UAE to Deploy Commandos to Boost Anti-IS Campaign
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SUBSCRIPTION SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2016 JAMADA ALAWWAL 5, 1437 AH No: 16785 Kuwait to sign Bahrain at Barca-Real Eurofighter impasse five rivalry spills jet deal years after into Copa with Italy5 failed uprising8 del47 Rey final UAE to deploy commandos to boost anti-IS campaign Min 07º 150 Fils Pentagon chief Carter meets top UAE officials Max 22º BRUSSELS: The United Arab Emirates wants to deploy commandos to help train forces fighting Islamic State jihadists and will resume its contribution to the US-led air campaign, Pentagon chief Ashton Carter said yesterday. Carter met top UAE officials in Brussels following a land- mark summit of anti-IS coalition members to discuss ways to step up the 18-month fight against IS in Iraq and Syria. “They indicated to me their willingness to do more, which is important, specifically to re-start their participa- tion in the air campaign, secondly to work with us on the ground,” Carter said. UAE special operations forces would help train and advise-as well as arm anti-IS forces in Syria and local partners in Iraq, including Sunni groups and the Kurdish Peshmerga. Carter did not say how big the force would be. “What is needed in the Sunni parts of Iraq is capacity among moderate Sunnis to re-occupy and govern that territory and keep a multi-sectarian Iraq together,” Carter said. “The Emiratis can be an important part of that.” Saudi Arabia too has promised to step up its anti-IS efforts. Like the UAE, it took part in early strikes after the campaign began in mid-2014, but stopped as it turned its attention to the conflict in Yemen. The anti-IS campaign has seen AL-AIN, United Arab Emirates: Jockeys compete in a camel race during the Sheikh Sultan Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan heritage festival, held at the Shweihan racecourse in Al-Ain, on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi yesterday. The festival includes a coalition planes and drones conduct more than 10,000 air camel beauty contest, a traditional souq, a camel auction, and competitions for traditional handicrafts. —AFP strikes and dealt the jihadists some significant blows, including the recapture of the Iraqi city of Ramadi. But the extremists retain control of large parts of Iraq and Syria and have expanded their presence in Libya. New app helps Iranians The United States, which has ruled out large-scale troop deployments on the ground, has stressed the importance of special operations commandos to work with sympathet- avoid ‘morality police’ ic local forces and to help advise and equip them to fight IS. The continued fight against the IS group comes as DUBAI: A new smartphone application that “Technology has created an amazing Rights in Iran. Ghaemi said the app’s world powers met in Munich yesterday and agreed an helps Iranians dodge the Islamic Republic’s opportunity to forge a cooperative solu- developers were based outside Iran but ambitious plan to cease hostilities in war-racked Syria. But “morality police” is proving popular with tion to common social problems,” had grown up in the country and experi- the Munich accord will not apply to IS and Al-Qaeda’s local the young, tech-savvy population but has Gershad’s secretive creators said in an enced the problem first hand. “It’s really an branch. “There is no ceasefire in the war against ISIL,” quickly fallen foul of the authorities. The email exchange with Reuters. Gershad is a indigenous product... these are the kind of Carter said, using an alternative acronym for the IS group. Gershad app allows users who spot check- contraction of the full title of the Gashte people who have been stopped at check- “Be clear about that.” — AFP points set up by the morality police, who Ershad (guidance patrol), which is part of points,” he said. enforce Islamic dress and behaviour codes, efforts to purge Western culture from the Gershad is an example of how young to tag their location on a Google map with country following the Islamic revolution Iranians are turning to technology to cir- Internet interrupted an icon of a bearded man, enabling others which overthrew a Western-backed king in cumvent checks on their everyday lives. to steer clear of them. 1979. “For years the morality police have “It’s showing a trend in digital protest... I KUWAIT: Internet services in Kuwait were interrupted The app was blocked by the authorities been causing disturbances for Iranian see it as a precedent for future apps of its yesterday due to defect in the main marine GCC cable, soon after it was released for Android women,” the Gershad team said. kind,” said Amir-Esmaeil Bozorgzadeh, a the Ministry of Communication said. Buthaina Al-Sbaiee, devices on Monday but many Iranians “Avoiding them in the streets, metro sta- Dubai-based consultant for app makers in the Assistant Undersecretary for Administrative and Legal bypass Internet restrictions by using a Virtual tions and in shopping malls is challenging