Egypt deploys jets to UAE as Iran war strains Arab alliances

{"text":[[{"start":10.75,"text":"It was only when their president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi visited Abu Dhabi this month that Egyptians discovered their country had quietly deployed fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates."}],[{"start":21.6,"text":"Footage broadcast on Emirati state media showed Sisi, escorted by the UAE’s president Mohamed bin Zayed, inspecting his country’s Rafale jets while being saluted by about a dozen Egyptian pilots. “Whatever harms the United Arab Emirates, harms Egypt,” said Sisi."}],[{"start":39.3,"text":"The deployment, about which Cairo has released no details, appeared designed to defuse tensions with its strategic partner Abu Dhabi, which had hit out at Arab states for not doing more to help its defence against Iranian attacks."}],[{"start":52.949999999999996,"text":"Long reluctant to become embroiled in conflict outside its borders, Cairo now finds itself having to navigate a delicate path between managing the sensitivities of the UAE, which demands visible support from allies, and its efforts to help mediate an end to the US-Israeli war in Iran."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":71,"text":"The UAE, which bore the brunt of Iran’s retaliation, is a major investor in Egypt and in 2023 bailed it out from near collapse with a $35bn land purchase for a massive development on the country’s Mediterranean shore. Billions of dollars in remittances from the 500,000 or so Egyptians living in the Gulf state are a much-needed source of foreign currency."}],[{"start":94.6,"text":"The view in Abu Dhabi, analysts say, is that the conflict revealed which partners could be relied upon and which could not as the Gulf state endured Iran’s relentless attacks. Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, in March decried allies and regional powers for their perceived failure to rally against “this treacherous Iranian aggression”."}],[{"start":117,"text":"“Abu Dhabi regards that they helped Egypt a lot over the past 15 years,” said HA Hellyer, a senior associate fellow at Rusi, the London think-tank. “So they expect backup on positions that they have on issues that they consider to be primarily Emirati in focus.”"}],[{"start":133.85,"text":"The war has exposed divisions in the Middle East and is reshaping alliances in the region. Most consequential has been the rift between the UAE and its neighbour Saudi Arabia. Some analysts have spoken of a burgeoning alignment between Riyadh, Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt, which have been united by their concerns that Israel has become a destabilising force and have co-ordinated efforts to broker an end to the US-Israeli war against Iran."}],[{"start":159.15,"text":"But Abu Dhabi has been sceptical about efforts to mediate a deal, concerned that it will leave an emboldened and dangerous regime intact in Tehran."}],[{"start":167.70000000000002,"text":"Michael Wahid Hanna, head of the US programme at the International Crisis Group, said that, from the UAE perspective, Egypt’s involvement in the negotiations “probably looked somehow as if it was creating an [unacceptable] equivalence between the UAE and Iran”. “I think they felt as if the mediators were not showing enough solidarity with the Emirati position,” he said."}],[{"start":188.3,"text":"Egypt, he added, would not have failed to notice the UAE’s treatment of Pakistan, from whom Abu Dhabi in mid-April demanded immediate repayment of a $3.5bn loan that Pakistan had expected to be rolled over — a move interpreted as a reflection of UAE frustration with Islamabad partly over its involvement in mediation."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":208.35000000000002,"text":"The dispatch of the Egyptian force has eased strains between Abu Dhabi and Cairo, said Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, an Emirati academic and commentator, who had previously criticised Egypt for not sending forces. “It came as a pleasant surprise,” said Abdulla. “We had thought that Egypt was reluctant, that it was not helpful.”"}],[{"start":228.45000000000002,"text":"“We are facing up to a very aggressive Iran, and this might send some good messages to Iran, which is at this moment public enemy number one for us.”"}],[{"start":236.55,"text":"But the UAE’s decision to double down on relations with Israel as a result of Iranian attacks has triggered outrage from parts of the Egyptian public infuriated by the country’s devastating two-year war in Gaza. Egyptian social media users have lashed out against the UAE in tirades that have gone down badly in the Gulf state."}],[{"start":256,"text":"“I don’t think the Emiratis were very happy with Egyptian public opinion,” said Hellyer. “It is very sympathetic to the Iranians, who are being attacked by the Israelis and the Americans, so they are automatically given the benefit of the doubt.”"}],[{"start":268.55,"text":"While Egypt concluded a peace agreement with Israel almost 50 years ago, it remains a “cold peace that doesn’t extend to societies”, Hanna said, contrasting this with the opening up that has taken place since the UAE established ties with Israel under the US-backed 2020 Abraham Accords."}],[{"start":285.85,"text":"“Egyptian views have only hardened on Israel since October 7 and Egyptian military doctrine is still constructed around a defence of war with Israel,” he said."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":295.55,"text":"The angry expressions on Egyptian social media have also referenced differences between Cairo and Abu Dhabi on regional policy, including issues which Egypt considers crucial to its security."}],[{"start":307.05,"text":"The UAE is accused of aiding the Rapid Support Forces, the Sudanese paramilitary group that has been fighting a civil war against Sudan’s military — which is backed by Cairo — since 2023, a ruinous conflict on Egypt’s borders that it considers a threat to national security."}],[{"start":323.05,"text":"The Gulf state, which denies supporting the RSF, also has close ties with Ethiopia, which has built a massive dam on the Nile seen by Cairo as damaging to its water security."}],[{"start":335.65000000000003,"text":"“It tells you something about the predicament of the Cairo government, if the public is noticing the fact that there are a whole host of issues in which the Egyptians and the Emirates are not exactly seeing eye to eye,” Hanna said."}],[{"start":348.05,"text":"Abdulla downplayed the nature of these rifts. “Allies have never been 100 per cent on the same page,” said Abdulla. “Even the strongest of allies . . . have differences. We [Abu Dhabi and Cairo] might be on the same page 80 per cent of the time. That’s more than enough.”"}],[{"start":372.8,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1779676872_4716.mp3"}