[b]The 35-year-old squadron commander was likely part of sorties that dropped bombs on Islamic State positions in Syria's Idlib, Aleppo and Raqqa provinces. Some reports suggest that she even spearheaded her country's mission, which complemented the parallel efforts of four other Arab states backing the U.S.: Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain and Qatar. According to a profile in the National, the Abu Dhabi-born al-Mansouri harbored an ambition to join the air force since her teenage years, but had to bide her time until women were permitted to enlist. She graduated Khalifa bin Zayed Air College in 2007 and is now a veteran F-16 pilot. In earlier interviews, al-Mansouri has insisted that she received no special treatment because of her gender. "Everyone is required to have the same high level of combat competence," she told Deraa Al Watan, a U.A.E. magazine. It's not clear how vital her and her compatriots' efforts were in the air campaign against the Islamic State, which is entrenched over a vast swath of territory in Syria and Iraq. More important was the sheer fact of her presence. "While Arab participation in the strikes is of more symbolic than military value," writes the Wall Street Journal's Ahmed Al Omran, "analysts described it as a bold move for a group of countries that for long preferred to act via proxies instead of any direct involvement.[/b]

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K

35 years? wow! she's beautiful. time to visit Abu Dhabi

Beautiful woman