Tag: ISIS

  • We’re learning the wrong lessons from Brussels — and it’s going to cost us

    We’re learning the wrong lessons from Brussels — and it’s going to cost us

    More from Michael Harris available here.

    In the wake of Brussels — at least for now — we’re back in the bad old days of the War of Civilizations narrative.

    In the face of terror most foul, fury and vengeance are once more in the air. It’s not quite Christianity versus Islam, but it’s close.

    Some anecdotal evidence. Two comments on a story in The Independent, worlds apart, suggest that two great swaths of humanity are once again on an unnecessary and tragic collision course.

    Bobby said: “All the whole Mideast and ALL their ilk are Hated by me and mine.”

    Ceycey replied: “Is your humanity only for Europe?”

    Both commenters were responding to a story in the British newspaper written by Yasmin Ahmed in the wake of the terrorist bombings in Belgium. Ahmed pointed out that just before ISIS operatives set off bombs in Brussels, the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks detonated a car bomb in Turkey near a transportation hub, killing 37 and injuring 70 more. A closely-timed second attack killed four more people. In fact, Turkey has been beset by a spate of bombings by Kurdish separatists and ISIS, who in 2015 alone killed 141 and injured 910 others.

    In both Brussels and Ankara, innocent people were killed indiscriminately by fanatics who believe political causes sanctify murder. But what struck Ahmed was the profound difference in the Western reaction to these atrocities. In social media there were safety check-ins on Facebook, hashtags on Twitter, and shared cartoons in response to the bombings at Zaventen Airport and Maelbeek metro station. In fact, “Brussels” garnered 17.5 million more Google news results than “Ankara”.

    While the world mourned Brussels, Ankara was treated as a mere regional event. Case in point: After this week’s Brussels bombings, European countries raised the Belgian flag above their national monuments — a fitting tribute. The Eiffel Tower was illuminated in the colours of the Belgian flag, as was One World Trade Center in New York (though in truth, the colours looked more like red, white and blue). So Yasmin Ahmed posed an awkward question: Why didn’t Downing Street raise the red and white Turkish flag after the atrocities in Ankara?

    Ahmed’s unease was mirrored by a young woman who knows a thing or two about being victimized by terrorism. Malala Yousafzai blazed to international fame after standing up for education for girls in Afghanistan and getting shot by the Taliban for her defiance.

    In the flash of two bombs, the world is suddenly standing back in the rubble of 9/11 with President Bush repeating his With Us or With the Terrorists ultimatum. All the old, familiar and — I might add — failed solutions are once more being put forward by a real estate mogul who is being embraced as though he were King Solomon.

    She too has spoken out about the dangers of dividing the victims of terrorism between East and West, providing global media funerals for some, mute indifference to others.

    “Do you not see that this indifference to the non-Western lives is EXACTLY what is creating and feeding terror organizations like ISIS? … If your intention is to stop terrorism, do not try to blame the whole population of Muslims for it, because that cannot stop terrorism,” she said.

    And that raises an interesting question. Is the West mute on the subject of innocent lives lost to terrorists in Turkey because the motivations behind those attacks were different from the reasons behind the killing in Europe — or because Turkey is 98 per cent Muslim? Has the West’s accusatory finger moved from ultra-extremist groups like ISIS and al Qaida to designate the members of an entire religion — again?

    In this season of presidential politics in the United States, the answer is, sadly, ‘Yes’.

    CNN, which fielded carpet-coverage of the Brussels bombings in a way that repeated rather than advanced the story for three gruesome days, has already come up with a poll showing that Republican frontrunner Donald Trump is now the first choice of Americans on anti-terrorism matters.

    That is astonishing for a few reasons. First of all, Trump has zero experience in fighting terrorism in any official capacity. He has never held public office, and his chief advisor on foreign policy is The Donald. Trump has been widely denounced by military, national security and senior police leaders for his unconstitutional, illegal and flatly dangerous approach to some of America’s deepest problems.

