The United Arab Emirates said it is sending F-16 fighters to Jordan to support the country’s airstrikes against Islamic State militants.
Jordan has pledged retaliation against IS after the group posted a video of a Jordanian pilot being burned alive, BBC reported.
The UAE stopped taking part in coalition airstrikes against IS after Jordanian pilot Muath Al-Kaseasbeh was seized last year. It is not clear if the UAE squadron will be carrying out raids on IS from Jordan.
The move “reaffirms the UAE’s unwavering and constant solidarity with Jordan,” the country’s official news agency reported.
A video of Kaseasbeh, 26, being burned alive in a cage was posted online by IS earlier this week. He was captured by the militants in December after his F-16 fighter jet crashed in Syria. The video is believed to have been filmed on 3 January.
After the murder of Lt Kaseasbeh, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said the country was “upping the ante” against IS.
The US-led coalition against IS has carried out hundreds of raids against targets in Iraq and Syria since August last year. Until now, Arab states have only been involved in a fraction of the US-led air campaign against the militants.
The focus of Jordan’s airstrikes is reported to be Raqqa, the IS stronghold in Syria. One of those strikes killed a US aid worker, according to IS militants holding her as hostage.
IS released images of a ruined building where it says she died, but no images of the aid worker herself. White House officials say they have seen no proof she was killed.
