On Aug. 11, 2017, a United Arab Emirates helicopter filled with soldiers taking part in an offensive against al Qaeda militants crashed in Yemen, leaving three soldiers dead and seven seriously wounded, including a young member of the royal family.
As Emirati leaders scrambled to rescue their soldiers, they turned to the U.S. and asked America to organize an urgent rescue mission.
In a matter of hours, according to U.S. military officials, American special operations forces rushed to save the Emirati royal and the other soldiers. In ways that couldn't have been anticipated at the time, the unusual military mission helped pave the way three years later for the Israel-U.A.E. peace deal that is reshaping the Middle East.
Until now, the U.A.E. and U.S. military have never acknowledged that American forces saved the young royal that day.
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Officially, Emirati officials said mechanical problems brought down the helicopter. But U.S. officials have said the cause was unclear, leaving open the possibility it was shot down by militants in Yemen.
Three Emirati soldiers were killed. Zayed bin Hamdan al Nahyan, a 27-year-old nephew and son-in-law to the country’s crown prince, was one of seven others seriously injured. U.S. officials soon learned that the young Emirati royal was among those being rescued.
Two American Ospreys carried a special operations forces medical team to the helicopter crash site in Yemen. The American medical team flew the seven injured soldiers to the USS Bataan, a U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship in the Gulf of Aden, said Capt. Bill Urban, spokesman for U.S. Central Command. One soldier died on the way to the ship as a surgeon on the Osprey revived a second Emirati whose heart stopped, said Capt. Urban.
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Medical teams on the Bataan worked frantically for 48 hours, Capt. Urban said, as American forces onboard lined up to give blood for the Emirati soldiers. The medical team used 54 of 66 units of blood, making it the largest such “walking blood bank” the Navy has used since World War II, said Capt. Urban.
Meanwhile, U.A.E. leaders asked the Americans for special permission to fly the six soldiers, including the Emirati royal, to Landstuhl, Germany, where the U.S. Army has a medical hospital that specializes in treating combat injuries.
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The U.S. flew the Emirati soldiers from the ship back to an airport in Yemen, where an Air Force C-17 cargo plane equipped with a special medical unit was waiting to fly them to Germany,
Flying the massive plane into Yemen posed a risk. The U.S. landed the plane at night and flew out before the sun rose to ensure everyone’s safety.
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Originally Posted by feudist