    The list is well known. So far Trump has proposed banning all Muslims from entering the United States, deporting 12 million illegal aliens, building a wall on the Mexican border, bringing back torture and instituting racial profiling in Muslim communities in the U.S. Now he has added that he wouldn’t rule out using nuclear weapons against ISIS. That’s right — nuclear weapons.

    In the flash of two bombs, the world is suddenly standing back in the rubble of 9/11 with President Bush repeating his With Us or With the Terrorists ultimatum. All the old, familiar and — I might add — failed solutions are once more being put forward by a real estate mogul who is being embraced as though he were King Solomon.

    Though there are many particulars to the new fundamentalism for defeating terror, it comes down to the familiar mantra of guns, gates and guards. If the police just had enough unconstitutional powers, if free citizens just gave up enough civil liberties, if the West could just exert enough hard power against Islamic terrorists, if only there could be more forced regime change, if only Muslims would begin denouncing the evil-doers in their communities, the world would never have to see the cities of Europe and the United States burning again.

    Those answers have been tried for fifteen blood-soaked years and all the West has to show for it is millions of deaths, trillions in squandered treasure — and ISIS.

    The time has come to recognize solidarity with all the victims of terror. As James Taylor, a U.K. citizen living in Ankara, posted on Facebook, “You were Charlie, you were Paris, will you be Ankara?”

    Apparently not.

    Michael Harris is a writer, journalist, and documentary filmmaker. He was awarded a Doctor of Laws for his “unceasing pursuit of justice for the less fortunate among us.” His nine books include Justice Denied, Unholy Orders, Rare ambition, Lament for an Ocean, and Con Game. His work has sparked four commissions of inquiry, and three of his books have been made into movies. His new book on the Harper majority government, Party of One, is a number one best-seller and has been shortlisted for the Governor-General’s Literary Award for English-language non-fiction.

    Readers can reach the author at michaelharris@ipolitics.ca. Click here to view other columns by Michael Harris.

    The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics.

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      “First of all, Trump has zero experience in fighting terrorism in any official capacity. He has never held public office, and his chief advisor on foreign policy is The Donald.”

      First of all, Trudeau has zero experience in fighting terrorism in any official capacity. He was a snowboard instructor before he held public office, and his chief advisor on foreign policy is The Butts.

      hahahaha

       
       
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        You really should seek professional help for your obsession. Harris doesn’t even mention PRIME MINISTER Trudeau in this column, but still you have to blather on irrelevantly about him. In this War of Civilizations, Canada is a bit player – and one of the more calm and sensible ones, now that your hijab-hating heroes have been kicked out.

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          The hijab was fine, it was the niqab that was objected to.

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      Isis has murdered far more Muslim than non Muslims. The fact that Saudi Arabia and Iran cannot get organized to eradicate this nihilist sect tells you that there is a proxy war going on. The victims of terrorism, both Muslim and non Muslim are just collateral damage.

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      The double standard is obviously present and speaks volumes about how the West views the non-West. Scratch that, it’s probably more “white money culture” vs. “Colour any-other-culture”. This divide only ensures that this continues to happen.

       
       
  • ISIS and Turkey exchange150 militants

    ISIS and Turkey exchange150 militants

     

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    Turkish security sources reveal that an imminent prisoner exchange brokered by Qatar will take place between ISIS and Turkish government

    Ankara — A few hours ago, Turkish media disclosed that 150 Qatari-backed ISIS detainees will be released from Turkish prisons in a secret prisoner exchange under Qatari auspices.

    According to the agreement brokered by Qatari regime, Turkish National Intelligence Organization, better known by its acronym MİT, has allegedly set free ISIS members and dispatched them —through al-Rai border crossing— to ISIS-held Syrian territories near the northern city of Aleppo.

    Other 62 ISIS members, including several prominent field commanders, shall be released next week in the second phase of the agreement forged between Ankara and ISIS leadership.

    In the mid-February, Ankara witnessed a horrendous suicide attack to a military convoy, killing 28 people mostly civilians. Although, in the aftermath of suicide attack, Turkish administration of Ahmet Davutoğlu rapidly pointed fingers at Kurdish secessionists; later investigations found ISIS sleeper cells culpable of the attack and shed light on ISIS plans to carry out further terrorist explosions in Istanbul, İzmir and Antalya.

