By Sam Dagher
BEIRUT--A Jordanian air force pilot was captured by Islamic
State militants in Syria after his plane crashed near the city of
Raqqa, Jordan's armed forces said in a statement Wednesday.
The statement said the warplane was participating in an
operation against the militant group's "hide-outs" when it came
down Wednesday morning in an area near Raqqa, the northeastern
Syrian city and province that is the seat of Islamic State's
self-proclaimed caliphate.
"Jordan holds the organization [Islamic State] and those who
back it responsible for the pilot's safety and well-being," said
the statement from the Jordanian military carried by the country's
state-controlled news agency Petra, which also posted a photo of
the pilot, along with a statement confirming his identity as Muath
al-Kasasbah, a 26-year-old first lieutenant.
Citizen journalists in Raqqa posted on their Facebook accounts
details of the apparent capture and photographs of the pilot
surrounded by what looked like triumphant Islamic State
fighters.
One group, the Raqqa Media Center, said Islamic State's anti
aircraft guns brought down the plane Wednesday morning in the
village of Hamrat Ghanam, southeast of Raqqa city, and that the
Jordanian pilot had ejected.
One photograph shows the pilot in his underwear carried through
water by three armed men.
Another shows about a dozen armed men, most of them masked,
surrounding the captured pilot.
Jordan is one of Washington's key allies in the Middle East. It
was among the Arab countries that joined the U.S.-led coalition
military campaign against Islamic State in Syria, which began in
September.
Write to Sam Dagher at sam.dagher@wsj.com
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