Jordan launches 56 revenge airstrikes against ISIS

The country's air force chief said the three consecutive days of attacks were 'just the beginning' of campaigns planned in a bid to avenge the 26-year-old's death.

Last week, ISIS released a video purporting to show Kasasbeh being burnt alive in a cage as masked militants in camouflage uniforms looked on.

The act has been widely condemned as among the most sickening ever committed to film and sent waves of revulsion across the Middle East.

Today, Major General Mansour al-Jabour said: 'We achieved what we were looking for: revenge for Muath. And this is not the end. This is the beginning.'

According to Major General, the strikes - dubbed Operation Martyr Moaz in the pilot's memory - targeted ISIS's weapon depots, training centres, warehouses and military barracks.  

Jordanian military experts say the kingdom could soon struggle to sustain the intensity of the past few days of air strikes, given the air force only has 40 mid-life F16 jets at its disposal.

A squadron of F16 jet fighters from the United Arab Emirates arrived in Jordan on Sunday a day after the Gulf state announced it was being sent to bolster the coalition's military effort. 

It will conduct joint air strikes with Jordanian colleagues against the Islamic militants, Jordanian officials said on Saturday. 

The focus of Jordan's airstrikes are reported to be Raqqa, the ISIS stronghold in Syria.

The intensified air assaults come almost one week after the extremists released the chilling footage, which sparked protests throughout Jordan.

Entitled 'Healing the Believers' Chests', the 22-minute film showed the captured airman wearing an orange jumpsuit and being seemingly doused in fuel, as a trail of petrol leading up to the iron bars of the cage is set alight.

Officials believe Kasasbeh had been killed almost one month earlier, despite ISIS attempting to carry out a prisoner exchange in return for the stricken pilot.

After the footage was released, Jordanian officials promised to retaliate harshly and quickly executed two Iraqi militants connected with ISIS.

This included Sajida al-Rishawi, the female would-be suicide bomber whose freedom ISIS had originally demanded in exchange for releasing Kasasbeh. 

King Abdullah II later said Jordan's response would 'be harsh because this terrorist organisation is not only fighting us, but also fighting Islam and its pure values.'

In a statement, he pledged to hit the militants 'hard in the very centre of their strongholds'. 

Days later, the country released a slickly-edited video showing its war planes being prepared for bombing strikes against ISIS jihadists in Syria. 

(dailymail.co.uk)