WASHINGTON (Dispatches) -- The United States will deploy a guided-missile destroyer and state-of-the-art fighter jets to help the UAE in its war on Yemen after a series of retaliatory missile attacks on Dubai and Abu Dhabi, a statement by the U.S. mission to the UAE said.
The statement came after a call between Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The two leaders discussed the recent retaliation against strategic targets in the Persian Gulf country by Yemeni armed forces.
The latest attack was on Monday when a ballistic missile was launched at Abu Dhabi before dawn, marking the third such incident this month. The retaliation came as the occupying regime of Israel’s president Isaac Herzog made a first-ever visit by a Zionist head of the regime to the Persian Gulf nation.
The incident followed two earlier retaliatory attacks on the Emirates in recent weeks in the wake of intense fighting in southern Yemen where forces backed by the UAE are trying to occupy territories in Shabwah and Ma’rib.
In the first retaliation on January 17, three people were killed, while the second retaliatory attack targeted the Al-Dhafra air base as well as “vital and important” locations in the Dubai area.
The U.S. military also intervened to aid the UAE in thwarting the attacks, U.S. and Emirati officials told The New York Times.
“The Secretary reviewed a range of actions the Department of Defense is taking to support the UAE,” the embassy statement read. “These include continuing to provide early warning intelligence, collaborating on air defense, and sending the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Cole to partner with the UAE Navy before making a port call in Abu Dhabi.”
“The Secretary also informed the Crown Prince of his decision to deploy 5th 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 U.S. on Thursday advised its citizens not to travel to the UAE over the threat of missile or drone attacks in retaliation.
The UAE is part of a Saudi-led military coalition that has been waging a destructive war on Yemen for more than six years.
The war has caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and left millions of Yemenis dependent on humanitarian aid.
Despite heavily-armed Saudi Arabia’s incessant bombardment of the impoverished country, the Yemeni armed forces have gradually grown stronger, leaving Riyadh and its allies bogged down in the country.
In 2019, the UAE said that it had withdrawn its troops from Yemen, however, it remains an influential player in the aggression, backing a recent offensive in the Shabwah governorate.
Yemeni officials have said the recent strikes against the UAE are retaliation for the Emirates’ role in the war.
On Tuesday, the leader of Yemen’s Ansarullah resistance movement called the United States and the occupying regime of Israel “enemies number one” to Muslims around the world.
“Americans and Israelis try to abuse the problems that lie within the Ummah towards furthering their own plots,” Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said as he received tribal delegations from across Yemen.
“Israel and its mercenaries consider the Yemeni nation as their common enemy,” he added.
“The positions of the United Arab Emirates, the Zionist regime, and Saudi Arabia against the Yemeni people during their meetings is very clear,” he said.
Al-Houthi questioned Riyadh’s double standards in dealing with the occupying regime and the Yemeni people, saying Saudi Arabia is opening up its skies to Zionist officials, it has forbidden the Yemeni people from travelling within the kingdom.
On Tuesday, the spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces warned that the UAE’s popular Dubai Expo 2020 might be the next target of Yemen’s retaliatory strikes.
“To be safe…we repeat the advice,” Brigadier General Yahya Saree wrote in a tweet that incorporated Expo as its only hashtag.
Yemeni officials have warned that next counterstrikes would be exceedingly “painful” if the UAE failed to wind down its involvement in the Saudi-led war.