The pilot’s father, Safi Yousef al-Kaseasbeh, pleaded with ISIS to protect his son, telling them, “We are all Muslims,” while speaking to journalists in Amman.
“I direct a message to our generous brothers of the Islamic State in Syria: to host my son, the pilot Mu’ath, with generous hospitality,” he said.
“I ask God that their hearts are gathered together with love, and that he is returned to his family, wife and mother.” The father told Reuters TV he described his son not as a “hostage” but as a “guest.”
The Jordanians are a key part of the US coalition battling ISIS, with a highly trained air force that helps put an Arab stamp on the effort.
The F-16 pilot, Mu’ath al-Kaseasbeh, 27, appeared in videos posted by ISIS being paraded in front of a camera. US Central Command says the pilot’s plane wasn’t downed, as ISIS claimed, and blasted the group for exploiting the crash.