    According to the purported agreement, ISIS pledges to not attack Turkish cities any more, and Ankara in return will release more ISIS members and facilitate their transfer to the war-torn Syria.

    Turkish political experts believe increasing public pressure after the bloody terrorist attacks,  forced the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to comprise and initiate a clandestine negotiation with terrorist ISIS organization which mail entail grave international consequences for Ankara , especially in its  already troubled relations with U.S. and EU.

  • Congress Launches 3 Separate Investigations Of Obama For Helping ISIS

    Congress Launches 3 Separate Investigations Of Obama For Helping ISIS

    Posted by Bob Amoroso /

    Why it has taken this long to begin a formal investigation into this president’s handling of Muslim extremists is beyond reasoning, in that there’s enough preponderance of evidence to file charges of criminal malfeasance that quite frankly borders on treason.

    And although it’s welcomed news that finally three committees in the House of Representatives have announced they were finally launching concurrent investigations into allegations that President Obama deliberately manipulated intelligence reports from Syria and Iraq helping ISIS to thrive.

    Anyone that actually follows events on “the war on terrorism” has known for at least the last 5-years of Obama’s presidency that he has been purposely giving “aid and comfort” to the enemy, everyone that is, except those on  the Armed Services Committee.

    It seems that Reps. Ken Calvert of California, Mike Pompeo of Kansas and Brad Wenstrup of Ohio have all awaken suddenly from their slumber to finally lead the investigations for the Armed Services Committee, Intelligence Committee and the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, respectively.

    “In addition to looking into the specific allegations, the Joint Task Force will examine whether these allegations reflect systemic problems across the intelligence enterprise in CENTCOM or any other pertinent intelligence organizations,” read a joint statement from Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., and Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Rodney Freylinghuysen, R-N.J.

    The report that 50 intelligence officials at CENTCOM had signed a letter claiming intelligence on the Islamic State group had been doctored apparently prompted these politicians to move.

    However most thinking Americans can sum up the reason the Intelligence Committee has not investigated sooner…a lack of backbone!

    Source: Washington Examiner

  • Here’s The Latest Potentially Fatal Flaw In Obama’s ISIS Strategy

    Here’s The Latest Potentially Fatal Flaw In Obama’s ISIS Strategy

    Washington’s increasing coziness with the Syrian Kurds has made Turkey nervous.

    <span class='image-component__caption' itemprop="caption">Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG, fighters rest in Tal Abyad, Syria on June 19, 2015.</span>CREDIT: AHMET SIK/GETTY IMAGESKurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, fighters rest in Tal Abyad, Syria on June 19, 2015.

    ISTANBUL — The U.S. acknowledged on Wednesday that it has been supporting Kurdish forces in Syria with American aircraft deployed in Turkey, adding another tangle to its strategy to defeat the Islamic State group that hints at the precariousness of the entire campaign.

    Col. Steve Warren, a spokesman for the U.S. campaign against the extremists in Iraq and Syria, detailed that decision in a press briefing on Wednesday. The U.S. announced on Oct. 30 that it had based A-10 fixed-wing aircraft at Turkey’s Incirlik air base in the country’s southeast, Warren said. Those aircraft have since provided air support for Syrian fighters in a Kurd-Arab coalition in battles against Islamic State positions in northeast Syria’s Al-Hawl region.

    Though the U.S. has launched airstrikes to help Kurdish fighters in Syria fight the Islamic State since last fall, Warren’s comments appear to be the most public admission that it is doing so from a base in Turkey — a NATO ally that is skeptical of the Syrian Kurds and only granted the U.S. full flight capabilities at its Incirlik base this past July. Col. Christopher Garver, a public affairs officer for the anti-ISIS campaign, told HuffPost in a Friday email that U.S. flights out of Incirlik have previously aided Kurdish fighters as well.

