Jordan’s fighter jets have carried out a series of new retaliatory air strikes against ISIL positions after the ruthless killing of a Jordanian pilot at the hands of the Takfiri terrorist group.
A senior military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Thursday that Jordanian air force launched raids against hideouts of the ISIL terrorists currently operating in Syria and Iraq.
The official did not disclose where or when the strikes took place, saying the military would later release a statement on the matter.
He also did not mention if any militants were killed during the air raids.
Jordan is part of a US-led military coalition that has purportedly bombed militants’ targets in both Syria and Iraq since last year.
The latest strikes come two days after ISIL released a video on the Internet showing the Takfiri terrorists setting alight Jordanian pilot, Moaz al-Kassasbeh, who had been taken hostage in December.
The video showed Kassasbeh dressed in an orange jumpsuit and surrounded by flames of fire inside a metal cage.
The pilot was captured by ISIL militants when his plane came down in northern Syria, during a mission against the terrorist group.
Jordan has vowed “punishment and revenge” for the killing of the 26-year-old pilot. Just hours after the video emerged, Amman executed two ISIL-linked militants.
Jordanian King Abdullah II has pledged to step up the fight against the ISIL and other militant groups.
The United States began targeting positions held by the ISIL Takfiri terrorists in Iraq in August. Washington also launched a military campaign with its Arab allies against ISIL in Syria on September 23.
Washington says it is striking ISIL positions in both Iraq and Syria, but there is skepticism on both sides of the border about the real objective of the airstrikes.
The US and its regional allies had been the leading supporters of the ISIL and other affiliated militant groups operating against the government of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
JR/MKA/SS