07-05-2024 12:44 AM Jerusalem Timing

Jordan Considers Expanding Role in Anti-ISIL Coalition

Jordan Considers Expanding Role in Anti-ISIL Coalition

Jordan is considering airstrikes against ISIL targets in Iraq, officials in the U.S.-led coalition fighting the terrorists said Wednesday

Jordan is considering airstrikes against ISIL targets in Iraq, officials in the U.S.-led coalition fighting the terrorists said Wednesday, a day after the Takfiri group released a video showing a captured Jordanian pilot being burned to death.

Jordan pilotStrikes on Iraq would significantly expand the kingdom’s military involvement in the coalition’s campaign and mark the first time an Arab member conducts bombings outside of Syria.

The Royal Jordanian Air Force in recent days has begun rehearsals for a large-scale attack on ISIL. But the initial wave of reprisal strikes, which will include Jordanian and U.S. warplanes, is being focused on targets in Syria, coalition officials said. Any strikes in Iraq would come later.

Jordanian officials had vowed to exact revenge after ISIL released its video on Tuesday of the pilot’s death. In apparent response, militants issued a “fatwa” or religious edict, justifying the killing on Wednesday. They pressed even further by releasing a list with names and addresses of 60 more Jordanian pilots, offering a bounty for militants to kill them.

Jordan’s airstrikes have typically involved small formations of planes, while the reprisal for the killing of the pilot will involve as many as two dozen warplanes, officials said.