    Warren was careful to note that the ground forces the U.S. was supporting were under the umbrella of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a recently formed alliance of Kurds, Arabs, Turks and Syrian Christians announced just last month. The Arab component of those forces was involved in the anti-IS offensive, which “is important because Al-Hawl is predominantly an Arab area,” Warren specified.

    But that Kurd-dominated coalition is widely seen as a politically convenient invention, cobbled together so the U.S. can funnel significant support to effective Kurdish fighters and their allies — as it did with an Oct. 12 airdrop — while saying it is engaging Sunni Arabs, the majority community in Syria.

    KOBANE, SYRIA - JUNE 20: (TURKEY OUT) A Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG women fighters pose as they stand near a check point in the outskirts of the destroyed Syrian town of Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab, Syria. June 20, 2015. Kurdish fighters with the YPG took full control of Kobane and strategic city of Tal Abyad, dealing a major blow to the Islamic State group's ability to wage war in Syria. Mopping up operations have started to make the town safe for the return of residents from Turkey, after more than a year of Islamic State militants holding control of the town. (Photo by Ahmet Sik/Getty Images)
    KOBANE, SYRIA – JUNE 20: (TURKEY OUT) A Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG women fighters pose as they stand near a check point in the outskirts of the destroyed Syrian town of Kobane, also known as Ain al-Arab, Syria. June 20, 2015. Kurdish fighters with the YPG took full control of Kobane and strategic city of Tal Abyad, dealing a major blow to the Islamic State group’s ability to wage war in Syria. Mopping up operations have started to make the town safe for the return of residents from Turkey, after more than a year of Islamic State militants holding control of the town. (Photo by Ahmet Sik/Getty Images)

     

    CREDIT: AHMET SIK/GETTY IMAGESYPG fighters pose as they stand near a checkpoint in the outskirts of the destroyed Syrian town of Kobane on June 20.

    Talk of the new force gave Washington cover to send arms that could be used against IS without angering Turkey, a State Department official told The WorldPost soon after the airdrop. One administration official called the approach a “ploy” in a conversation with Bloomberg View. And a New York Times reporter who visited the northern Syrian regions home to the new alliance published a damning report on Nov. 2 that said the loosely aligned Syrian Democratic Forces exist “in name only.”

    While Turkey and the Syrian Kurds share the goal of undermining the Islamic State, the two U.S. partners deeply mistrust each other. Turkey accuses the dominant political group among Syria’s Kurds, the PYD, of being a branch of a Kurdish militant organization called the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. The PKK has waged war on Ankara for three decades in the name of Kurdish rights.

    Many Kurds, meanwhile, believe Turkey has aided the rise of extremists during the Syrian civil war and note that Kurdish forces have done more to damage IS on the ground than any Turkish action has. Though these tensions have mostly been expressed verbally, Turkey shelled Syrian Kurdish positions on Oct. 27

    Analysts worry Washington’s new maneuver could lose either the support of the Kurds — who are reportedly attempting to strengthen ties with Russia, now a key player in the Syrian war — or the Turks, whose military and geographic position make them key to any effort to change the situation in Syria.

    Washington’s balancing act between Turkey and the Kurds has worked thus far. But its willingness to now publicly acknowledge support for the PYD from Incirlik could force it to choose between reducing support to the Kurds, the strongest anti-IS force, or placing more pressure on the Turks, who have great influence over the situation in Syria.

    CREDIT: ASSOCIATED PRESSTurkish soldiers hold their positions with their tanks on a hilltop on the outskirts of Suruc, at the Turkey-Syria border, overlooking Kobani, Syria, during fighting between Syrian Kurds and ISIS last year on Oct. 10, 2014.

    “We’re not trying to cover anything up,” Warren said during his briefing when asked by a reporter to respond to the New York Times report. “We’re providing weapons, or in this case, ammunition, to the Syrian Arab coalition. That’s what we said we’re doing, that’s actually what we’re doing.”

    A Turkish official made clear to The WorldPost that his government remains worried about the Kurds in Syria.

