Funerals held for Emirati soldiers
Families bury two NCOs who died serving in Yemen
ABU DHABI // Two Emirati non-commissioned officers, Sgt Nader Mubarak Eisa Soliman and L/Cpl Soliman Mohammed Soliman Al Dhohouri, who both died in Yemen, were buried yesterday. The General Command of the Armed Forces saidd that the two died while on duty as part of Operation Restoring Hope, the Saudi-led Arab coalition campaign to support and restore to power the legitimate government of Yemen.
The UAE is part of the coalition, which has fought a near two- year campaign against the Iran-allied Houthis.
According to Abdullah, Al Dhohouri’s brother, the serviceman was delighted to return to Yemen after recently being at home after a ninemonth tour of duty.
But a week after cutting his leave short for redeployment, he fell in combat. News of the 33- year- old’s death reached his family yesterday morning.
“He had finished his service and they summoned him again while he was on a 10-day holiday,” said Abdullah, who saw his brother a week ago.
“He said: ‘ This is a joy for me’. He left feeling very proud and happy. He said: ‘ If I become a martyr, it is better’.
“He called his wife on Saturday to say he was in Yemen, but after that we did not hear from him. When we tried calling, his phone was switched off.”
Abdullah, a year Al Dhohouri’s junior, said his brother was full of a warrior’s spirit and enthusiasm.
“Whenever he received a call telling him his flight was today, he became very happy,” he said.
Al Dhohouri joined the army after high school in 2000 and served with the Armed Forces’ humanitarian missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Eritrea and Jordan, before joining coalition operations in Yemen last year.
“He never spoke about what he came across during the war [in Yemen],” Abdullah said.
“He used to say these are military secrets but he always used to say: ‘May Allah grant them patience’.”
Al Dhohouri is survived by his parents, six brothers, his wife, a daughter, 10, and son, 8.
Three of his brothers are in the army or police force. The UAE also mourned Sgt Soliman, 45, who died of a heart attack in his sleep.
On Thursday, Soliman’s wife was the last family member to speak to him. He called her at 2am and told her “I’m trying to come back quickly, I want to see you all”, said his brother Eisa.
After Fajr, Soliman retired to his bunk. “Next morning, his colleagues did not want to wake him up at first because they felt he was tired from being on duty the whole day before,” said Eisa. But when they tried to rouse him later they discovered he was dead. Soliman had two sons and three daughters. His eldest child is 22 and the youngest is five years old.