Muath Al-Kasasbeh, Jordanian captain and pilot (d. 2015)
Muath Safi Yousef al-Kasasbeh (Arabic: معاذ صافي يوسف الكساسبة, romanized: Muʿaḏ Ṣāfī Yūsuf al-Kasāsibah South Levantine pronunciation: [mʊˈʕaːð-, mʊˈʕaːz ˈsˤɑːfi ˈjuːsef el kaˈsaːsbe]; 29 May 1988 – c. 3 January 2015) was a Royal Jordanian Air Force pilot who was captured and burned to death by the militant group ISIL after his F-16 fighter aircraft crashed over Syria.
His fighter crashed near Raqqa, Syria, on 24 December 2014 during the military intervention against the Islamic State. United States and Jordanian officials said that the crash was caused by mechanical problems, while ISIL claimed that the plane was hit by a heat-seeking missile.ISIL held al-Kasasbeh captive before killing him in early January 2015. It then conducted negotiations with the Jordanian government, claiming it would spare al-Kasabeh's life and free Japanese journalist Kenji Goto in exchange for Sajida al-Rishawi, a woman sentenced to death by Jordan for attempted terrorism and possessing explosives. After the Jordanian government insisted on freeing al-Kasasbeh as part of the deal and showing proof that he was alive before it would exchange al-Rishawi, ISIL released a video on 3 February 2015 showing al-Kasasbeh being burned to death while trapped inside a cage.
Al-Kasasbeh's killing provoked widespread outrage in Jordan, and condemnation by leading figures of the Islamic world and subsequently led the Jordanian government to execute two Iraqi militants on death row (including al-Rishawi, who ISIL had requested in exchange for al-Kasasbeh) in retaliation over the killing. In direct military retaliation, King Abdullah ordered Operation Martyr Muath, a series of airstrikes that killed a number of ISIL militants over the course of three days.
1988May, 29
Muath Al-Kasasbeh
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Events on 1988
- 14Apr
Soviet Union
In a United Nations ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, the Soviet Union signs an agreement pledging to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. - 29May
Ronald Reagan
The U.S. President Ronald Reagan begins his first visit to the Soviet Union when he arrives in Moscow for a superpower summit with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. - 15Nov
State of Palestine
Israeli-Palestinian conflict: An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed by the Palestinian National Council. - 16Nov
Benazir Bhutto
In the first open election in more than a decade, voters in Pakistan elect populist candidate Benazir Bhutto to be Prime Minister of Pakistan. - 19Nov
Slobodan Milošević
Serbian communist representative and future Serbian and Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević publicly declares that Serbia is under attack from Albanian separatists in Kosovo as well as internal treachery within Yugoslavia and a foreign conspiracy to destroy Serbia and Yugoslavia.