    “We are deeply concerned about the PYD’s links to the PKK,” the official said. Turkey ended a ceasefire with the PKK in July and has been striking the group in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority southeast and in Iraq ever since. The Kurdish militants have claimed responsibility for frequent attacks on police forces and soldiers. Today, the PKK formally ended a one-month ceasefire, citing the state’s “war policy.”

    Ankara shows no evidence of letting up after Sunday’s election, in which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party won back majority rule after painting the campaign as a choice between chaos and stability. Erdogan has vowed to “liquidate” every PKK fighter.

    Turkey’s government was not yet prepared to comment on the U.S. strikes launched from Incirlik, however, the official added.

    “Another concern is that divisions among opposition forces will ultimately serve the regime’s interest,” the official added, vocalizing a commonly reiterated state allegation that the Kurds care more about their own interests than the broader future of Syria.

    Turkey is a staunch opponent of Syrian dictator President Bashar Assad, and it supports a range of Syrian Arab groups that are trying to bring down his regime. Ankara and many members of those Syrian opposition groups are wary of the Kurds because they have allowed some regime forces to remain in the Kurdish city of Hasakah, and because they believe the Kurds want a de facto break-up of Syria.

    <span class='image-component__caption' itemprop="caption">Firefighters extinguish the fire after a car bomb attack on YPG headquarters in Hasakah, Syria on September 15, 2015. At least nine people were killed and other 30 people wounded after the attack.</span>CREDIT: ANADOLU AGENCY/GETTY IMAGESFirefighters extinguish the fire after a car bomb attack on YPG headquarters in Hasakah, Syria on September 15, 2015. At least nine people were killed and other 30 people wounded after the attack.

    Arabs in areas captured by the Kurds with U.S. support have also reported abuse at the hands of Kurdish forces, in interviews with outlets including The WorldPost and advocacy organizations like Amnesty International. Those allegations suggest that the Turks may have a point: If Washington does empower the Kurds without real engagement with Sunni Arabs, it could push many Arabs into the embrace of the Islamic State or other extremist, anti-Western groups in Syria.

    The U.S. appears to be managing Turkey’s concerns by tacitly agreeing that Syrian Kurdish forces will not be allowed to pass into areas west of the Euphrates river, according to Aaron Stein, a Turkey expert at the Atlantic Council.

    Turkey is nervous that the success of the Syrian Kurds will inspire Kurds in Turkey to try and carve out their own statelets, and it pointed to the Euphrates as a red line when announcing its  recent attacks on the Syrian Kurds. Ankara fears Syrian Kurdish forces will connect the areas they control in northeast Syria to their third region, or canton, in the northwest, thereby creating a powerful Kurdish corridor along the Turkey-Syria border.

    The focus on vanquishing the Islamic State, which U.S. officials say will only happen with help from the Syrian Kurds, puts Turkish policymakers in a difficult position.

    “In any case, Turkey is certainly indirectly aiding the YPG’s advance east of the Euphrates,” Stein told The WorldPost, using the acronym for the Syrian Kurds’ fighting force. “American drones provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance for these missions, and tankers based at Incirlik most certainly refuel U.S. bombers flying from Qatar.”

    Max Hoffman, a policy analyst at the Center for American Progress, told The WorldPost that the U.S. seems largely willing to pursue its goal of bringing down IS regardless of Turkish sensitivities.

    “It seems unlikely to me that coalition air controllers would ignore a credible ISIS target relayed by YPG on the ground, or divert coalition aircraft from further away, just because the closest coalition airplane was launched from Incirlik,” Hoffman wrote in a Wednesday email. “But I have no way of confirming that, and it’s certainly in the U.S. interest to allow Turkey to preserve that useful political fiction [that the Kurds are not supported from Incirlik] (if it is, in fact, a fiction).”

    <span class='image-component__caption' itemprop="caption">YPG fighters in downtown Tal Abyad, Syria on June 19, 2015.</span>CREDIT: AHMET SIK/ GETTY IMAGESYPG fighters in downtown Tal Abyad, Syria on June 19, 2015.

