DOHA
A squadron of Emirati F-16s, stationed on an airbase in Jordan, has carried out a series of airstrikes on Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) targets, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) military announced Tuesday.
The statement, carried by the state-run WAM news agency, said that UAE jetfighters had successfully struck their targets before safely returning to base.
The agency, however, did not say what targets had been struck or whether they were in Iraq or Syria.
On Saturday, the UAE announced the deployment of a squadron of F-16s to Jordan in a show of support for the latter country following the gruesome execution earlier this month of a Jordanian pilot by his ISIL captors.
Certain unnamed U.S. officials were quoted by news outlets earlier as saying that the UAE had pulled out of a U.S.-led coalition against ISIL following the capture of Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kasasba late last December.
Last week, a video – purportedly showing al-Kasasba being burned alive by ISIL militants – went viral online.
The pilot's murder sparked anger in the Hashemite kingdom, which was already a member of the U.S.-led, anti-ISIL air campaign.
