Alwaght- The US embassy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) issued a security alert after a blast in downtown Abu Dhabi just after midnight sent a fireball into the sky and set off a blaze. It warned that "there are reports of a possible missile or drone strike having occurred" over the city.
Footage circulated on social media captured a loud bang and a flash of flames on the upper floors of a mid-rise residential building on Hamdan Street.
UAE authorities attributed them to a gas cylinder explosion in a building, saying emergency teams had put off a fire.
The UAE has been on alert since January 17, when Yemeni armed forces conducted a drone and missile attack against the Persian Gulf country over its involvement in the war on Yemen.
Since then, Yemen has conducted several retaliatory attacks against the UAE and Saudi Arabia, which leads the military coalition against Yemen.
The attacks have been followed by Saudi airstrikes against Yemen.
The Abu Dhabi explosion was also followed by heavy air raids on Sana’a and its nearby regions.
According to local sources, Saudi warplanes conducted four airstrikes on the al-Hafa area in the capital. They also targeted the telecommunication network in Jabal Bayh in the Manakha district.
Riyadh and its regional allies, including the United Arab Emirates, launched the devastating war against its impoverished southern neighbor in 2015.
The conflict, coupled with the crippling blockade, has triggered a severe humanitarian crisis in the country, as a result of which hundreds of thousands of people have been killed.
