France has offered its military support to the UAE, following multiple missile and drone attacks on the country by the Houthi rebels in Yemen over the past three weeks.
"The UAE were victims of serious attacks on their territory in January," French defence minister Florence Parly said on Twitter over the weekend. "In order to show our solidarity with this friendly country, France has decided to provide military support, in particular to protect their airspace against any intrusion."
France will deploy its Rafale fighter planes alongside the UAE's own armed forces to help with "surveillance, detection and interception missions, if necessary," said Parly. "France and the UAE are linked by a strategic partnership, and our contribution comes as part of...our defence cooperation agreement," she said. France has seven Rafale planes already stationed in the country as part of a permanent force based in Abu Dhabi.
France's offer of support follows a similar move by the US earlier last week. US defence secretary Lloyd Austin III on 1 February told Abu Dhabi crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed that the US would deploy "fifth generation fighter aircraft" to assist the UAE, continue to provide "early warning intelligence," collaborate on air defence and send the US guided missile destroyer USS Cole to partner with the UAE navy.
The UAE ministry of defence said on 31 January it had intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the Houthi militia in Yemen towards the country — the third such attack by the group on the Mideast Gulf oil producer in two weeks. On 3 February the ministry said it had foiled yet another attack, this time in the shape of three drones. But unlike with the three earlier incidents, on this occasion the UAE did not specify where the drones had originated, raising suspicions that the attack might have originated elsewhere. And within hours of the UAE statement, the Houthis gave credit for the attack to the True Promise Brigades, a little-known Iraqi militia group with ties to the more established Shia militia Kataib Hezbollah, also in Iraq.
These repeated attacks on the UAE, the Opec group's third largest oil producer, is adding to geopolitical tensions that have contributed to oil prices rising to seven-year highs following civil unrest in Kazakhstan last month, and as Russia and the US continue to fall out over Ukraine.
