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Report: UAE intelligence met Yemen Houthis in Oman

October 3, 2022 at 1:52 pm

Houthis in Yemen on 4 December 2017 [Abdullah Homran/Anadolu Agency]

Emirati intelligence officials have met with officials from Yemen’s Houthi movement in the Omani capital, Muscat, during President Mohammed Bin Zayed’s visit to the Sultanate a few days ago, the Yemen Net news site revealed.

The site quoted a Gulf diplomatic source as saying that the Emirati delegation was headed by the Deputy Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for National Security, Ali Al-Shamsi.

According to the site, the meeting was arranged by the Omani Royal Office, headed by Minister Sultan Al-Numani.

During the meeting, the Emirati officials expressed concern to the Houthi military officials about the group’s threats to strike the oil facilities that Abu Dhabi intends to reactivate in the southern Yemeni governorates to supply Europe with liquefied gas, according to the same source.

READ: Yemen Houthis give foreign oil companies ultimatum to stop oil extraction

The UAE had agreed with German, French and Austrian officials to protect liquefied gas and exploration facilities in south Yemen from any attacks or damages while transporting liquefied gas to the Balhaf gas facility in Shabwa province which was seized by forces loyal to the UAE last August.

According to the site, the Emirati officials also expressed fears of the group targeting oil facilities in Abu Dhabi once again, or intercepting their ships in the Red Sea, explaining that the UAE is ready to pay what the Houthis demand in exchange for stopping the attacks in the event of a renewed war.

The site said the meeting held in Muscat was preceded by several meetings, most notably, consultations held last March during the visit of the UAE National Security Adviser, Sheikh Tahnoun Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is responsible for the Yemen file, which came after the Houthi attacks on Abu Dhabi in January this year.