On January 17th, Abu Dhabi came under attack by Houthi troops in Yemen. That was the second attack in the span of a week. Emirati air defenses intercepted incoming missiles, but a separate drone strike ended up killing 3 civilians. Analysts state that the attack was in response to battlefield setbacks for the Houthis. The Houthi have caused issues in Abu Dhabi’s foreign and internal policy, which is both aggressive yet defensive.
This attack by the Houthi of Yemen has a major impact on the foreign policy of the United Arab Emirates. Yemen is filled with terrorism and civil war, while the UAE is one of the wealthiest countries in the world and is a neighbor to them. This attack along with others from the Houthi has an impact on relations between the UAE and Yemen, potentially causing involvement in Yemen from the UAE in retaliation. UAE is mostly a neutral country in Middle Eastern conflicts, but retaliation on Yemen is possible after these slews of attacks. Another lasting impact on both sides is the damages and infrastructure needed to repair the destroyed buildings and cities. Yemen is very poor, so building up infrastructure potentially to replace the damages is nearly impossible. The UAE would be better off, having good infrastructure and being a very wealthy country.
This article relates to foreign policy decisions. The UAE has changed it’s foreign policy to stay neutral from neighbors affairs, but now it has changed to be aggressive yet defensive in the wake of attacks from the Houthi. This potential heightened conflict has possible effects on infrastructure to both the UAE and especially Yemen. The UAE is very wealthy, and and increase in infrastructure during or after a conflict isn’t as big a deal as in Yemen. Yemen is very poor, and money going to damages and military would destroy it even further. Foreign policy is a major factor in this on and off conflict between Yemen and the UAE.