    The U.S has struggled to find reliable partners against the Islamic State on the ground other than the Kurds and an array of Arab-dominated groups the CIA has armed to fight Assad. In early October, the Obama administration announced that a $500 million Pentagon program to train anti-IS Syrian rebels had largely failed and was being restructured.

    The White House’s approach now seems to be to support the Kurds and nationalist Arabs in the north as intensely as possible. It announced on Oct. 30 that President Barack Obama would deploy dozens of American special operations forces to northern Syria to coordinate airstrikes and arms supply.

    The war in Syria has claimed at least 250,000 Syrian lives. With no end in sight to the conflict, IS remains in control of large tracts of land and the Assad regime continues to kill civilians daily, prolonging a conflict that has forced millions to seek refuge in neighboring countries and fueled the largest mass migration of people since World War II.

    International players involved in the conflict — either supporting Assad or the opposition to him — are holding negotiations to work out whether the dictator can be removed so that a more stable Syria can be established, but those talks have yet to bear fruit.

    The latest round, involving the U.S., Turkey, and states like Russia and Iran that are helping Assad, concluded without significant progress last week.

    This story has been updated to include Garver’s comments about ealrier U.S. aid to Kurdish fighters. 

    Sophia Jones reported from Istanbul and Akbar Shahid Ahmed reported from Washington.

  • Turkish Military and ISIS in Conflict, One Officer Dead

    Turkish Military and ISIS in Conflict, One Officer Dead

    Militants of the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) fired shots from across the border in Syria which struck and killed an officer and wounded five soldiers in Turkey’s southern Kilis province on Thursday.

    Local sources reported that Turkish soldiers and militants of ISIS are in an armed conflict at the Çobanbey town located across from the Elbeyli village connected to the Kilis province.

    It has been reported that first Turkish tanks took gunfire as light weapons were used in response to the attack. The Ayyaşe Turkmen village, which is located close to the border has been completely evacuated to nearby villages.

    Turkey retaliated immediately with 4 tanks within rules of engagement, hit opposing ISIS posts, Turkey’s Office of Public Diplomacy said in a statement.

    Turkish Air Force dispatched multiple F-16 fighter jets from Diyarbakır airbase to the conflict zone on the Turkey-Syria border, Turkey’s Ihlas News Agency reported.

    Security forces came under fire from Syria, Kilis Governor Süleyman Tapsız told Turkey’s official Anadolu Agency. Turkish forces responded by targeting positions across the border. Reports suggested one ISIS militant was killed.

    “Unfortunately, one of our officers, Yalçın Nane, has been martyred and two sergeants injured,” Tapsız said.

    The wounded sergeants, Fatih Kurt and Necef Çakmaktepe, have been taken to Kilis State Hospital and are in stable condition, he added.

    The incident came after the murder of two policemen by the outlawed PKK on Wednesday and a deadly suicide bombing in Suruç on Monday that killed 32 people. Both incidents took place in Turkey’s southeastern Şanlıurfa province, near the Syrian border.

     

     

  • International outcry after Isis burns Jordanian pilot alive

    International outcry after Isis burns Jordanian pilot alive

    10:47 AM Wednesday Feb 4, 2015

    The Isis (Islamic State) group released a video purportedly showing a Jordanian pilot being burned alive in a cage, in the jihadists’ most brutal execution yet of a foreign hostage.

    The highly choreographed 22-minute video released online showed images of a man purported to be First Lieutenant Maaz al-Kassasbeh, captured in December, engulfed in flames.

    Read more: The role Britain wants NZ to take in fight against Isis
    Isis throws ‘gay’ man off building

    King Abdullah II cut short a visit to Washington to fly home, state television said, as Amman confirmed the death of the 26-year-old fighter pilot and vowed an “earth-shattering response”.

    The video, whose authenticity was not immediately verified, enraged officials and the army in Jordan vowed to avenge the murder of the 26-year-old pilot.

