United Arab Emirates to rejoin air campaign against ISIS

MUNICH (The NY Times)— The United Arab Emirates has informed the United States that it plans to resume its participation in the American-led airstrikes against the Islamic State group, a senior State Department official said Friday.

One of the Arab allies in the military campaign against the militant group, the United Arab Emirates had suspended airstrikes because it was worried about the safety of its pilots.

It made that decision after the capture of a Jordanian pilot whom the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, later burned to death. But the United States recently moved Black Hawk helicopters to Erbil in northern Iraq to improve its ability to rescue downed pilots.

United Arab Emirates officials “affirmed their commitment to the coalition and suggested that there was going to be positive news on the flight issue within the next few days,” the American official said.

The State Department official, who could not be identified under the agency’s ground rules, briefed reporters after a meeting between Secretary of State John Kerry and Abdullah bin Zayed, the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, and senior diplomats from five other Arab states in the Persian Gulf.

During the meeting, Mr. Kerry also discussed possible steps the United States and the gulf states could take regarding Yemen, where the current upheaval is of grave concern to its Arab neighbors.

“The secretary challenged them to say what they were going to do to help resolve the situation in Yemen,” said the official. The official added that a number of diplomatic and security ideas were discussed, but he declined to provide details.

“The most enormous leverage is financial,” said the official, who noted that the Saudis had provided about $2 billion in aid last year. Some of the Arab nations are also in contact with the Houthi rebels and have urged them to exercise restraint.

While there was concern about the Iranians’ role in supporting the Houthi rebels, there was no discussion about contacting Tehran.

During the meeting, the Arab diplomats expressed concern that Haider al-Abadi, the Iraqi prime minister, was not doing enough to reach out to Iraq’s Sunni population, the official said.

On Syria, the Arab diplomats also expressed unhappiness about President Bashar al-Assad’s ability to cling to power.