About Muath al-Kasasbeh
Muath Safi Yousef al-Kasasbeh (Arabic: معاذ صافي يوسف الكساسبة, romanized: Muʿadh Ṣāfī Yūsuf al-Kasāsibah, Levantine Arabic: [mʊˈʕaːð ˈsˤɑːfi ˈjuːsef el kaˈsaːzbe, mʊˈʕaːz -]; 29 May 1988 – c. 3 January 2015) was a Jordanian fighter pilot who was captured and burned to death by the Islamic State militant group after his F-16 fighter aircraft crashed over Syria. Al-Kasasbeh's fighter jet crashed near Raqqa, Syria, on 24 December 2014 during the military intervention against the Islamic State. United States and Jordanian officials said that mechanical problems caused the crash, while ISIL claimed that a heat-seeking missile hit the plane. ISIL held al-Kasasbeh captive before killing him in early January 2015. Afterwards ISIL conducted negotiations with the Jordanian government, claiming it would spare al-Kasabeh's life and free Japanese journalist Kenji Goto in exchange for Sajida al-Rishawi, a woman sentenced to death by Jordan for attempted terrorism and possessing explosives. After the Jordanian government insisted on freeing al-Kasasbeh as part of the deal and seeking proof that he was alive before it would exchange al-Rishawi, ISIL released a video on 3 February 2015 showing al-Kasasbeh being burned to death while trapped inside a cage. Al-Kasasbeh's killing provoked widespread outrage in Jordan and condemnation by leading figures of the Islamic world. In direct retaliation, King Abdullah ordered the executions of condemned terrorists Sajida al-Rishawi and Ziad Al-Karbouly, as well as Operation Martyr Muath, a series of airstrikes that killed several ISIL militants over three days. At the time of his capture, al-Kasasbeh was a first lieutenant. Later, on 4 February, Jordan launched its first military response to al-Kasasbeh's killing. In 2009, al-Kasasbeh graduated from the King Hussein Air College and joined the Royal Jordanian Air Force.
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