The decision was made by Washington after a call between US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and UAE Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
The United States Government has decided to send the USS Cole Navy destroyer , equipped with guided missiles, to join the forces of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after the attacks that the Gulf country has received from the Houthi rebels from Yemen.
This decision has been adopted by Washington after a call held this Tuesday between the US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin , and the Crown Prince of the UAE, Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan , reported the Pentagon press secretary, John Kirby, in a statement.
In their conversation, both leaders “discussed the recent Houthi attacks against the United Arab Emirates that caused civilian casualties and also threatened the US and Emirati armed forces stationed at Al Dhafra airbase,” the statement said.
Lloyd reiterated his strong condemnation of these attacks and his commitment to the “strategic partnership between the United States and the UAE” and reviewed with the Emirati prince the actions that the Department of Defense is taking to support the United Arab Emirates, cites the note .
“These include continuing to provide early warning intelligence, assisting in air defense, and sending the US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Cole to partner with the UAE Navy before calling at the port of Abu Dhabi ,” the spokesperson added in his note.
The defense secretary also informed the crown prince of his decision to deploy fifth-generation fighter jets to help against the current threat and as a clear signal that the United States supports the United Arab Emirates as a strategic partner.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have already attacked Abu Dhabi three times in recent weeks, one of them killing three, and have threatened to hit other targets, including the Dubai Expo.
The UAE is part of a Saudi-led military coalition of Sunni countries that support the internationally recognized Yemeni government against the Houthi rebels, a Shiite movement backed by Iran.