United Arab Emirates ‘shocked’ to pay for US military assistance it received

According to an official report, the then-Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and other Emirati officials were “shocked” when the US requested that Abu Dhabi, a close ally of Washington, foot the bill for the US military assistance it had received against Yemen’s strikes, last year.

The revelation was made by US-based news outlet Axios in a report from a book titled Trump’s Peace, written by Barak Ravid, which was published this week, citing American and Emirati officials.

According to the report, the UAE was targeted by the Yemeni army on January 17, 2022, as retaliation for its participation in the Saudi-led campaign against the impoverished nation. The Yemeni army then launched an operation deep inside the UAE.

Following the retaliatory drone strike, Mohammed bin Zayed, the current ruler of the UAE, reportedly convened an emergency meeting with his military commanders to determine what immediate steps needed to be taken in order to fend off further attacks by the Yemeni army.

The US Air Force would need to be able to refuel Emirati Air Force F-16s and Mirage 2000s in order for that to be the best course of action, according to the report from the Emirati military. With its KC-135 strategic tankers stationed at the Al Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi, the US agreed to refuel Emirati fighter jets several times as a result.

The military attache at the US embassy met with senior UAE military officials days after the attack, and during that meeting, they gave their Emirati counterparts a bill for refueling.

The incident, according to the American news website, was “deeply offensive” to the UAE because it confirmed Mohammed bin Zayed’s growing belief that Washington had abandoned Abu Dhabi in a time of need.

According to Derek Chollet of the State Department, “Sheikh Mohammed was understandably upset.”.

“I felt bad that there had been so much time pass and that he was upset but we had no indication that this was the case. We certainly took it seriously and believed that our actions showed concern for our friends who were in need. That was not the way Sheikh Mohammed felt, according to Chollet.

The United States request last year came at a time when relations between Washington and the United Arab Emirates were at their lowest point. Abu Dhabi had expressed unease over what it saw as Washington’s waning commitment to the security of its allies in the region.

The relationship between the two nations is undergoing a “stress test,” according to the Emirati ambassador to the US in March 2022. “.

Following US President Joe Biden’s meeting with Mohammed bin Zayed in the Saudi city of Jeddah in July, the two sides started to patch things up and resume their normal course.

In March 2015, a brutal war against Yemen was started by Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies, including the UAE.

Riyadh’s steadfast ally and former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi was to be installed in his place after the Ansarullah movement was defeated. Although the war and subsequent tight siege have fallen short of their objectives, they have killed tens of thousands of Yemenis. As far as humanitarian crises go, Yemen is experiencing the worst.

(SOURCE: Axios)