This is a important difference, because if there is active DPI that is shutting down a connection before handshake can happen, it will inflate the numbers massively.
I suspect what actually is happening is a ISP in UAE has deployed a DPI system that can detect the Tor TLS signature
If your theory is correct, then the title is slightly misleading.
I'm not very familiar with TOR, but does this reaffirm what OP is asking, that this might be DPI causing re-connections for TOR in UAE? If so is this a new policy of banning TOR, or is this just a recent ramp up in existing policy?
Another example that comes to mind is the Colorado newspaper headline that crime has "doubled" in the last decade. That leads a person down the train of thought that crime is out of control. In reality, it grew in proportion to the population. The headline, "Crime grows in proportion with population" doesn't evoke gasps and sales of your paper.