The United Arab Emirate's first female pilot led a mission this week against ISIS in Syria, according to the UAE ambassador to the United States. 
 
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 Major Mariam Al Mansouri, 35, was the first woman to join the Emirati Air Force. The UAE this week joined the United States, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain in implementing airstrikes against ISIS. 
 
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 AP 
 
 Born in Abu Dhabi, Mansouri is one of eight children. She told Deraa Al Watan magazine recently that her family supported her career goals, but she had to overcome gender stereotypes along the way. It likely helped that she graduated from high school with a 93 percent grade average. 
 
 She attended UAE University, the first of the three government-sponsored universities in the country, and received a degree in English literature. She graduated from Zayed Air College in 2007 and is an operations pilot who works with F-16 Block 60 aircraft, according to Abu Dhabi's English language news outlet, The National. 
 
 The UAE Ambassador to the U.S. Yousef Al Otaiba confirmed on the talk show "Morning Joe" today that Mansouri led the airstrike. 
 
 "I can officially confirm that the UAE strike mission on Monday night was led by female fighter pilot Mariam Al Mansouri,” Al Otaiba. “She is fully qualified, highly trained, combat-ready pilot, and she led the mission.” 
 
 Emirates News Agency/WAM/AP Photo 
 
 As she underwent training, Mansouri previously said there was no difference in assignments for men and women, and she tried not to focus on her male colleagues. 
 
 "Competing with oneself," she told Deraa Al Watan magazine, "is conducive to continued learning." ||||| On Wednesday, Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle attempted to do a nice segment on "The Five" about the United Arab Emirates' first female fighter pilot. Fellow hosts Greg Gutfeld and Eric Bolling cut in with titty jokes because ha ha, the pilot is a lady doing a man's job, ha ha ha. 
 
 "Major Mariam Al Mansouri is who did this," Guilfoyle reported, noting that Mansouri led the UAE's airstrikes on ISIS. "Very exciting ... A woman doing this ... I hope that hurt extra bad because in some Arab countries women can't even drive." 
 
 Gutfeld then interrupts with, "The problem is after she bombed it she couldn't park it." Eric Bolling follows up: "Would that be considered boobs on the ground or no?" 
 
 Being a woman who works at Fox News sounds fun. ||||| Rating is available when the video has been rented. 
 
 This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. ||||| DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The first female air force pilot in the United Arab Emirates led airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Syria earlier this week, the federation's ambassador to Washington said on Thursday as he pledged his country will do "whatever is necessary" to defeat the militant group. 
 
 In this June 13, 2013 photo provided by the Emirates News Agency, WAM, Maj. Mariam al-Mansouri, the first Emirati female fighter jet pilot, right, walks with other pilots at an undisclosed location in... (Associated Press) 
 
 This June 13, 2013 photo provided by the Emirates News Agency, WAM, shows Mariam al-Mansouri, the first Emirati female fighter jet pilot gives the thumbs up as she sits in the cockpit of an aircraft,... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this June 13, 2013 photo provided by the Emirates News Agency, WAM, sMaj. Mariam al-Mansouri, the first Emirati female fighter jet pilot prepare to take off, in United Arab Emirates. A senior United... (Associated Press) 
 
 Social media has been buzzing with rumors that F-16 pilot Maj. Mariam al-Mansouri played a part in attacks against the jihadist group, with many users taking delight in the rebuke it implied toward the militants' ultraconservative ideology. 
 
 Ambassador Yousef al-Otaiba's comments were the first public confirmation of her role. 
 
 "She is a fully qualified, highly trained, combat-ready pilot, and she led the mission," al-Otaiba said during an appearance on American cable channel MSNBC's "Morning Joe." The Emirati embassy quickly posted word of the diplomat's confirmation on its official Twitter feed. 
 
 The Emirates, a seven-state federation that includes the capital of Abu Dhabi and the Mideast commercial hub of Dubai, is one of five Arab countries that have joined the U.S.-led coalition carrying out the airstrikes in Syria. It is a major buyer of American-made weapons, with an arsenal that includes F-16 fighter planes and Apache attack helicopters. 
 
 Al-Mansouri was born in Abu Dhabi and graduated from the country's Khalifa bin Zayed Air College in 2007, according to a profile earlier this year in the government-owned newspaper The National. She is one of eight children and has a degree in English literature. 
 
 "Sorry #ISIS, I know this too much and so harsh but it's real," taunted Twitter user @kafrev, which purports to represent an opposition-held town in Syria, using an alternate name for the Islamic State group. "A woman bombed you!" 
 
 Emirati leaders have taken steps to raise the status of women in the oil-rich country, which has modernized rapidly since its formation in 1971 and is now home to a cosmopolitan blend of foreign businesspeople, expatriate professionals and low-paid migrant workers who together far outnumber the local population. 
 
 While traditional values remain strong and men dominate government posts, Emirati women have served as government ministers, police officers and executives in state-linked companies. 
 
 Al-Otaiba linked al-Mansouri's role to the campaign to defeat the Islamic State group. 
 
 "Do you want a model or a society that allows women to become ministers in government, female fighter pilots, business executives, artists? Or do you want a society where if a woman doesn't cover up in public she's beaten or she's lashed or she's raped? This is ultimately what this breaks down to," he said. 
 
 It is important that moderate Arab and Muslim nations take a stand against the Islamic State militants, al-Otaiba said, describing the group as "a threat to our way of life." 
 
 "We will bring whatever is necessary to defeat ISIS," he added. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Follow Adam Schreck on Twitter at www.twitter.com/adamschreck
– If a country's going to send military pilots to fight ISIS, it's going to send its very best. Which is why the United Arab Emirates selected Maj. Mariam Al Mansouri, 35—the first female fighter pilot in the Emirates air force—to lead one of its airstrike missions in Syria on Monday, ABC News reports. The UAE ambassador to the US appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe today and confirmed Mansouri's involvement, saying, "She is [a] fully qualified, highly trained, combat-ready pilot, and she led the mission." Mansouri—who was born in Abu Dhabi and has seven siblings, according to Deraa Al Watan magazine via ABC—says that she tried not to focus on the male pilots sitting next to her during her intensive training. "Competing with oneself is conducive to continued learning," she says. She also holds a degree in English literature from Khalifa bin Zayed Air College, the AP reports. "Do you want a model or a society that allows women to become ministers in government, female fighter pilots, business executives, artists?" the ambassador asked, as per AP. "Or do you want a society where if a woman doesn't cover up in public she's beaten or she's lashed or she's raped?" Two male panelists on Fox News' The Five are catching flak from Gawker and others over their women-can't-park and boob jokes in the wake of the report.