UAE 'pulls out' of coalition air strikes against ISIL
US officials say key member stopped flying combat missions over Syria after Jordanian pilot was captured in December.
Two
US officials say the United Arab Emirates, a key Arab member of the
US-led coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, had
stopped flying combat missions over Syria since December after the
capture of a Jordanian pilot by ISIL.
The
Gulf Arab nation dropped out of the group of countries conducting
airstrikes against ISIL targets in Syria, citing fears for their pilot's
safety in the case of downed planes, the officials said.
Moaz al-Kassasbeh was burned to death by ISIL on Tuesday nearly a month after his plane was shot down over Syria.
The
US officials spoke on Wednesday only on condition of anonymity because
the move has not been announced and they were not authorised to speak on
the record.
The New York Times was the first to report the UAE's decision to stop conducting airstrikes.
The
UAE has demanded that the US improve its search-and-rescue efforts,
including the use of V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, in northern Iraq,
closer to the battleground, instead of basing the missions in Kuwait,
the New York Times cited officials as saying.
The
country's pilots will not rejoin the fight until the Ospreys, which
take off and land like helicopters but fly like planes, are put in place
in northern Iraq, the report added.
Even
after the UAE stopped flying the missions, the US military has
continued to state in daily news releases about the air campaign that
the UAE is among coalition partner nations "conducting airstrikes in
Syria".
Source: Agencies
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