The United States will send a guided-missile destroyer and fifth-generation fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the wake of recent missile attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Washington’s top military official has said.
In a phone call on Tuesday, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Abu bin Zayed Al Nahyan the Pentagon would send the “guided-missile destroyer USS Cole to partner with the UAE Navy before making a port call in Abu Dhabi”.
Austin also told the crown prince that Washington would deploy fifth-generation fighter aircraft – a classification that includes US-made F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lighting II combat jets – to the UAE to “assist against the current threat”, according to a readout of the conversation released by the Pentagon.
He added the deployment is a “clear signal that the United States stands with the UAE as a longstanding strategic partner”, according to the readout.
The announcement comes after the UAE experienced the third missile attack in recent weeks on Monday, which the US deployed Patriot interceptors to thwart, according to White House spokesperson Jen Psaki. The Pentagon later said UAE surface-to-air missiles struck down the incoming missile.
While the UAE, which does not directly border Yemen, has not been a major target of attacks by Houthis since 2015 – when it began fighting in Yemen as part of a Saudi-led military coalition backing the country’s internationally recognised government – a January 17 attack by the Houthis appeared to signal a distinct strategic shift for the rebel group.
That drone-and-missile assault targeted Abu Dhabi’s oil facilities and airport, killing three foreign workers. It triggered an onslaught of air raids against Houthi targets in Yemen.
Seven days later, on January 24, US forces stationed at Abu Dhabi’s al-Dhafra airbase also fired Patriot interceptors during a missile attack that forced soldiers to scramble to bunkers for cover. Two ballistic missiles were shot down over the city and no one was reported injured in that assault.
The last Houthi-claimed attack against the UAE prior to the latest series of assaults had been in 2018.
