Manama: A Kuwaiti military woman has become an instant sensation on Gulf social media after her picture was posted online.
The wonder was related to the growing role of Gulf women in the armed forces, seen as the epitome of a male-dominated establishment, Saudi news site Al Marsad reported on Thursday.
Internet users discussed the role of Al Anood Al Abdali in the joint operations of the Northern Thunder manoeuvres, the largest in the region, carried out in northern Saudi Arabia by military staff from 20 countries, including Kuwait and fellow
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members – Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Al Anood, who was a physical education teacher for five years before joining the Ministry of Interior, had successfully passed all the tests to become an officer in the operations division in 2012.
She has now become the second woman from the Gulf to attract outstanding attention after Major Mariam Al Mansouri, the UAE’s first female fighter pilot made international headlines for her strikes in the cockpit of an F-16 jet against terror targets in Syria and Yemen.
'Daesh's nightmare'
Mariam, known on social media as “Lady Liberty” and “Daesh’s nightmare” in reference to her strikes on the terror group has been honoured for “battling stereotypes, and terror, from the air.”
Both Mariam and Al Anood had spent years waiting for the opportunity to see women recruited in the armed forces and realise their dreams.
Reacting to the reports about Al Anood, most online users supported the presence of women within the armed forces, insisting that they deserved the chance to serve their countries in a new capacity and that their prowess and skills could make a difference.
The few who opposed their participation said that women were not fit for such operations and should not be involved in dangerous or risky action.
