ABU DHABI: The United Arab Emirates said on Monday it had intercepted a ballistic missile fired by Yemen's Houthi movement as the UAE hosted Israel's President Isaac Herzog in a first such visit.

The Emirati defence ministry said the latest missile attack was intercepted 20 minutes past midnight and that its debris fell on an uninhabited area. It did not say whether it was aimed at Abu Dhabi or Dubai, the region's business and tourism hub.

It came while Israel's president was visiting Abu Dhabi where he discussed security and bilateral relations with the UAE's de facto ruler Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Herzog spent the night in Abu Dhabi, an Israeli official told Reuters. He will continue his UAE visit despite the Houthi attack, his office said.

He is due to visit the Expo 2020 Dubai world fair on Monday.

“While Israel's president is visiting the UAE to build bridges and promote stability across the region, the Houthis continue to launch attacks that threaten civilians,” US State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a tweet.

The UAE, along with Bahrain, signed US-brokered normalisation agreements with Israel, dubbed the “Abraham Accords”, in 2020.

The UAE civil aviation authority said air traffic in the Gulf country, a major international travel hub, was normal and all flights operating as usual.

The UAE's defence ministry said coalition warplanes had destroyed missile launchers that were located in Yemen.

Yemen's Houthi military spokesman said the group would within hours provide details of a new military operation “deep inside” the UAE.

The UAE is part of the Saudi-led coalition that has been battling the Houthis for nearly seven years in a conflict largely seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The Houthis, who have repeatedly launched missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia, have warned they would continue targeting the UAE unless it stopped “interfering” in Yemen.

The UAE had largely ended its military presence on the ground in 2019 but continues to hold sway through Yemeni forces it arms and trains and which recently joined battles against the Houthis in key energy-producing regions.

There were no social media posts on Monday's interception in the UAE.

The public prosecutor has said it summoned several people for sharing videos showing defence systems intercepting a previous Houthi missile attack.

The coalition has also launched deadly air strikes on Houthi-held areas in the past week in the conflict, which has killed tens of thousands of people and pushed Yemen to the brink of famine.