Kuwait supports fight against ISIS but won't send jets

A Canadian Armed Forces CF-18 Fighter jet from 409 Squadron taxis after landing in Kuwait on Oct. 28, 2014. (THE CANADIAN PRESS / HO, DND-MND)

Kuwait has taken a pro-Western position in the multinational fight against ISIS, and is allowing Canadian warplanes to use its military base. But it’s not getting involved in the airstrikes on ISIS targets in Iraq.

Most of its residents believe it should stay that way.

“The Kuwaiti army cannot do it … only western countries,” one man told CTV’s Peter Akman, who has been reporting on the anti-ISIS mission from Kuwait.

With Islamic State fighters a few hundred kilometres away in neighbouring Iraq, residents of Kuwait still feel safe within their small country.

Although life in the capital, Kuwaiti City, remains insulated, officials are working to keep intolerance and extremism out of Kuwaiti mosques.

Fears of an ISIS attack within Kuwait have kept religious and political leaders on alert.

Abo Kareem of Kuwait’s Grand Mosque says ISIS does not represent Islam.

“They took Islam as a shell to do whatever they want to do and then say: ‘We defend Islam,’” Kareem said.

But even though Kuwaitis are considered to be progressive moderates, many Middle East experts agree that some private Kuwaiti citizens are financially supporting ISIS.

Some natives of Kuwait are also said to be holding senior positions in ISIS. Every day, ISIS militants are drawing more fighters from Kuwait and other countries, thanks to aggressive online propaganda campaigns and recruiting techniques.

Canada has contributed six CF-18 fighter jets, two CP-140 Aurora surveillance planes, the C-150 refuelling jet and approximately 600 personnel to the anti-ISIS mission. The CF-18s made their first successful airstrikes on Sunday, when they destroyed ISIS’s engineering and construction equipment being used to divert the flow of the Euphrates River in Iraq.

Canadian aircraft are currently committed to a six-month mission.

With a report from CTV’s Peter Akman in Kuwait