    Anwar al-Tarawneh, centre, the wife of Jordanian pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, who is held by Islamic State group militants, holds a poster of him. Photo / AP
    Anwar al-Tarawneh, centre, the wife of Jordanian pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, who is held by Islamic State group militants, holds a poster of him. Photo / AP

    A security official said an Iraqi would-be suicide bomber on death row, Sajida al-Rishawi, and other jihadists will be executed at dawn on Wednesday local time.

    “The death sentence will be carried out on a group of jihadists, starting with Rishawi, as well as Iraqi Al-Qaeda operative Ziad Karbuli and others who attacked Jordan’s interests,” said the official.

    State television said Kassasbeh had already been killed on January 3, before Isis offered to spare his life and free a Japanese journalist in return for Rishawi’s release.

    US President Barack Obama denounced the apparent killing as “just one more indication of the viciousness (and) barbarity” of Isis.

    The United States will “redouble the vigilance and determination on the part of the global coalition to make sure” the group is “ultimately defeated”, he added.

    The White House said US intelligence was working to confirm the video’s authenticity.

    ‘Barbaric enemy’

    The chief of the US-led war on IS, General Lloyd Austin, condemned the pilot’s murder as “savage” and vowed to “fight this barbaric enemy until it is defeated”.

    British Prime Minister David Cameron said the “sickening murder will only strengthen our resolve to defeat ISIL”, another acronym for Isis.

    Members of Al-Kaseasbeh, the tribe of Jordanian pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, captured by Isis, light candles by posters with his picture. Photo / AP
    Members of Al-Kaseasbeh, the tribe of Jordanian pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, captured by Isis, light candles by posters with his picture. Photo / AP

    Kassasbeh was captured on December 24 after his F-16 jet crashed during a mission over northern Syria as part of the US-led campaign against the jihadists.

    The video released today shows footage of him at a table recounting coalition operations against Isis, with flags from the various Western and Arab countries in the alliance projected in the background.

    It then shows Kassasbeh dressed in an orange jumpsuit and surrounded by armed and masked Isis fighters in camouflage.

    It cuts to him standing inside the cage and apparently soaked in petrol before a masked jihadist uses a torch to light a trail of flame that runs to the cage and burns him alive.

    The video also offered rewards for the killing of other “crusader” pilots.

    The release of the video of Kassasbeh’s purported murder came after Isis beheaded two Japanese hostages within a week.

    ‘Horrific, disgusting’ footage

    The Isis (Islamic State) group had vowed to kill the second Japanese, Kenji Goto, and Kassasbeh by sunset on January 29 unless Amman handed over Rishawi.

    Kassasbeh’s plane was the first loss of an aircraft since the US-led coalition launched strikes against Isis last year.

    Along with Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are taking part in the air strikes in Syria.

    Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France and the Netherlands are participating in Iraq.

    Isis seized swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria last year, declaring an Islamic “caliphate” and committing a wave of atrocities.

    The extremist group claimed in a video released at the weekend that it had killed 47-year-old Goto, after previously murdering another Japanese hostage, Haruna Yukawa.

    It had initially demanded a $200 million ransom for the Japanese hostages — the same amount Tokyo had promised in non-military aid to countries affected by Isis.

    Isis had previously beheaded two US journalists, an American aid worker and two British aid workers in similar videos.

    Shiraz Maher, from the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation at King’s College London, described the footage as “simply the most horrific, disgusting thing I have seen from Islamic State in the last two years”.

    “They clearly want to make a real point. This is the first individual whom they have captured who has been directly involved with the Western coalition in fighting IS. It is different from the aid workers… This is an act of belligerence.

    “Every time you think they cannot commit anything worse — they open up another trapdoor.”

    Jordan had vowed to do everything it could to save the pilot but had demanded proof he was still alive before handing over Rishawi.

    Isis had previously published what it said was an interview with the pilot in which he said his plane was hit by a heat-seeking missile.

    It claimed to have shot down his plane but both Jordan and the United States said it had crashed.

    Kassasbeh’s family had urged Isis to release the recently married pilot, with his father Safi asking the jihadist group to show “mercy”.

    – AFP