Jordan’s King Abdullah II, a former commander of his country’s special forces, vowed to bombard the Islamic State until his military runs “out of fuel and bullets” after the release of a grisly video showing a captured Jordanian airman being burned alive in a cage.
The official Facebook page of The Royal Hashemite Court published a photo showing Jordan’s leader dressed in military fatigues. The same photo was published on the king’s instagram account eight months ago.
Jordan has carried out airstrikes against the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, in Mosul.
The Jordanian government has denied rumors the king flew any aerial attacks.
Dubbed the “Warrior King,” Jordan’s leader has served in the military for 35 years.
According to the King’s bio, he enrolled in the UK’s Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst in 1980 and went on to become an attack helicopter pilot.
“He said there is going to be retribution like ISIS hasn’t seen,” said Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter Jr., a Marine Corps veteran of two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, who was in the meeting with the king. “He mentioned ‘Unforgiven’ and he mentioned Clint Eastwood, and he actually quoted a part of the movie.”
Hunter would not say which part of “Unforgiven” the King quoted, but noted it was where Eastwood’s character describes how he is going to deliver his retribution. There is a scene in the picture in which Eastwood’s character, William Munny, says, “Any man I see out there, I’m gonna kill him. Any son of a bitch takes a shot at me, I’m not only going to kill him, I’m going to kill his wife and all his friends and burn his damn house down.”
Beyond airstrikes, Jordan could further contribute to the fight against ISIS through the use of its extremely effective special forces units.
Jordan’s special forces team, grouped under Jordan’s Joint Special Operations Command, is 14,000 strong and is one of the most effective fighting and intelligence forces in the region. Jordanian special forces frequently train alongside US forces.
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