In the wake of the brutal execution of a Jordanian pilot who was captured after his plane was forced down over Syria, the resolve of the Arab members of the anti-ISIS coalition seemed to be faltering. The New York Times reported last week that the United Arab Emirates, a resurgent Middle Eastern power and a key regional partner for the United States, suspended strikes against ISIS indefinitely in the wake of the capture of a Jordanian fighter pilot.

Out of the fear that one of their pilots might also be forced out of the sky and captured by ISIS militants, the UAE reportedly warned the United States that it would not continue to execute strikes against ISIS until the United States improved its search-and-rescue capabilities in Northern Iraq (including both troops and vertical takeoff and landing Osprey aircraft). In other words, until America agreed to enlarge its Iraqi footprint, the UAE was functionally removing itself from the coalition.

Perhaps the political problems presented by the fracturing of the Arab members of the anti-ISIS coalition outweighed the political peril associated with increasing U.S. capabilities in Iraq. Maybe augmenting the number of search-and-rescue assets in Iraq was part of the plan all along. Whatever the case, America’s rapid response capabilities in the region are about to expand.

“The U.S. military is moving additional troops and aircraft into Iraq to prepare for combat search-and-rescue missions, a defense official said Friday,” The Military Times reported.

Army Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said some aircraft were recently deployed into northern Iraq as a precaution.

“It increases our ability to respond rapidly,” Warren said.

Warren declined to identify the number of troops or aircraft. Reports suggest it includes a detachment of V-22 Ospreys.

Shortly after this tactical shift became public, the UAE revealed that it had rejoined the anti-ISIS coalition and was back to executing strikes against ISIS.

Via Fox News:

The announcement was made by UAE’s official government news agency, following the U.S. State Department’s announcement Friday that the Arab country had reaffirmed its commitment to the coalition and that suggested that “positive news” on the matter would be announced within the next few days.
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UAE’s renewed effort is an attempt to stop “the brutal terrorist organization that showed all of the world its ugliness … through abominable crimes that exposed its false allegations and drew outrage and disgust from the Arab peoples,” according to the news release by WAM, Emirates News Agency.

The release also said the initiative comes from the “deep belief in the need for Arab collective cooperation to eliminate terrorism … through the collective encountering of these terrorist gangs and their misleading ideology and brutal practices.”

Good for the administration and the Pentagon. They were criticized in this space for fighting a war with the political objective of ensuring that it remained small and uncontroversial at home seemingly paramount in the minds of military planners. Acceding to the UAE’s demands for increased capabilities in Northern Iraq is a small gesture, but it demonstrates that sometimes operational concerns can trump political apprehensions – as they should. It’s a small step forward, but one with big implications. Bravo to the White House for demonstrating some courage in the face of what will certainly be objections from their anti-war base supporters.