The United States has signed a new military cooperation agreement with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a key member of the Saudi-led military campaign against Yemen.
Pentagon spokesman Christopher Sherwood said in a statement on Tuesday that the updated defense accord replaced an agreement the two countries reached in 1994 and could allow Washington to send more troops and equipment to the Arab kingdom.
“Both sides determined it was time to update the agreement to reflect the broad range of military-to-military cooperation that the UAE and United States enjoy today,” Sherwood said.
The spokesman described the deal as “a framework that dictates the magnitude and conditions of the US military presence in [the Arab] country.”
“This provides the US military with the ability to more seamlessly respond to a range of scenarios in and around the UAE, if necessary,” Sherwood added, without elaborating.
The announcement of the deal was made after US…