the Iranian market. Affairs said in a statement that the electronic services in Private Network. It is already trending on and tiresome.” Gershad does not describe itself as a the other GCC countries were also affected. The Ministry social media and has received almost 800 Iranian officials have not commented form of protest, but its website describes it has immediately contacted relevant regional and interna- reviews on the Google Play app store, nearly on Gershad but state broadcaster IRIB said as a “social movement” and asks: “Why tional authorities to secure alternative means for securing all of them positive, although Google Play the app had been written about on social should we give up the most basic right of regular online services, she said, adding that it has suc- does not show how many times Gershad media and “networks opposed to the choosing what clothes to wear?” An online ceeded in shifting to substitute lines to restore the regular had been downloaded. Gershad is seen by (Islamic) revolution”. “This is an innovative video advert shows patrol members, ren- services. The Ministry has coordinated with the company some as setting a precedent for “digital idea and I believe it will lead to many oth- dered as dopey-looking cartoon figures, tasked with repairing the cable, Al-Sbaiee said, adding protest” in Iran as elections loom and the er creative apps which will address the fidgeting impatiently at a checkpoint as that the work would last for 7 to 10 days. The official country emerges from years if isolation fol- gap between society and government in the app diverts the flow of pedestrians affirmed that the Ministry would do its best to ensure reg- lowing the lifting of international sanctions Iran,” said Hadi Ghaemi, executive director away from them. “Wander freely!” says the ular e-services. — KUNA imposed over its nuclear program. of the International Campaign for Human tagline. — Reuters LOCAL SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2016 KUWAIT: Deputy Premier, Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah is pictured with the Speaker Marzouq Al-Ghanim and other MPs, ministers, municipal council members, senior officials and editors-in-chief during a luncheon held at the ministry’s camp. — Photos by Yasser Al-Zayyat MPs laud Interior Ministry Al-Ghanim praises army, National Guard, Interior By Hanan Al-Saadoun KUWAIT: Coinciding with Kuwait’s celebration of the 55th National Day and 25th Liberation Day, Deputy Premier, Interior Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al- Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah held a luncheon at the Interior Ministry’s camp in Salmy on Thursday. The event was attended by the Speaker Marzouq Al- Ghanim, his deputy Mubarak Al-Khurainej, MPs, min- isters, municipal council members, senior officials and editors-in-chief. National Assembly Speaker lauded the vital role performed by the personnel of the army, National Guard, and interior ministry in preserving security of the country and safety of the people, calling them a source of pride and safety for all Kuwaitis. Al-Ghanim made his remarks in his speech at a luncheon which coincided with the country’s ongoing national celebra- tions of the 10th anniversary of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah’s assump- tion of power, the 25th anniversary of Liberation Day, and the 55th anniversary of National Day. “We were all honored today by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah’s invitation, whether myself, MPs, Municipality Council, or the prominent figures and people in Kuwait,” the top lawmaker said, expressing his appreciation and pride in the efforts exerted by the interior ministry and all its affiliated bodies. He also expressed his gratitude to the Interior Minister’s “generous” invitation of the Kuwaiti people to attend the luncheon, held at the ministry’s camp, calling it a gesture that embodies the spirit of the one family and the genuine roots of the Kuwaiti people. For his part, Sheikh Mohammad Al-Khaled lauded the citizens’ role in supporting security personnel, Diplomat discusses ties with Iraq officials which proves that the security system cannot be fully completed without the people’s cooperation with BASRA: Kuwait’s Consul-General to He lauded the level of development Provincial Council Munther Al-Shawy the interior ministry’s personnel. Several MPs lauded Basra Yousef Ashour Al-Sabbagh has in the Kuwaiti-Iraqi relations, noting that stressed the importance of opening the the role of the Interior Ministry in maintaining the held talks with senior officials of Maysan he has discussed with Iraqi officials a Kuwaiti Consulate-General in Basra, call- country’s, citizens and expats security. They said Governorate, southeastern Iraq, dis- number of issues of mutual interest, par- ing it an important and historic step in policemen have a special status, and their work is cussing bilateral relations between ticularly the investment filed and facili- the relations march between the two appreciated by them.