U.S. Officials Confirm Suspension of UAE Combat Missions

U.S. officials confirmed that the United Arab Emirates, a key member of the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State, has not flown combat missions over Syria since December but has remained involved in non-combat roles, AFP reports.

The Gulf state dropped out of the alliance of countries conducting airstrikes against ISIS targets after a Jordanian pilot was captured, citing fear for its pilots’ safety.

“I can confirm that UAE suspended airstrikes shortly after the Jordanian pilot’s plane went down,” AFP news agency quoted an unnamed U.S. official as saying. “But let me be clear that UAE continues to be an important and valuable partner that is contributing to the coalition.”

The New York Times was first to report about the UAE’s decision to stop conducting airstrikes less than day after a video of Moaz al-Kassasbeh, a Jordanian pilot whose plane went down in Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State, being burned to death by ISIS surfaced.

In addition to the UAE, Bahrain, Jordan and Saudi Arabia take part in US-led coalition airstrikes in Syria, which began in September.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry, described the execution as “despicable, terrorist crimes, and urged Jordan to cooperate in the ‘fight against terrorism like that of Daesh [ISIS] and al-Nusra Front [Al-Qaida’s Syrian branch].”

Syria’s government considers all those seeking to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as “terrorists” and has long accused opposition backers like Turkey, Jordan and Gulf nations of supporting terrorism.

The Islamic State Kills Dozens of Captives This Year as Regime Steps Up Attacks on Syrian Civilians

“Islamic State has killed 50 people this year in Syria who it accused of insulting God, spying or being enemy fighters, including a Jordanian pilot it burned alive,” Reuters reports.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the ultra-hardline group killed them mainly through beheadings and shootings. The group controls nearly one-third of Syria and has killed 1,432 captives since it declared its caliphate last June.

In addition to the Islamic States, Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaida’s Syria wing, killed six people, and 20 people were killed by other insurgent groups.

As global attention has focused on fighting the Islamic State, Assad’s forces have killed an estimated 330 civilians in Syria since the start of this year alone, the Observatory reports. The group chronicled 127 air raids in 24 hours earlier this week and 2,000 airstrikes by regime forces across Syria since January.

In its annual world report, Human Rights Watch accused Assad’s forces of intensifying attacks on civilian areas as well as arresting, torturing and detaining its opponents.

Rocket Attack on Residential Areas of Damascus Leaves Several Dead

A rocket attack on residential areas of Damascus killed at least eight people, Reuters reports, citing Syrian state news agency, SANA.

The attack is reportedly the second launched by insurgent group Islam Army in less than weeks. SANA called it a “terrorist attack.”

The leader of Islam Army said on Tuesday that his group would target the capital. The statement comes following an attack on the capital with at least 38 rockets on January 25, one of the heaviest attacks on Damascus this year.

“A message on a Twitter account thought to belong to Islam Army’s leader Zahran Alloush said the attack was a ‘taste’ of what the Syrian military had done to Ghouta,” Reuters reports. He went on to say that his group would respond to regime airstrikes on Ghouta, an eastern suburb of Damascus.

Recommended Reads:

• AFP: Jordan ‘Reaping Results of Backing Terror’: Syria Press
• CNN: Syrian Woman: I Had to Marry an ISIS Police Chief to Save My Father’s Life
• Al Arabiya: Turkey: U.S. ‘Sorry’ for Not Taking Advice on Syria
• Amnesty International: Untold Stories of Syria’s Most Vulnerable Refugees
• AFP: Hamas Leader Calls for Lebanon, Syria Branches to Attack Israel
• Washington Post: These Little Noticed Foreign Fighters May be Tipping the Balance in Syria
• Al Monitor: Ghouta on Edge Over Talk of Reconciliation With Regime