ISIS Captures Jordanian Pilot Flying For U.S.-Led Coalition

For the first time since a United States-led international coalition began airstrikes against the extremist group ISIS, a coalition pilot was brought down and has been taken captive.

The captured F-16 pilot is Moaz al-Kasasbeh, a member of Jordan's military, according to his uncle, retired Jordanian Maj. Gen. Fahd al-Kasasbeh. Al-Kasasbeh's capture is a frightening reminder that it could have been any pilot downed and taken, including one from the United States which is flying F-16s in the area, too.

A source in Jordan's armed forces said that the pilot was downed carrying out a mission Wednesday around the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, which ISIS controls and has made its de facto capital, according to Jordan's official PETRA news agency.

"Jordan holds the terror organization and those who support it responsible for the safety of the pilot and the preservation of his life," the source in Jordan's armed forces said.

The coalition air campaign has recently stepped up its attacks on Raqqa, located on the banks of the Euphrates river. In the beginning of December, for example, the coalition hit the city with 30 air strikes in a single night. Jordan is one of several key nations helping the United States and other Western nations degrade and destroy ISIS which has cut a murderous path through Iraq and Syria in its ultimate quest to establish a caliphate, or Islamic state, across those countries.

Photos purported to be of the downed pilot appeared on an ISIS-affiliated Twitter account, images that Fahd al-Kasasbeh said showed his nephew. In one image, four men appear to pushing a dazed and bloody man through shallow water, perhaps to shore.

The retired general told CNN that he'd asked Maj. Gen. Mansour S. Al Jabour, head of the Royal Jordanian Air Force, to investigate the case and take all necessary actions.