Mariam Al Mansouri, the United Arab Emirates' first female fighter pilot, participated in the kingdom’s military action against ISIS.

UAE's First Female Fighter Pilot

Mansouri, 35, was among the fighter pilots from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrian and Jordan who launched strikes on the Islamic State over the last couple of days. UAE’s ambassador to the United States, Yousel Al Otaiba, confirmed Mansouri’s participation in the strikes on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

Otaiba went on to declare, “We will bring whatever it takes to defeat ISIS and other forms of extremism.”

Mansouri graduated from Khlaifa bin Zayed Air College in Abu Dhabi in 2007. She is a veteran pilot of F-16 warplanes, according to the U.K. Telegraph.

“Directly after I finished my high school, I put up my mind to be a fighter pilot, but at that time the doors were not open for females to be pilots, so I had to wait almost 10 years, “ Mansouri told CNN back in July. “As soon as the doors were open, I volunteered.”

“Whenever a women enters a new, male-dominated field, they find the same hesitation, the same prejudice, the same stereotyped thinking,” Mansouri continued. “I had to prove myself, just by being determined and having the skill and knowledge enough to prove that I can perform as skillful as the men.”

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