Following up on the US sending warplanes and a destroyer to the United Arab Emirates to defend against future attacks, the French Defense Ministry has announced they will send Rafale jets there for the same reason.
French Defense Minister Florence Parly warned the UAE had faced “serious attacks” in January, and that the fighters would ensure that France would protect their airspace from any intrusion.
Yemen’s Houthis fired missiles and drones at UAE territory because of increased airstrikes against northern Yemen. An obscure Iraqi group also took credit for last week’s drone attack.
Nations sending military hardware to back UAE could be at cross purposes to trying to end the Yemen War, as this economic risk of making UAE’s cities a target was a major disincentive to continuing to escalate.
France Sending Warplanes to United Arab Emirates to Defend Airspace
DM: France will prevent airspace intrusion
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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