Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis have begun an attack on the United Arab Emirates, according to Reuters, after police in Abu Dhabi reported two fires.

An explosion involving three oil tankers in Abu Dhabi on Monday morning, as well as a fire at the building site of the emirate’s new airport, were perhaps caused by drones, Abu Dhabi police claimed in a statement carried by the official WAM news agency.

According to a message from a Twitter account associated to the Houthis’ spokesperson, Yahya Saree, the Houthis intend to declare a “qualitative military action in the UAE in the coming hours.”

According to an Al Arabiya journalist, both flames have been extinguished and aviation traffic has not been disrupted.

There was no serious damage recorded. The cause of the fires is being thoroughly investigated.

As part of the Arab Coalition, the UAE engaged in Yemen’s civil war in 2015. In 2019, it reduced its activities.

The Rwabee, a UAE cargo ship, was kidnapped by Houthi militants on the night of January 1.

According to the Arab Coalition, the ship was on its way from Yemen’s Socotra Island to the Saudi port of Jazan, carrying equipment leased by a Saudi enterprise for use in a field hospital on the island.

According to the Houthis, the ship was carrying military weaponry.

Onboard were seven Indian sailors, an Ethiopian, and Indonesian, a Filipino, and a sailor from Myanmar.