(Bloomberg) -- Yemen's Houthi rebels, bruised by the defection of their powerful ally, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, said they fired a ballistic missile at a nuclear power plant in Abu Dhabi, but the United Arab Emirates denied the show of force ever happened.
The rebels produced no evidence to back up their claim, which was reported by the Houthi-affiliated al-Masirah TV station. Another disputed claim surfaced hours later with the release of a statement attributed to Saleh's General People's Congress party, suggesting he had reconsidered his decision to break with the rebels. A party leader, Fa'eqah Alsaid, said the statement was fake and that the party website had been hacked.
The claim of a missile attack reflects the “desperate political position” the Houthis face both politically and militarily, according to Ghanem Nuseibeh, London-based founder of Cornerstone Global Associates.
“They've lost their main ally on the ground in Yemen,” Nuseibeh said. “What they're trying to show is that they haven't been as negatively impacted as they have been.”
Last month, as the alliance with Saleh was unraveling, the Houthis fired a ballistic missile targeting the Saudi capital's international airport. The attack was foiled by Saudi air defenses, but upped the stakes in the regional showdown between the oil-rich kingdom and Iran.
The U.A.E.'s National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority denied the alleged missile strike on the nuclear power plant on Sunday, and said the country's air defense systems is capable of dealing with any threats.
As claims and counterclaims swirled, fighting between the Houthis and their former backers intensified in the capital, Sana'a, highlighting questions about whether the violence that has battered Yemen for nearly three years will ease or intensify. A Saudi Arabia-led coalition entered the fray nearly three years ago to try to reinstate the government of ousted elected President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
An escalation in the war could drive Yemen, a nation perched south of the world's biggest oil exporter and a major maritime artery, to completely disintegrate.
The Houthis “miscalculated in that they took the relationship too much for granted,” said Sultan Barakat, director of the Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies at the Doha Institute. “It was clear from the beginning that the alliance was one of convenience” for Saleh, he said. Saleh, who was sworn in as the president after Yemen reunified in 1990, was ousted from power in 2012 as part of the Arab Spring uprisings against entrenched Middle East leaders.
Despite a devastating Saudi-led air campaign that has killed hundreds of civilians, the Houthis still control the capital, Sana'a, and about 55 percent of northern Yemen. There was fierce fighting between Saleh's forces and the Houthis in the city on Saturday night and Sunday.
The rebels on Sunday stormed the house of a leader in Saleh's party, and blew up another residence belonging to a tribal leader loyal to the former president in Amran.
--With assistance from Mahmoud Habboush
To contact the reporters on this story: Mohammed Hatem in Dubai at mhatem1@bloomberg.net, Tarek El-Tablawy in Cairo at teltablawy@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Stuart Biggs
©2017 Bloomberg L.P.
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