Secretary of Protection Lloyd Austin introduced on Tuesday that the US will deploy the USS Cole – a guided missile destroyer – and fifth-generation fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates to defend in opposition to the Houthi rebels.
Austin spoke with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammad Abu bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Tuesday, and promised the prince that the USS Cole can be despatched to collaborate with the UAE Navy “earlier than making a port name in Abu Dhabi.” Austin additionally pledged to ship fifth-generation fighter jets, referring to Lockheed Martin’s F-35 or F-22 Raptor jets.
I spoke with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince @MohamedBinZayed of the UAE to sentence current Houthi assaults. To help the UAE in opposition to these threats, I’ll deploy fifth Gen Fighters to the area and ship the USS Cole to conduct a joint patrol with the UAE Navy and a port name to Abu Dhabi. pic.twitter.com/rf4ubqqGqT
— Secretary of Protection Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) February 2, 2022
Round 2,000 US troopers and airmen are stationed at Abu Dhabi’s al-Dhafra airbase, and each nations supported Saudi Arabia’s ongoing conflict in opposition to the Houthis in Yemen, although the US ceased “offensive” operations there final yr, and the UAE withdrew its floor troops in early 2020.
But the UAE continues to again anti-Houthi teams on the bottom, and the US continues to help Saudi Arabia and its allies with arms gross sales, intelligence sharing, and defensive help.
In response, the Houthis have not too long ago turned their consideration to the UAE and the US troops stationed there. Monday noticed Houthi missiles fly towards Abu Dhabi and drones goal Dubai. The insurgent group claimed to have efficiently struck essential websites with these assaults, however the US and UAE insist that the projectiles have been intercepted.
Lower than per week earlier, two Houthi ballistic missiles have been shot down over Abu Dhabi earlier than they may trigger any casualties. A number of days earlier than that, three folks have been killed and at the least six wounded in a Houthi drone strike on Abu Dhabi Worldwide Airport.
Three assaults in brief succession – the primary Houthi assaults to focus on the Emirates since 2018 – have caught the eye of navy leaders in Washington and Abu Dhabi, and reprisals have been brutal. The Saudi-led coalition responded to the deadly assault on Abu Dhabi Airport by launching devastating airstrikes in Yemen, with reported strikes on an airport, a jail, and numerous authorities services within the northern metropolis of Saada, killing at the least 70 folks and injuring a whole bunch extra.
Yemen’s civil conflict – which pits the Houthis in opposition to the Saudi-backed authorities of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi and several other different factions – is presently in its eighth yr. The battle has been described by the UN because the “world’s worst humanitarian disaster.” On the finish of 2021, the UN Growth Program estimated a loss of life toll of 377,000 folks, with round 70% of these killed below the age of 5, and 60% killed by oblique causes like starvation and preventable illness following the Saudi-led blockade and sanctions by Western governments.
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