Father Asks Islamic State To Treat Captured Pilot Son As ‘Guest’

Safi al-Kasaesbeh, father of Jordanian pilot Muath, speaks on a telephone as he follows the news of his son in Amman

The father of the  Jordanian pilot who was captured by Islamic State (ISIS) fighters after his plane crashed in Syria said he did not consider his son a hostage but called on his captors to treat him as a “guest”. Reuters has more:

Jordan is one of several Arab countries participating in the U.S.-led military mission to bomb fighters from the Islamist group, which holds territory in both Syria and Iraq.

First Lieutenant Muath al-Kasaesbeh, 27, was captured after his jet crashed in northeast Syria on Wednesday during a bombing mission against the militants. The U.S. military, which commands the operation, said enemy fire was not the cause of the crash.

Kasaesbeh, who comes from a prominent Jordanian Sunni Muslim family, is the first pilot from the international coalition known to have been captured by Islamic State.

The Sunni Muslim jihadist group has a history of killing enemy soldiers that it captures on the battlefield and beheading Western civilians that it takes hostage. Many of the captives it has killed are Shi’ites or non-Muslims, but the group has also executed Sunnis for fighting alongside its enemies.

His family has pleaded for mercy.

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