Bahrain's unrest halts UAE from sending planes to Libya

UAE’s former commander of the Air Force said on Tuesday that his country is not sending military forces to Libya due to the disagreements with the West over Bahrain.

According to The National newspaper, Maj Gen Khaled al Bu-Ainnain said that the Gulf countries see Iran as interfering and instigating protests in Bahrain, and that it consider Bahrain as a priority for its security.

Gen al Bu-Ainnain said the UAE may be willing to reconsider its position if the West’s stance on Bahrain changes.

He said the UAE was initially planning to deploy two squadrons of Mirage and F-16 fighter jets to Libya. Instead, the UAE announced Monday its contribution to Libya would be confined to humanitarian aid.

Only Qatar has pledged Arab warplanes to the coalition enforcing a no-fly zone in Libya.

Sunni-Shiite schism

Meanwhile, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday, and in a live broadcast on state television that Iran supports "all regional uprisings" without distinguishing between Sunni and Shiite Muslims.

Iran "supports all the popular movements which are under the slogan of Islam and (seeking) freedom," Khamenei said in remarks addressing the Shiite-led uprising in the Sunni-ruled kingdom of Bahrain.

"It is not an issue of Shiites and Sunnis... It is the protest of a nation against oppression," he said, adding: "We don’t distinguish between Gaza, Palestine, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Bahrain and Yemen.

"Oppression of nations anywhere is condemned" by Iran, said the all-powerful Khamenei, whose regime officials have severely criticized the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Bahrain.

Head of the World Federation of Muslim Scholars, Yusuf al-Qaradawi said that he agreed with the uprisings taking place in the region except for Bahrain, for he described it as “sectarian”. Al-Qaradawi is a renowned Muslim scholar for the Sunni flange of the Muslim World.