The Israeli military deployed its Iron Dome missile defense system in the United Arab Emirates during the Iran war, according to two people familiar with the move, a remarkable display of defense cooperation between Israel and an Arab nation.
Iron Dome was developed by Israel to intercept incoming short-range rocket fire and has been a critical line of defense in the country’s wars with Hamas and Hezbollah.
Israeli soldiers traveled to the Emirates to operate the system, said one of the two people, who both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information. The news site Axios first reported that Israel sent Iron Dome to the Emirates.
It appeared to be the first time the system was deployed in an Arab country. The arrangement underscores the close relationship Israel has developed with the Persian Gulf country since the two agreed to normalize their relations in 2020.
It also signals how the Emirates is increasingly pursuing its own interests, unconstrained by traditional alliances and conventions in the region, where cooperation with Israel remains taboo among much of the Arab public. Most notably, it has pulled away from its once-close alignment with Saudi Arabi.
On Tuesday, the Emirates announced it was withdrawing from OPEC, a cartel of oil-producing countries, which includes many of its Gulf neighbors, including Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of the cartel.
The Israeli military and the Emirati foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Iron Dome deployment. The Israeli defense ministry also declined to comment.
After the U.S.-Israeli assault on Iran began on Feb. 28, Iran retaliated by launching attacks on Israel and Arab countries that host American military bases. The Emirates bore the brunt of that in the Gulf, and fielded more attacks than any of its neighbors, experts say.
In April, the Emirati ministry of defense said that the country’s air defenses had engaged nearly 3,000 missiles and drones during the war. The attacks killed several people and injured many more, and caused damage to civilian infrastructure, including hotels, and some military sites.
Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones posed a particular challenge to the country, occasionally managing to evade its air defense systems.
The U.A.E. was the first of several Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel during President Trump’s first term, in a series of agreements that came to be known as the Abraham Accords.
The Emirates has maintained those relations, even as Israel faced immense criticism from Arab countries for its bombing campaign in Gaza, following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Natan Odenheimer contributed reporting.
