Jordanian pilots honored their dead wing man Thursday in a flyby over his hometown as they returned from an unnamed “mission,” Jordan state-run television reported.
King Abdullah II was visiting the pilot’s family in Karak also on Thursday, just two days after the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror group released the barbaric video showing the captured pilot being burned alive in a cage.
Jordan’s military vowed to take full revenge on the group. The force is participating in the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS.
The Hashemite monarch asked the Obama administration earlier this week for more “sophisticated air-to-ground weaponry, ground-to-ground weaponry, weapons like anti-tank [and] spare parts,” said Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) Chairman Senator John McCain. Abdullah II managed to submit his request just prior cutting his visit short and flying back to Amman to deal with the murder of his air force pilot.
The senator told media that committee members from both sides of the aisle agreed to sign a letter to President Barack Obama to fast-track deliveries. He added that if the administration did not act immediately in response to the letter, “which every member is going to sign on this committee, we will then introduce legislation direct to the floor.”
Media reports in Arab and Kurdish news outlets reported overnight Wednesday that Jordanian Air Force fighter pilots struck dozens of ISIS fighters in Mosul, Iraq. An unconfirmed report claimed an ISIS commander for the Ninveh area, Abu Obeidah El Tunisi, was killed in the air strike.
Jordan threatened to avenge the death of its pilot at the hands of ISIS; on Wednesday two imprisoned Al Qaeda terrorists were hanged at dawn. Both were on death row and awaiting execution for multiple murders.