DUBAI, 13 February 2003 — The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain yesterday became the first Arab states to announce they were sending troops and weapons to defend Kuwait against a possible attack by Iraq if the United States wages war on Iraq.
The announcements came after a decision to send a combined force, known as the Peninsula Shield, was made in the Kingdom on Saturday at a meeting of ministers of the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council.
Comments by regional leaders, and the moves to dispatch troops to Kuwait, indicate a sense among Arabs that they can do little to stop a US-Iraq war they fear will hamper development in the Middle East and anger Arabs already suspicious of US intentions.
In the Emirates, a top military official said his country was sending a mechanized brigade backed by Apache attack helicopters, Leclerc tanks, BMP3 amphibious armored vehicles, a missile boat and a frigate in the coming days to defend Kuwait, a fellow GCC state.
A force of some 4,000 men, including troops and crews to operate and maintain the equipment, will be leaving for Kuwait, said the official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. The 4,000 represent about 6 percent of the Emirates’ army.
A Bahraini official said a frigate and unspecified number of personnel would be sent from the island nation.
The troops and armor will be part of a combined military force that fellow Gulf states have agreed to dispatch to Kuwait, the Emirates official said on customary condition of anonymity.
Other Gulf nations have not yet said what they would contribute to Kuwait’s defense.
Although Gulf nations, like the rest of the Arab Muslim world, are pressing for a diplomatic end to the US-Iraq crisis, nations of the region increasingly are preparing for the likelihood of war.
Peninsula Shield, based in Hafr Al-Baten, a northeastern Saudi base near the Iraqi border, has some 5,000 troops. They are from several Gulf nations and the figure does not include the approximately 4,000 personnel the Emirates is expected to send.
On Saturday, defense and foreign ministers of the six GCC states agreed in a meeting in Jeddah to deploy the forces, known as the Peninsula Shield, to Kuwait.
The forces will be under the command of the host country, Kuwait, the Emirates official said, speaking by telephone from Abu Dhabi, the nation’s capital and largest of its seven emirates.
“These forces will not take part in any military operation against Iraq,” Kingdom’s Deputy Minister of Defense Prince Khaled ibn Sultan has said.
“The deployment of these troops in Kuwait, at this country’s behest, is aimed at protecting its territory” against Iraqi attack, the Okaz daily quoted Prince Khaled as saying.
A Bahraini Information Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said in Manama that Bahraini forces “were on their way to Kuwait.”
As part of its contribution, Bahrain was dispatching its only frigate, Sabha — a gift from the US Navy — to join the Gulf coalition. It also was sending some troops, the official said. He would not elaborate.
Kuwait’s Cabinet said earlier this week that it “appreciated” the combined decision of its fellow Gulf states that asserts the “unity of the Gulf Cooperation Council members.” (AP)
