UAE martyr felt he would die: family

A UAE soldier who fought to defend Kuwait against Iraq felt he would fall as a martyr in a letter he sent to his family, which received the letter on the day he died.

Martyr Ibrahim Haloul Al Saadi asked his family in the letter to “always remember him” and said he was defending Kuwait and the UAE by joining the “Desert Storm” operation launched by a US-dominated coalition to eject the Iraqi forces from Kuwait in 1991.

“He sent us a letter telling us not to cry or be upset because he went to the war…he said ‘I am defending the rights of Kuwait and the UAE,” his brother Salim said.

“He also said ‘pray for me’….we received the letter on the same day he fell as a martyr…my brother seems to have felt he would not return home.”

Salim told the UAE daily Emarat Alyoum that the family still keeps that letter, adding that his brother, who was 41 years old when he was martyred, also asked his four brothers to look after their parents.

“I told my mother when I received the news of his death…she was shocked but later recovered and said ‘he fell as a martyr defending right,” Salim said.

“Even if we lost a brother in the war, we are ready to offer all that we have to our homeland…my younger brother joined the armed forces just after my brother was martyred and he is still with the army.”

He paid tributes to President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan for ordering treatment of his ill mother.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.