UAE Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Zayed (MbZ) refused to meet with the head of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), General Frank Mckenzie, in January of this year.
According to the Director of Strategic Outreach of the Middle East Institute, Firas Maksad, the Emirati leader’s refusal came in the wake of Washington’s apparent indifference to the attacks launched by Yemen against the UAE earlier this year.
“After the last major attack this January, the UAE didn’t hear from US senior administration officials, and when Gen. Frank McKenzie, America’s top commander in charge of the region, paid a visit over three weeks later, Mohamed bin Zayed, the country’s de facto leader, refused to meet with him,” Maksad revealed in a commentary piece published by the Wall Street Journal on 21 March.
Maksad goes on to suggest that the UAE expected a “meaningful response” from the US to the Yemeni counterattacks.
Over recent months Washington has seen its influence across West Asia wane, particularly with its historic partners the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
Earlier this month MbZ refused to take a phone call from US President Joe Biden, who has been trying to convince Gulf states to increase oil production levels amid a global fuel crisis.
On 16 March, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Abu Dhabi with the same goal, hoping to get the Gulf nations to break their oil production agreements with OPEC+.
However, the British leader also failed in his venture.
A day later the UAE’s foreign minister travelled to Moscow, where he reaffirmed the country’s commitment to strengthening energy cooperation with Russia and to the OPEC+ agreement.
Following this MbZ welcomed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Abu Dhabi, marking the first time that the Syrian leader visited an Arab country since the start of the US-backed war in 2011.
According to Emirati state news agency WAM, the two leaders discussed the UAE potentially providing humanitarian support and the withdrawal of foreign forces from Syria.
“The UAE is keen to strengthen cooperation with Syria to achieve the aspirations of the brotherly Syrian people towards stability and development,” the crown prince said.
The US responded negatively to the surprise visit, with State Department spokesperson Ned Price saying: “We are concerned by reports of this meeting and the signal it sends,” before calling saying US officials were “profoundly disappointed” in the UAE.