The United States announced it is sending fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) following a series of targeted missile attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on the Gulf State, including an attempt to strike a base hosting U.S. forces.
In a telephone call on Tuesday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince that he would deploy a guided-missile destroyer, the USS Cole, to partner with the UAE Navy before making a port call in Abu Dhabi.
In an ensuing press release, the Pentagon also confirmed Secretary Austin’s decision to send fifth-generation fighter aircraft to: “assist the UAE against the current threat and as a clear signal that the United States stands with the UAE as a long-standing strategic partner”.
The UAE intercepted a missile on Monday —during Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s first visit to the country— marking the third attack in the past two weeks.
The Iran-backed Houthi movement has claimed responsibility for the recent strikes on the UAE —a current member of the Saudi Arabian-led intervention coalition in Yemen.
Since it ousted the government from Sanaʽa in 2015, the Houthis have repeatedly carried out cross-border missile and drone attacks from Yemen into Saudi Arabia.
By directly targeting the UAE, they have raised the stakes of a conflict which has largely been viewed as a proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
"This is absolutely an escalation and changes the regional dynamic," said Karen Young, director at the Middle East Institutes' Economics and Energy Programme.
"The safety of the Gulf Cooperation Council now has risk calculations that approach what we know in other parts of the Middle East," she said, citing potential risks to energy production facilities and civil aviation.
Writer: Julianna Lozada
Photo Credits: Reuters, AP