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A top US official has confirmed that Iron Dome batteries and Israeli troops were stationed inside the United Arab Emirates during the recent war to help fend off Iranian missile and drone attacks.
Getting into it: US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee made the confirmation Tuesday at a conference in Tel Aviv, framing the Iron Dome deployment as a direct return on the 2020 Abraham Accords (the agreements brokered by President Trump during his first term that established normalized diplomatic ties between Israel and several Arab countries, with the UAE serving as the first signatory).
“I think that the UAE is an example. They were the first Abraham members. But look at the benefits that they have had as a result of it — Israel just sent them Iron Dome batteries and personnel to help operate it. How come? Because there’s an extraordinary relationship between the UAE and Israel based on the Abraham work.”
This comes after Axios broke the story last month and two Arab diplomats later backed it up to the Times of Israel, but Huckabee’s remarks marked the first time the deployment had been confirmed on the record by a US government official. The deployment is significant because it’s the first known combat use of the Iron Dome system outside Israel or the US, with Israel having previously turned down requests to hand over batteries to Ukraine for use against Russian missile strikes.
According to Israeli officials who spoke to Axios, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greenlit the deployment after speaking by phone with UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, with the system reportedly knocking down dozens of Iranian missiles since arriving in the country. Israel also sent dozens of IDF troops along with the equipment to operate it.
The UAE has been hit harder than any other country in the region during the recent US-Israel war with Iran. Iran launched around 550 cruise and ballistic missiles plus over 2,200 drones at the country (totaling more than 2,800 projectiles per the UAE’s defense ministry) during the conflict.
