Jordan's king vows 'relentless' war against ISIS after pilot burned alive
Amman vows to step up role with international coalition fighting ISIS a day after video released of Jordanian pilot being executed by terror group.
By REUTERSJordan's King Abdullah in an army uniform taken from the King's facebook account after he swore to increase war against ISIS(photo credit: FACEBOOK)
AMMAN - Jordan's King Abdullah vowed a relentless war against Islamic State on their own territory, state television quoted him as saying during a security meeting on Wednesday."We are waging this war to protect our faith, our values and human principles and our war for their sake will be relentless and will hit them in their own ground," state television said.His comments come a day after Islamic State released a video appearing to show a captured Jordanian pilot being burned alive.A Jordanian government spokesman said on Wednesday that the Hashemite Kingdom will intensify its efforts with the international coalition fighting Islamic State after the killing of the Jordanian pilot."We are talking about a collaborative effort between coalition members to intensify efforts to stop extremism and terrorism to undermine, degrade and eventually finish Daesh," Mohammad al-Momani said, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.King Abdullah headed a meeting with senior security officials on Wednesday, he added.Jordan has mounted air raids in Syria as part of the US-led alliance against Islamic State insurgents and said on Tuesday that it would deliver a "strong, earth-shaking and decisive" response to the killing."All the State's military and security agencies are developing their options. Jordan's response will be heard by the world at large but this response on the security and military level will be announced at the appropriate time," Momani said.Jordan hanged two Iraqi jihadists, one a woman, on Wednesday in response to the release of footage purported to show the pilot, Mouath al-Kasaesbeh, being bunrt alive in a cage.Both had already been sentenced to death.
The king cut short a visit to the United States to return home following word of the death of Kasaesbeh, who was captured in December when his F-16 warplane crashed over northeastern Syria.
