The Jordanian government has vowed that ISIS will pay for burning one of its pilots to death.
Now, they’ve followed through on that promise — twice.
For the second straight day, Jordanian F-16 fighter jets conducted intensive airstrikes targeting ISIS in Syria, according to a U.S. official. They were accompanied by U.S. warplanes, including F/A-18s, F-22s and A-10 aircraft — the latter being there ready to swoop down and help rescue a pilot, should his plane crash — the official said.
That’s what happened to Lt. Moath al-Kasasbeh on December 24 as he flew a mission, as part of the U.S.-led military coalition, near ISIS’ de facto capital of Raqqa.
Before Jordan or any of its allies could get to him, ISIS did.
He was later executed, according to video posted Tuesday, although Jordanian authorities said it likely happened in early January.
Pilot’s death stirs outrage
The pilot’s death, and the horrific manner in which it happened, spurred outrage in Jordan and beyond.
Safi al-Kasasbeh, Moath’s father, called on Jordan and its allies to “annihilate” ISIS. Government officials appear, at least in their rhetoric, determined to do just that.
“(Jordan will extract) revenge that equals the tragedy that has befallen the Jordanians,” government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani said.
Jordan began that process Wednesday, executing two imprisoned jihadists. The next day, it launched its first strikes since the news emerged about al-Kasasbeh.
The late pilot’s father said that King Abdullah II told him 30 Jordanian warplanes participated in Thursday’s action, which were focused in and around Raqqa.
It wasn’t immediately clear how many jets took part in Friday’s airstrikes, or what they managed to achieve. The anti-ISIS activist group, “Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently,” reported warplanes in that Syrian city as well as loud explosions, releasing a photo of dark smoke rising above.
At the very least, the latest strikes prove that Jordan’s mission, dubbed “Moath the Martyr,” is not a one-day affair.
Sermonizing against ISIS, supporting the fight
Until now, ISIS hasn’t shown any inclination to back down. Just the opposite, in fact: The terror group has been relentless and brutal in its quest to establish a vast caliphate under its strict, twisted version of Sharia law.
The organization’s savagery seemingly knows no bounds, not only in its use of captives’ killings as grisly propaganda tools but in its campaign of mass killings, rapes, kidnappings and other atrocities while taking over swaths of Iraq and Syria.
Just this week, a U.N. report claimed ISIS has stepped up its use of children in its bloody campaign, even putting price tags on some and selling them as slaves.
Al-Kasasbeh’s killing was an attempt by ISIS “to instill terror and fear in the hearts of its enemies,” making them less willing to provoke or put up a fight, says a prominent Sunni Muslim cleric who has been exiled from Syria.
“What’s happening is the opposite,” Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour this week. “The martyrdom of Moath has united Muslims … against ISIS, leaving no slight room of doubt that these people do not represent Islam. They represent savagery, terrorism and extremism.”
That seems to be the sentiment in Jordan, at least, where citizens rallied again Friday in Amman to honor al-Kasasbeh and condemn his killers.
Thousands filled the King Hussein Mosque there, listening to a sermon decrying ISIS as antithetical to Islam and insisting that Muslims cannot stand idly by.
After prayers, crowds spilled out onto the streets to march calmly and defiantly toward Palm Square. Many held up banners and signs — including Queen Rania, with a poster that read, “Moath, the martyr of justice” — and chanted, “Long live the King.”
‘We are upping the ante’
Such public support for the effort to destroy ISIS is significant in the Middle East, given the terrorist group’s stated goal of establishing a pure Islamic state and the fact the United States is leading the international coalition fighting against it.
For weeks, Jordan had been one of a handful of nations in the region taking part in the U.S.-led fight.
That campaign is continuing, with the U.S. military announcing Friday — apart from Jordan’s own actions — nine airstrikes targeting ISIS tactical units and fighting positions near the northern Syrian border city of Kobani and another strike of storage and staging facilities in Hasakah.
Also, in Iraq, Kurdish and Iraqi fighters on the ground are getting help from their coalition partners in the air. Between 8 a.m. (midnight ET) Thursday and Friday, local time, the American military reported eight airstrikes on five Iraqi locations.
Still, Jordan has come to the fore among coalition members in its pursuit of ISIS. And that doesn’t seem likely to change anytime soon.
The armed forces promised Thursday on state TV that “this is just the beginning.”
“We are upping the ante,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh told CNN. “We’re going after them wherever they are, with everything that we have.”