The UAE said yesterday that it was investigating what Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, on Sunday strongly condemned as a “treacherous terrorist attack” that caused a fire near Abu Dhabi’s Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant. He said the strike represented a breach of international law in a phone call with Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Sheikh Abdullah also stressed the UAE’s full right to respond to terrorist attacks and to take all necessary measures to protect its security, territorial integrity and citizens, in accordance with international law.
Authorities responded after an electrical generator was set on fire outside the inner perimeter of the plant in Al Dhafra region, reported The National News. No injuries were reported and there was no impact on radiological safety levels, Abu Dhabi Media Office said. The media office statement did not name Iran as being responsible for firing the drone, when previous statements following air strikes have done so.
The National noted that the ministry referred to an incursion from the western border, rather than Iran in the east. It is not clear whether Iranian allies such as the Houthi rebels or Iraqi militias could have mounted such a strike.
Not long afterwards, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defense said on Sunday that three drones were intercepted and destroyed after entering the Kingdom’s airspace from Iraq earlier in the day, reported Al Arabiya. Ministry of Defense spokesman Major General Turki al-Maliki said Saudi Arabia “reserves the right to respond at the appropriate time and place” and would take “all necessary operational measures” against any attempt to violate the Kingdom’s sovereignty, security, or the safety of citizens and residents.
Not mentioned but not to be excluded is that these drone incidents, if they happened at all, could very well have been Israeli false flag attacks.
