Hassan Abu Hanieh, an Amman-based political analyst who follows extreme Islamist groups, cautioned that the Islamic State still has the pilot — assuming he is alive — and may well use his fate to try to shift Jordanian public opinion. Jordan is one of four Arab countries participating in airstrikes against ISIS.
While ISIS cares little about public opinion in Japan — or Britain or the United States, two other countries whose nationals have been beheaded — Jordan is a different matter. “It has goals for expansion into Jordan, and when ISIS realized this is a losing game on their end, they stopped the game and killed the Japanese, but not Lieutenant Kasasbeh,” Mr. Hanieh said.
Other than the Jordanian pilot, ISIS is known to be holding two Western hostages: the British journalist John Cantlie, who has made a series of videotaped speeches on behalf of ISIS, and an American female aid worker, whose identity is being kept confidential. Another female aid worker from an undisclosed country is also being held. In addition, three staff workers for the International Committee of the Red Cross disappeared in October 2013, although no information has been released about their identities or who abducted them.
The Islamic State reportedly has been paid millions of dollars in ransom for its hostages, particularly in the past six months, making hostage-taking an important form of financing.