Suspected drones force two Dubai-bound flight diversions

Two flights were diverted from Dubai International Airport on Sunday due to suspected drone activity, the hub’s operator said, just a week after an attack on Saudi Aramco oil facilities sent the region into frenzy.

The diversions caused minor disruptions to arrivals at the airport, said a spokesman for Dubai Airports, although the government has yet to issue a statement.

The UAE has been struck with several drone attacks in recent years, many of which claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels where the UAE is leading a coalition battling the rebel movement along with Saudi Arabia.

In May, Yemen's rebels released footage allegedly showing a drone attack on Abu Dhabi International Airport last year to prove its ability to reach the UAE.

At the time, Abu Dhabi airport said in a tweet that there had been an "incident involving a supply vehicle" but that the airport remained fully operational.

The UAE maintained at the time that no drone attack had taken place at the airport.

The Houthis, however, have repeatedly warned that they have the capability to strike locations as far from Yemen as the Saudi capital Riyadh, and Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

Similar attacks on Saudi Arabia by the Houthis have sparked rounds of Saudi-led airstrikes on Yemen, which have been widely criticised for killing civilians.

Most recently, Yemen's Iran-allied Houthi rebels claimed to have carried out an attack on two Saudi Aramco oil facilities in the kingdom, but the United States has blamed Iran, with speculation the assault was launched from Iraq. 

Saudi's defence ministry said on Wednesday that the drones and cruise missiles struck from the north, ruling out Yemen as the source.

Iraq on Sunday denied any link, saying it is "constitutionally committed to preventing any use of its soil to attack its neighbours". 

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