[General Mansour al-Jbour, head of the Jordanian air force, says his country intensified its attacks on Islamic State over the weekend. Photo: Majed Jaber]
Jordan Steps Up ISIS Raids - 56 Air Strikes in 3days
Meanwhile - Leader of the free world..plays golf...!
by: Suleiman Al-Khalidi
Amman: Jordan's air force chief said on Sunday his
country's jet fighters had conducted 56 bombing raids in three days
against Islamic State militants in north-east Syria, targeting key bases
and arms depots.
Jordan stepped up its bombing of the jihadist group on Thursday in response to the killing by Islamic State of a captured Jordanian pilot, with the raids continuing until Saturday.
No new strikes were announced for Sunday.
"We achieved what we aimed for. We destroyed logistics centres, arms depots and targeted hideouts of their fighters," General Mansour al-Jbour, head of the Jordanian air force, told a news conference.
Jordan has carried out nearly a fifth of the sorties of the US-led coalition against Islamic State in Syria to date, General Jbour said.
US aircraft joined the mission to provide intelligence and surveillance, a US official told Reuters earlier on Sunday.
The raids had "degraded" nearly 20 per cent of the militants' capabilities, he said.
General Jbour said Jordan's goals would continue to be to hit Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, to stop the group's trade in oil, and to destroy their training bases, garrisons and command centres.
"We are determined to wipe them from the face of the Earth," he said.
At least 7,000 militants had been killed in the last few weeks of coalition bombing, he said.
Jordan's King Abdullah has vowed to avenge the killing of pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh, who was last week burnt alive by Islamic State.
King Abdullah has ordered his commanders to prepare for a bigger military role in the international coalition fighting Islamic State.
The country executed two militant prisoners last week in response to the pilot's death.
The threat of a militant backlash
Many Jordanians fear greater involvement could trigger a backlash by hardline militants inside the kingdom.
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 was expected in Jordan in the coming days. It will conduct joint air strikes with Jordanian colleagues against the Islamic militants, Jordanian officials said on Saturday.
General Jbour said the frequency of future sorties would vary.
"This does not mean in any way that we will continue at the same momentum with the same number of flights but will increase one day and drop one day according to the nature of the operations," he said
Jordan's monarch has been lobbying Washington, the kingdom's main backer, to provide it with more spare parts, night vision equipment and other weapons to help it expand its operations.
The United States on the weekend donated a shipload of military hardware to Lebanon for its fight with Islamic State and Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate, on the Syrian border.
Reuters
Jordan stepped up its bombing of the jihadist group on Thursday in response to the killing by Islamic State of a captured Jordanian pilot, with the raids continuing until Saturday.
No new strikes were announced for Sunday.
"We achieved what we aimed for. We destroyed logistics centres, arms depots and targeted hideouts of their fighters," General Mansour al-Jbour, head of the Jordanian air force, told a news conference.
Jordan has carried out nearly a fifth of the sorties of the US-led coalition against Islamic State in Syria to date, General Jbour said.
US aircraft joined the mission to provide intelligence and surveillance, a US official told Reuters earlier on Sunday.
The raids had "degraded" nearly 20 per cent of the militants' capabilities, he said.
General Jbour said Jordan's goals would continue to be to hit Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, to stop the group's trade in oil, and to destroy their training bases, garrisons and command centres.
"We are determined to wipe them from the face of the Earth," he said.
At least 7,000 militants had been killed in the last few weeks of coalition bombing, he said.
Jordan's King Abdullah has vowed to avenge the killing of pilot Muath al-Kasasbeh, who was last week burnt alive by Islamic State.
King Abdullah has ordered his commanders to prepare for a bigger military role in the international coalition fighting Islamic State.
The country executed two militant prisoners last week in response to the pilot's death.
The threat of a militant backlash
Many Jordanians fear greater involvement could trigger a backlash by hardline militants inside the kingdom.
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 was expected in Jordan in the coming days. It will conduct joint air strikes with Jordanian colleagues against the Islamic militants, Jordanian officials said on Saturday.
General Jbour said the frequency of future sorties would vary.
"This does not mean in any way that we will continue at the same momentum with the same number of flights but will increase one day and drop one day according to the nature of the operations," he said
Jordan's monarch has been lobbying Washington, the kingdom's main backer, to provide it with more spare parts, night vision equipment and other weapons to help it expand its operations.
The United States on the weekend donated a shipload of military hardware to Lebanon for its fight with Islamic State and Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate, on the Syrian border.
Reuters
