Jordanian Pilot Shot Down, Captured by ISIS
A pilot of the Jordanian Air Force, which is contributing to the US-led coalition battling ISIS from above, has been captured after his jet was shot down while on a combat mission.
The New York Times reports that it is the first time ISIS has been able to shoot down a warplane belonging to the international coalition which is battling to keep the crumbling Iraqi government from turning into dust.
The pilot was shot down as he and other Jordanian pilots carried out attacks against ISIS positions near their capital in the Syrian city of Raqqa. Videos posted online showed a man in a white shirt whose matching identification card from the Jordanian military named him as First Lt. Moaz Safi Yousef al-Kasasbeh.
While the United States has conducted most of the airstrikes done by the coalition, other Western and Arab nations are also providing logistical support and carrying out airstrikes of their own. The Arab nations involved include Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Previous experience with hostages held by ISIS suggests that the Jordanian pilot may not make it out of ISIS captivity alive. The group seems to take sick pleasure in the horrified reactions of the international community when it release graphic and disturbing videos of their captives executions by beheading.
The Times, citing a Syrian group that monitors the war, says that the Jordanian aircraft was shot down by an anti-aircraft missile. ISIS has seized control of a number of both Syrian and Iraqi military installations, which would have been home to such weaponry. In the case of Iraq, most of the weapons are advanced kit from the United States and handed to the Iraqi government at the end of the last Iraq war.
