Threat of attack on UAE through missiles is real: Official

ABU DHABI - The threat of attack on United Arab Emirates “from long range ballistic missiles is real”, a senior military official has said.

Speaking at the Middle East Missile and Air Defence Symposium, Major General Ali Mohammad Subaih Al Kaabi, deputy chief of staff of the UAE Armed Forces, said that the country has to be prepared to defend against the threat of missile attack.

The senior military official said that “hostile nations could reach across water and land” with long range ballistic missiles.

“The threat of attack from long range ballistic missiles is real,” Gulf News Monday quoted General Al Kaabi as saying.

The conference was attended by political and military leaders as well as diplomats from the Gulf region and abroad.

The conference is being held at a time when the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit is taking place here Dec 6-7. Security concerns in the region are likely to be discussed at the summit.

Another security expert said: “The UAE is the first country in the region to establish a centre for integrated missile defence; it is expected to be the model for other centres that we expect to appear over the next few years across the GCC countries. Eventually, these centres are going to be integrated so the strategic vision in the long run is to have regional integrated missile defence.”

“The Gulf region includes some of the first countries to be subject to ballistic missile attacks during the Iran-Iraq War and the second Gulf War so they have experience of the threat.”