The United Arab Emirates, which suspended air strikes against the ISIL group, wants the US-led coalition to arm Sunni tribes in Iraq to fight the Takfiris, government media reported Friday.

The United Arab Emirates, which suspended air strikes against the ISIL group, wants the US-led coalition to arm Sunni tribes in Iraq to fight the Takfiris, government media reported Friday.

The daily Al-Ittihad said the Emirates' decision to stop raids in Syria last year was "due to the need to assure adequate protection for all pilots participating in strikes against” ISIL.

An even greater concern, according to the paper, is the lack of support for Sunni tribes in Iraq's Anbar province, which has been subjected to an offensive by ISIL last June.

"The most important reservation... is the dissatisfaction with the coalition which has not kept its promise to remember the Sunnis of Anbar, to train and equip them in the war against Daesh," it said.

"Neither air strikes nor a media war are sufficient to defeat" ISIL, the paper added.

The UAE pulled out of air strike missions in December, shortly after a Jordanian pilot was captured by IS extremists after his F-16 fighter jet went down in eastern Syria, according to US officials.

Airman Moath al-Kassasbeh was later burned alive by the Takfiris in a gruesome video released this week.

The Pentagon said Thursday it was redeploying some aircraft from Kuwait to northern Iraq to boost its ability to rescue downed coalition pilots, as requested by the UAE.