There’s a new front opening up in the war against ISIS: a multimedia front.
When ISIS revealed its latest atrocity, it did so by releasing a slickly-produced film with significant production values. The video, which featured high resolution footage, computer-generated graphics, and multiple language translations, indicated that ISIS executed the captured Jordanian pilot long weeks ago.
On Thursday, Jordan responded to the murder of their national by carrying out a series of airstrikes on ISIS targets after executing a number of hostages. Following those strikes, the Jordanian government released a video featuring both the aftermath of those attacks and the pilots who executed them:
Amman has promised that these strikes will only be the beginning of Jordan’s revenge against ISIS.
“This is just the beginning and you shall know who the Jordanians are,” the armed forces said in a statement on state TV.
They claimed hits on ISIS training centers, arms and ammunition depots: “All targets were completely destroyed and all the planes returned to their bases safely.”
The air mission was named “Moath the Martyr.” State TV aired exclusive video footage of warplanes striking unspecified ISIS positions in Syria.
The pilot’s father, Safi al-Kasasbeh, told CNN that King Abdullah II had promised him that Jordan would avenge his son’s death and bombard ISIS’ de facto capital of Raqqa in Syria. On Thursday, he said that the King told him 30 Jordanian fighter jets participated in the strikes.
“The Jordanian air force carried out air strikes against Islamic State targets in Mosul, killing 55 including a top IS commander known as the ‘Prince of Nineveh,’ Iraqi media reported Wednesday,” read a dispatch via i24 News.
The war of dueling propaganda videos will surely not end with this latest exchange, but it is interesting to see that a coalition partner nation is getting into a fight that has thus far been left to ISIS alone to wage.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member