DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- The United Arab Emirates and the U.S. military intercepted two ballistic missiles fired by Yemen's Houthi rebels over the skies of Abu Dhabi late Sunday, authorities said, the second attack in a week that targeted the Emirati capital.
The missile fire further escalates tensions across the Persian Gulf, which previously had seen a series of assaults near Emirati soil. It comes during Yemen's yearslong war and the collapse of Iran's nuclear deal with world powers.
American troops at Al-Dhafra Air Base in the capital took shelter in bunkers during the attack and fired back with their own Patriot missiles.
The attacks threaten the business-friendly, tourism-focused efforts of the Emirates, a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula also home to Dubai. For years, the country has marketed itself as a safe corner of an otherwise dangerous neighborhood.
The state-run WAM news agency said that missile fragments fell harmlessly over Abu Dhabi.
The Emirates is "ready to deal with any threats," WAM quoted the UAE Defense Ministry as saying. "It takes all necessary measures to protect the state from all attacks."
In a statement, Navy Capt. Bill Urban, spokesperson for U.S. Central Command, acknowledged the assistance of American Patriot missile batteries prevented the Houthi missiles from striking targets in Abu Dhabi. Videos on social media suggested outgoing interceptor fire came from the base.
"The combined efforts successfully prevented both missiles from impacting the base," Urban said.
The missile fire disrupted traffic into Abu Dhabi International Airport, home to the long-haul carrier Etihad, for about an hour after the attack.
Houthi military spokesman Yehia Sarei claimed the attack in a televised statement, saying the rebels targeted several sites in the UAE with both Zulfiqar ballistic missiles and drones, including Al-Dhafra Air Base. He warned the UAE would continue to be a target "as long as attacks on the Yemeni people continue."
"We warn foreign companies and investors to leave the Emirates," Sarei shouted from a podium. "This has become an unsafe country!"
The Dubai Financial Market closed down nearly 2% after the attack, with nearly every company trading down. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange also fell slightly.
At Al-Dhafra, which hosts both American and British forces, U.S. troops took shelter in bunkers during the attack, the U.S. Air Force's Mideast command said. The U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi later issued a security alert to Americans living in the UAE, warning citizens to "maintain a high level of security awareness."
The Emirati Defense Ministry later tweeted out a black-and-white video that it said showed an F-16 striking the ballistic missile launcher used in the Abu Dhabi attack. The Defense Ministry identified the site as being near al-Jawaf, a Yemeni province around 870 miles southwest of Abu Dhabi.
The state-linked newspaper The National in Abu Dhabi identified the F-16 as Emirati, raising the question of how directly involved the UAE now is in the fighting after withdrawing most of its ground forces in 2019. The Emiratis continue to back militias on the ground, including the Giants Brigade, which has made advances against the Houthis in recent weeks.
The Zulfiqar ballistic missile, believed to have a range of 930 miles, is modeled after the Iranian Qiam missile, according to a report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Iran denies directly arming the Houthis, though United Nations experts, Western nations and analysts have linked weapons in the rebels' arsenal back to Tehran.
In recent days, a Saudi-led coalition that the UAE backs unleashed punishing airstrikes targeting Yemen, knocking the Arab world's poorest country off the internet and killing over 80 people at a detention center.
The Houthis had threatened to take revenge against the Emirates and Saudi Arabia over those attacks.
On Sunday, the Saudi-led coalition said a Houthi-launched ballistic missile landed in an industrial area in Jizan, Saudi Arabia. The missile tore a deep crater in the ground, television footage showed, and slightly wounded two foreigners of Bangladeshi and Sudanese nationality.
Information for this article was contributed by Lolita C. Baldor, Isabel DeBre, Malak Harb, Lujain Jo, Amir Vahdat and Samy Magdy of The Associated Press.
This satellite image provided Planet Labs PBC shows the aftermath of an attack claimed by Yemen's Houthi rebels on an Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. fuel depot in the Mussafah neighborhood of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022. The United Arab Emirates intercepted two ballistic missiles targeting Abu Dhabi in a new attack early Monday, Jan. 24, 2022, its state-run news agency reported, the latest attack to target the Emirati capital. No group immediately claimed responsibility but suspicion immediately fell on the Houthis. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)