host the UEFA’s Club World Cup Competition in the coming days.
Police have reportedly blocked major highways leading into the city, as there are fears the area is under Houthi rocket attack. According to unconfirmed reports, the top of a hotel building is on fire.
At this early stage little has been confirmed, and it’s unclear if there are casualties.
I just heard a second bomb and cops are out blocking the roads and shit pic.twitter.com/e2BezmW7Kb
— BING BONG (@UnNowan) February 8, 2022
In the past weeks the UAE has been target of multiple drone and missile attacks from Yemen, with Houthi leaders vowing the country would “no longer be safe”. The UAE has been Saudi Arabia’s closest ally in executing the war in Yemen since 2015, with the Emirates deploying jets and pilots to conduct airstrikes, often resulting in mass civilian casualties.
This could escalate quickly. UAE will want to call it gas, but more than one “gas leak”? Sure. And Yemen will almost certainly have gotten some decent drones from Iran, who wants to destabilize the Middle East. Sure, create chaos as a favor to the Russians, who just might actually be planning a spring war.