The military ceremony that marked the return of non-commissioned officer Hazim Obaid Al Ali’s body was a solemn reminder of the turbulent times in which we live. The 40-year-old father of seven died in exercises that were part of our Armed Forces’ involvement in the Saudi-led Operation Restoring Hope in Yemen. Of course, the toll of war is a grim and accepted fact in the affairs of men but it can never be anything other than supremely tragic when a family loses its husband, father, brother and a country a brave soldier. Unfortunately, the stresses and strains caused by Iranian meddling in our region make it essential that the coalition remain undeterred in the task of restoring the balance in Yemen.
But if there are dangers close to home, so too further afield. Wednesday’s suicide car bomb attack on a UAE aid convoy in the Somali capital Mogadishu was practically a textbook example of a savage extremist strike at a soft target with the aim of spreading fear and terror. At least nine people died, most of them ordinary Somalis, which in itself underlines the dreadful currency of the business of terrorism – the price is paid in innocent blood. Al Shabab, the Somali militant group linked to Al Qaeda, claimed responsibility for the attack.
If there is anything to be said about the brazenness of Al Shabab’s attempt to scare off those engaged in providing assistance to Somalia it is this: it has been losing ground and this despicable attack on a convoy delivering food and other supplies to suffering Somalis during Ramadan was a desperate, flailing attempt to prove that it remains a force. But all it has done is proclaim louder than ever before that it is an enemy of the people and will stop at nothing, as the Somali ambassador to the UAE has said, to tarnish that country’s image. A terrorist attack is heartless by its very definition but there has to be a special sort of sadism in attacking those who are generously and selflessly giving of themselves. It is fortunate that, as Dr Anwar Gargash, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, has said, the UAE will not be deterred in its mission of helping the Somali people.
That country has suffered so much, for so long that till recently it retained top billing on the so-called Failed States Index. But there have been signs of recovery – not least a building boom in Mogadishu and the opening of Somalia’s first insurance company in more than 20 years. The terrorists will not stop that progress now.
