Amman: The father of a Jordanian pilot captured by Islamic State fighters after his plane crashed in Syria said he did not consider his son a hostage and called on his captors to treat him as a “guest”. Jordan is one of several Arab countries participating in the U.S.-led military mission to bomb fighters from the Islamist group, which holds territory in both Syria and Iraq.
Like the parents of other ISIS’ Western hostages, Youssef al-Kasaesbeh, the father of Jordanian Flight Lt Moaz al-Kasaesbeh also has made a plea, hoping that the extremists don’t harm his son. I don’t want to describe him as a hostage… For he is a guest among brothers of ours in Syria Islamic State,” said an anxious father, trying to assuage the extremists by referring to Syria as Islamic State.
“I ask them in the name of God, and I ask them with the dignity of Prophet Muhammad, Peace is upon him, to receive him as a guest and treat him well,” said the pilot’s father. 26-year-old pilot Moaz al-Kasaesbeh, who is a Flight Lietenant in Jordan’s Royal Air Force, was married this year in July.
Moaz al-Kasaesbeh, the pilot of an anti-ISIS coalition warplane Jordanian F-16 aircraft, was captured by the ISIS after his plane was shot down. The ISIS claimed to have shot down the plane and also posted online images purported to be that of the pilot.
Jordan is one of the anti-ISIS coalition members that have carried out air strikes against the ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The US-led anti-ISIS coalition has been launching anti-jihadist airstrikes in Iraq and Syria since September and this is the first coalition warplane to have crashed.
Bureau Report
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