UAE intercepts Houthi attack, Saudi Arabia reports two injured by fallen missile

Yemen's Houthis have been battling a Saudi-led coalition that includes the UAE, repeatedly carrying out cross-border missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia. [Courtesy]

The United Arab Emirates intercepted and destroyed two Houthi ballistic missiles targeting the Gulf country with no casualties, its defence ministry said, following a deadly attack a week earlier.

For more than six years, Yemen's Houthis have been battling a Saudi-led coalition that includes the UAE, repeatedly carrying out cross-border missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, and launching an unprecedented assault on the UAE on January 17.

The coalition has in the past week conducted deadly air strikes in Yemen it says are aimed at crippling the capabilities of the Iran-aligned movement in a conflict that is largely seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The Houthi military spokesman yesterday said the group fired Zulfiqar ballistic missiles at al-Dhafra airbase in Abu Dhabi, which is used by the United States, alongside other "sensitive targets".

The group launched drones at Dubai, he added. The UAE defence ministry said remnants of the intercepted missiles fell in separate areas around Abu Dhabi and that it was taking necessary protective measures against attacks.

It later posted a video on Twitter of what it described as an F-16 warplane destroying a Houthi missile launcher in Yemen's al-Jawf at 1:10am GMT which the group had used in the operation.

UAE newspaper The National cited Abu Dhabi residents reporting flashes in the sky around 12:30am GMT.