Jordanian officials have announced that they will carry out a “revenge as huge as the loss of the Jordanians” after the execution of pilot Moaz al-Kasaesbeh, who was captured by ISIS in December.
Revenge, of course, means a bunch more executions, and security officials say they’ll start Wednesday by killing Sajida al-Rishawi, who was initially proposed as a trade for Kasaesbeh.
Officials are also saying they’ll carry out the “immediate” execution of four other detainees being held over ties to ISIS. Jordan had resumed their death penalty in December.
Conspicuously absent in all this talk of revenge killing is that Jordanian officials made clear last week that they intended to start carrying out wholesale revenge executions if anything happened to the pilot, something ISIS was no doubt aware of.
Given this, it seems ISIS was not only aware that Jordan would kill Rishawi and the other detainees, but may be counting on it, as treatment of female prisoners is a huge hot-button issue for Islamists, and the execution may fuel a lot more anti-Jordan sentiment.