Jordan vowed on Thursday to make every effort to save a pilot captured by the Islamic State group in Syria as Washington denied claims the jehadis shot his warplane out of the sky.
Maaz al-Kassasbeh, a 26-year-old first lieutenant in the Jordanian Air Force, was captured by ISIS on Wednesday after his F-16 jet crashed while on a mission against the jehadis over northern Syria.
It was the first warplane lost and the first capture of a serviceman since the coalition launched strikes against ISIS in Syria in September.
It was also a major propaganda victory for the Sunni extremist group, which released several photographs parading the captured pilot.
“The Jordanian Government is making all efforts with several crisis cells to free (the pilot),” Government daily Al-Rai said in an editorial on Thursday.
Jordan, along with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, has joined the US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against ISIS after it seized control of large parts of Syria and Iraq.
Kassasbeh’s plane went down near the Syrian city of Raqa, which ISIS has used as its de facto capital and where coalition warplanes have carried out regular strikes.
The jehadis and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed the plane was brought down by an anti-aircraft missile, raising concerns for other coalition planes flying in the area.
But the US military dismissed the claim, saying “evidence clearly suggests that ISIl did not down the aircraft”, using another name for ISIS.
“We strongly condemn the actions of ISIl, which has taken captive the downed pilot,” US Central Command chief General lloyd Austin said in a statement.
ISIS posted photographs online showing its fighters holding the pilot. One showed a man being carried from a body of water by four gunmen.
Another showed the same man on land, surrounded by almost a dozen militants.
The pilot’s father, Youssef, was quoted by Jordanian media as saying the family had been informed by the air force of his capture.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appealed for the pilot’s captors to treat him humanely.