Axios reported, citing American and Emirati officials, that UAE authorities were astonished when the US requested that Abu Dhabi, a close US ally, pay for the military services it got in the wake of an attack by Yemen's armed forces.

On Jan. 17, 2022, a drone attack by the Yemeni armed forces targeted a key oil facility in Abu Dhabi, killing three people, and sparking a fire at the Abu Dhabi international airport.

The UAE's current leader, Mohammed bin Zayed, who was the crown prince of Abu Dhabi at the time of the incident, convened an emergency meeting with senior military leaders to discuss what immediate steps needed to be taken to safeguard the Emirates against further attacks.

According to the report, the Emirati military decided that the only way to do this was to keep Emirati Air Force F-16s and Mirage 2000s in the air at all times, which required refueling capabilities that the US had. In response, the US repeatedly refueled Emirati fighter planes.

The military attache at the US embassy met with top UAE military officials several days after the second attack on Abu Dhabi, and at that meeting, they gave their Emirati ally a bill for the refueling.

Simultaneously, the Emiratis were deeply offended by the US' "offensive" act, as per the report.

US not there for UAE

Officials from the Emirati government said as quoted by Axios that the "offensive" bill was another evidence of Mohammed bin Zayed's growing perception that the US had abandoned them when they were in need.

“Sheikh Mohammed was understandably upset," State Department counselor Derek Chollet said.

"I felt bad that so much time had elapsed, that he was feeling upset and we didn’t have an indication that this was the case. We certainly took it very, very seriously and felt that we responded in a way that we thought was responsive to our friends in need. Sheikh Mohammed did not feel that way," Chollet said.

The incidents from last year occurred at a time when ties between the US and the UAE were at their worst.

The UAE  felt snubbed by Washington after the latter did not sign a deal to supply the Emirates with F-35 fighter jets following the normalization deals with "Israel". This was exacerbated by the Biden administration's objection to sovereign Emirati decisions, such as receiving Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, and its pressure on Abu Dhabi to increase oil production outside the context of OPEC. 

“All this comes at a time when America is no longer the only superpower in the world, which prompted the UAE and other countries to diversify partners," according to Professor Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a noted scholar in political science.

It took months to even begin the process of mending relations, with Biden's meeting with Mohammed bin Zayed in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, last July serving as a major catalyst.

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