Originally posted to the Middle East Monitor website, 21 September, 2020.
Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Zayed is talking with the Pentagon to transfer the US Incirlik Air Base from Turkey to the UAE, the New Khaleej reported yesterday.
Informed sources revealed to the news site on Saturday that the plan aims to consolidate the UAE’s ties with the “deep state” in the US.
The New Khaleej reported Tactical Report, a news website specialised in intelligence news, saying that Bin Zayed believes that Abu Dhabi is seeking to place its strategic interests above all other issues, including the personal relations between Bin Zayed and US President Donald Trump.
According to the Arabic news site, the UAE is also working on economic and military projects in cooperation with the Pentagon and major US economic and financial institutions on the south coast of Yemen and a number of islands, including Socotra.
On Tuesday last week, the Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Campbell told Anadolu that the US “has no plans to end our presence at Incirlik Air Base.”
This statement came following remarks made by US Senator Ron Johnson as he told the Washington Examiner that the US is seeking to increase its presence at the naval base on the Greek island of Crete as an alternative to Incirlik.
“The US has operated at Incirlik Air Base for decades at the invitation of the Turkish government, and our continued presence there demonstrates the ongoing and strong relationship between the United States and our NATO Ally Turkey,” Campbell said.
Link to the original post: https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200921-bin-zayed-talks-with-washington-to-transfer-us-base-in-turkey-to-uae/
