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Air strikes have degraded Isis’ capabilities by 20 per cent after bombing efforts against the group were recently intensified, the head of the Jordanian airforce has claimed.
General Mansour al-Jbour said strikes had reduced the extremist group’s military capabilities during a press conference on Sunday.
Jordan has carried out nearly a fifth of the sorties of the US-led coalition against Isis in Syria to date, according to al-Jbour. It conducted 56 bombing raids against militants in northeast Syria within three days after the brutal killing of one of its pilots, First Lieutenant Muath al-Kaseasbeh .
A still image posted by the Islamic state Raqqa branch on jihadist forums shows a heavily damaged building in Raqa after it was allegedly targeted by a US-led coalition air strike (AFP) Al-Kaseasbeh was captured by militants in December and burned alive in a cage in January. A film showing his barbaric death later emerged online .
“We achieved what we were looking for: revenge for Muath," the general said. "And this is not the end. This is the beginning.
In pictures: Anti-Isis protests in JordanShow all 15 1 /15In pictures: Anti-Isis protests in Jordan In pictures: Anti-Isis protests in Jordan Amman, Jordan Members of Jordan's Al Assaf tribe burn a ''Wanted Dead'' poster of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi at a rally
In pictures: Anti-Isis protests in Jordan Amman, Jordan Jordanian protesters carry an effigy of leader of the militant Islamic State Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, during a march after Friday prayers in downtown Amman
In pictures: Anti-Isis protests in Jordan Amman, Jordan Jordanian Queen Rania (C) holds a placard during a demonstration to express solidarity with the pilot murdered by the Islamic State
In pictures: Anti-Isis protests in Jordan Amman, Jordan A protester dressed in a Jordanian flag joins others as they hold up pictures of Jordanian King Abdullah and Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasaesbeh, while chanting slogans during a march against Islamic State
In pictures: Anti-Isis protests in Jordan Amman, Jordan Jordanians hold banners shouting slogans during a demonstration to express their solidarity with the pilot murdered by the Islamic State
In pictures: Anti-Isis protests in Jordan Amman, Jordan Jordanians carry banners and pictures of executed Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kassasbeh while shouting slogans against the group calling themselves the Islamic State, during a march after noon pray in downtown Amman
In pictures: Anti-Isis protests in Jordan Amman, Jordan Protesters hold up pictures of Jordan's King Abdullah and pilot Muath al-Kasaesbeh as they chant slogans during a rally in Amman to show their loyalty to the King and against the Islamic State
In pictures: Anti-Isis protests in Jordan Amman, Jordan Jordanians chant slogans to show their support for the government against terror during a rally
In pictures: Anti-Isis protests in Jordan Amman, Jordan Jawdat al-Kaseasbeh, a brother of slain Jordanians pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh, reacts to people gathering to show their support for the government against terror during a rally
In pictures: Anti-Isis protests in Jordan Amman, Jordan A Jordanian protester kisses a poster bearing the image of Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasaesbeh during a rally to show their loyalty to King Abdullah and against the Islamic State
In pictures: Anti-Isis protests in Jordan Amman, Jordan A Jordanian shouts slogans during a rally against the Islamic state group and in reaction to the burning alive of Jordanian pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh by the group's militants
In pictures: Anti-Isis protests in Jordan Amman, Jordan Jordanians carry pictures of pilot Maaz al-Kassasbeh at a protest against Islamic State
EPA
In pictures: Anti-Isis protests in Jordan Amman, Jordan Supporters and family members of Jordanian pilot Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh express their anger at his murder at the tribal gathering chamber in Amman, Jordan
Getty Images
In pictures: Anti-Isis protests in Jordan Aye Village, Karak, Jordan The King of Jordan, Abdullah II (L), embracing Safi al-Kassasbeh (R), the father of the recently executed Jordanian pilot
In pictures: Anti-Isis protests in Jordan Aye Village, Karak, Jordan Jordan's Queen Rania offers her condolences to the family of Jordanian pilot Muath al-Kasaesbeh, at their family home of Muath
REUTERS/Petra News Agency
“We are determined to wipe them from the face of the Earth.”
The main aims of the bombing would continue to be to trying to hit Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, to stop the group's illicit oil trade, and to destroying their training bases, garrisons and command centres.
Al-Kaseasbeh’s death was so brutal that even one of Isis’ own clerics objected to it , who was then arrested for speaking out against it.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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