ISLAMABAD: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Thursday thanked Pakistan for expressing solidarity with it after a Yemen-based rebel group targeted an oil facility in Abu Dhabi earlier this week.
The Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the strike in which a Pakistani and two Indian nationals were killed on Monday, saying it used missiles and drones to launch the attack.
The targeted oil facility belonged to ADNOC, the UAE’s state-owned oil giant, which employs workers from several different countries.
The UAE is part of the Arab Coalition that has been fighting Houthi rebels since 2015 after a civil war broke out in Yemen and the Houthis took control of the capital, Sanaa, and other parts of the country.
The UAE embassy in Islamabad thanked the Pakistani authorities in a twitter post on Thursday “for their sincere solidarity with UAE against terrorist attack by Houthi militia on civilian sites in Abu Dhabi.”
“Our deepest condolences & sympathy to the families of victims wishing speedy recovery for injured,” it added.
Thanks to the government & people of Islamic Republic of Pakistan for their sincere solidarity with UAE against terrorist attack by Houthi militia on civilian sites in Abu Dhabi, our deepest condolences & sympathy to the families of victims wishing speedy recovery for injured
— UAE Embassy PK (@uaeembassyisb) January 20, 2022
UAE Ambassador Hamad Obaid Al-Zaabi also met with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi in Islamabad on Wednesday to offer his condolences to the family of the Pakistani citizen who lost his life in the Abu Dhabi attack.
H.E.Hamad Obaid Alzaabi, UAE Ambassador in Islamabad, conveys to H.E. Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan, his sincere condolences to the family of Pakistani citizen who lost his life in Houthi's terrorist attack, wishes speedy recovery for injured pic.twitter.com/GxSqhT3Hed
— UAE Embassy PK (@uaeembassyisb) January 19, 2022
Prime Minister Imran Khan condemned the attacks on the oil facility in a phone call with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed on Wednesday.
“The Prime Minister strongly condemned the heinous terrorist attack by Houthi militia on civil facilities in Abu Dhabi on 17 January 2022,” the PM Office said in a statement. “He offered deepest condolences to the families of all the victims and prayed for speedy recovery of the injured.”
“The Prime Minister expressed solidarity with the leadership, government and people of the United Arab Emirates,” the statement added. “He underlined that such attacks cannot be justified and stressed on immediate cessation of these attacks, which continue to pose grave threat to regional peace and security.”
The UAE crown prince also offered the prime minister his condolences over the death of the Pakistani national.
Similar attacks have also been used to target Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan has repeatedly condemned them in the past.