Iran-backed Houthis say they plan new military operation inside UAE as seven-year-long conflict in Yemen deepens.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) says it has intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired from Yemen as the Gulf state hosted Isaac Herzog on the first-ever visit to the country by an Israeli president. The UAE’s defence ministry said on Monday the debris of the missile fell on an uninhabited area. It did not say whether the missile was targeting the UAE’s capital Abu Dhabi or Dubai.

So-called Islamic State, the Taliban, and al-Qaeda are all radical jihadist groups, but they are not all the same.

The so-called Islamic State, al-Qaeda and now the Taliban are radical jihadist groups focused on ridding the world from the threat, as they perceive it, that Western culture poses to Islam.

However, although broadly speaking they share a similar ideology, their views actually differ significantly – so much so that the three groups have often found themselves in conflict with one another.  

And although there's no disputing the fact that IS have dominated the media in recent months, both al-Qaeda and the Taliban are still very much at large.

But what are the differences between these three prominent terrorist organisations? 

Four Iranian intelligence officials have been charged with plotting to kidnap a New York-based journalist critical of Iran, US prosecutors say. The indictment did not name the target, but Masih Alinejad, an Iranian-American author and activist, says it was her.

The conspirators, who all live in Iran and remain at large, also allegedly plotted to lure a person in the UK and three others in Canada to Iran. All of the targets had been critical of Iran, according to the indictment.

The US justice department says the Iranian officials sought to lure the New York-based journalist to a third country where the abduction was planned. The plotters even offered money to the writer's relatives in Iran to betray them, which they refused to do, the indictment contends.

They hired private investigators to spy on the target's Brooklyn home and family, and set up a live video feed of the property. They also researched a service offering military-style speedboats for evacuation from New York City, and maritime routes to Venezuela, an ally of Iran.

There was no immediate response from the Iranian government.