An image posted by the Islamic State purported to show militants with a captured Jordanian pilot in Raqqa, Syria, on Wednesday. Credit
Lebanon — Militants from the Islamic State captured a Jordanian Air Force pilot on Wednesday after his plane went down during a military mission against the group in northern Syria.
The
jet was the first to go down since a coalition of countries led by the
United States began bombing the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq this
year. It is also the first time since the campaign began that the
jihadists have been reported to capture anyone from the military of a
participating country, giving it a new form of leverage over its
enemies.
It
remained unclear why the plane crashed. The Jordanian military said in a
statement reported by Petra, the state-run news service, that one of
its pilots had been taken hostage after his plane “went down” and that
the Jordanian government held the Islamic State and his supporters
responsible for his safety. The government identified the captive pilot
as First Lt. Moaz al-Kasasbeh.
But
earlier Wednesday, supporters of the Islamic State reported the capture
on social media, saying that fighters had shot the plane down with an
antiaircraft missile and posting photos of the jet’s debris and of the captured pilot in a white T-shirt and surrounded by masked gunmen. They also posted his military identification card.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights,
a British-based group that monitors the war in Syria through contacts
on the ground, also said militants had brought down the plane with an
antiaircraft missile.
American
officials have lauded the contributions of their Arab allies, but also
acknowledge that most of the strikes have been carried out by the United
States, with its partners often playing a supporting role.
Those
partners — Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates — have avoided elaborating on their role in the campaign,
mostly over fears of retribution by the Islamic State or to avoid
domestic opposition from citizens who sympathize with the extremists.
Jordanian
news outlets spoke with the captive pilot’s father, Safi al-Kasasbeh,
who said Jordanian officials had informed family members that their son
had been captured and that Jordan’s military was doing it all it could
to ensure his return.
It
remained unclear whether the capture would affect the participation of
Jordan and other Arab countries in the fight against the Islamic State,
also known as ISIS
or ISIL. But the group will most likely try to use it to its advantage;
in the past, it has used hostages to demand ransoms and distributed
grim propaganda videos of its fighters beheading Americans and Britons
in what it has called revenge for their countries’ actions.
Jawad
Anani, a Jordanian former foreign minister, said he expected most
Jordanians to continue to back the government’s participation in the
anti-ISIS coalition.
“If
something — God forbid — happens to Moaz, then it will rally people
behind the idea that ISIS must be fought against with all means
possible,” he said. “It will also strengthen Jordan’s resolve to fight
ISIS.”
But
Labib Kamhawi, a Jordanian political analyst and reform activist, said
the capture could cause domestic opinion to shift against participation
in the war, especially if the jihadists kill the pilot.
“It
is natural for people to express such feelings: ‘Why should our
children go and get killed and captured by the enemy? For what cause?’ ”
he said.
The United States Central Command did not comment on the capture of the pilot.
