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| Muslim outrage grows against Islamic State but questions linger over next steps in fight | Muslim outrage grows against Islamic State but questions linger over next steps in fight |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| BAGHDAD — Declarations of outrage swept the Middle East on Wednesday as a region already steeled to the brutality of the Islamic State expressed horror at the group’s killing of a Jordanian pilot by setting him on fire. | BAGHDAD — Declarations of outrage swept the Middle East on Wednesday as a region already steeled to the brutality of the Islamic State expressed horror at the group’s killing of a Jordanian pilot by setting him on fire. |
| The region’s leaders have denounced the militant group on many occasions in the past, but the spectacle of an Arab pilot being burned alive in a cage triggered some of the harshest reactions yet. | The region’s leaders have denounced the militant group on many occasions in the past, but the spectacle of an Arab pilot being burned alive in a cage triggered some of the harshest reactions yet. |
| [Read: Jordan executes 2 prisoners after pilot burned alive] | |
| Images of the grisly killing of Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh were broadcast on TV channels around the region, and the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat headlined its coverage with a single word: “Barbarity.” | Images of the grisly killing of Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh were broadcast on TV channels around the region, and the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat headlined its coverage with a single word: “Barbarity.” |
| “This killing really strikes at home for audiences across the region. Most of the people executed by [the Islamic State] have been foreigners, but this time it was an Arab-Muslim man,” said Labib Kamhawi, a political analyst based in the Jordanian capital, Amman. “That has had a bigger impact on people.” | “This killing really strikes at home for audiences across the region. Most of the people executed by [the Islamic State] have been foreigners, but this time it was an Arab-Muslim man,” said Labib Kamhawi, a political analyst based in the Jordanian capital, Amman. “That has had a bigger impact on people.” |
| Despite the condemnations however, this latest atrocity is unlikely to sway many opinions in the already polarized region, said Hisham al-Hashimi, an expert on the group who advises the Iraqi government. | Despite the condemnations however, this latest atrocity is unlikely to sway many opinions in the already polarized region, said Hisham al-Hashimi, an expert on the group who advises the Iraqi government. |
| The video of the burning follows a series of battlefield setbacks for the Islamic State, including defeats in the Syrian-Kurdish border town of Kobane and in the eastern Iraqi province of Diyala. | The video of the burning follows a series of battlefield setbacks for the Islamic State, including defeats in the Syrian-Kurdish border town of Kobane and in the eastern Iraqi province of Diyala. |
| Already, the video released Tuesday has shifted attention away from those and back to the group’s uncompromising tactics, which have become its chief rallying call among extremists, Hashimi said. | Already, the video released Tuesday has shifted attention away from those and back to the group’s uncompromising tactics, which have become its chief rallying call among extremists, Hashimi said. |
| “The Islamic State has gained more from this than it has lost,” he said. | “The Islamic State has gained more from this than it has lost,” he said. |
| The group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, justified the choice of punishment inflicted on Kaseasbeh by saying the immolation matched “what he had done of burning Muslims with the fire of his plane,” according to a statement posted on one of the group’s media forums and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors militant forums online. | |
| In the Syrian city of Raqqa, the Islamic State broadcast video of the pilot’s death on giant video screens and filmed the reactions of the crowds who gathered to watch. One photograph posted on Twitter accounts showed a young boy’s face caught between horror and joy as he watched the burning. Crowds shouted “God is Great” as Kaseasbeh writhed in agony in his cage. | |
| Religious leaders and clerics rushed to assert that there was no basis in Islam for such a punishment. | Religious leaders and clerics rushed to assert that there was no basis in Islam for such a punishment. |
| In Cairo, the head of Sunni Islam’s most respected center of learning, al-Azhar, said the Islamic State militants merit punishments under Islamic law such as “killing, crucifixion or chopping of the limbs.” | |
| “Islam prohibits the taking of an innocent life,” said the al-Azhar grand sheik, Ahmed al-Tayeb. | |
| Iyad Madani, secretary general of the largest Muslim political bloc, the 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation, strongly condemned the killing as an affront to the faith. | |
| [Read: The chilling reason the Islamic State burned the pilot alive] | |
| The Islamic State “utterly disregards the rights of prisoners Islam has decreed, as well as the human moral standards for war and treatment of prisoners,” Madani said. | The Islamic State “utterly disregards the rights of prisoners Islam has decreed, as well as the human moral standards for war and treatment of prisoners,” Madani said. |
| He also lamented the “depth of malaise” in parts of the Middle East, along with the “intellectual decay, the political fragmentation and the abuse of Islam, the great religion of mercy.” | He also lamented the “depth of malaise” in parts of the Middle East, along with the “intellectual decay, the political fragmentation and the abuse of Islam, the great religion of mercy.” |
| America’s Arab allies also issued statements condemning the act. Kuwait’s emir, Sheik Sabah Ahmed al-Sabah, said the “vicious” act trampled Islam. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry called it “a criminal act contravening the tolerant principles of the Islamic faith, human values and international laws and norms.” | |
| Saudi Arabia condemned the killing as a “brutal, heinous crime” and urged the international community to redouble its efforts to fight terrorism. The official Saudi Press Agency asserted Riyadh’s determination “to move forward in the fight against this misguided thought and all extremist organizations that support it.” | |
| Kaseasbeh’s capture had already sown doubt among some members of the international coalition assembled by the United States to fight the Islamic State. | |
| A report in the New York Times said the United Arab Emirates, a key coalition partner, suspended its participation after Kaseasbeh’s capture in late December because the U.S. military had made no plans to rescue pilots who were shot down. | |
| [Read: The horrific failure of Jordan’s ‘prisoner swap’ with the Islamic State] | |
| But Elias Farhat, a retired Lebanese army general, said in Beirut that the killing would be more likely to rally Arab states behind the campaign against the Islamic State than to deter them. | |
| “This is a challenge for them, and if they pull out, they will be seen as weak and having lost to ISIS,” he said. “We’re probably going to see an intensification of fighting against ISIS by the coalition because of this killing.” | |
| It could also potentially tilt public opinion, he said — but how isn’t clear. | It could also potentially tilt public opinion, he said — but how isn’t clear. |
| “We’re at a turning point now in terms of public perceptions of ISIS,” he said. “But the question now is, will ISIS continue to be seen as religious-national heroes among these supporters, or will they be seen as brutal criminals?” | “We’re at a turning point now in terms of public perceptions of ISIS,” he said. “But the question now is, will ISIS continue to be seen as religious-national heroes among these supporters, or will they be seen as brutal criminals?” |
| Naylor reported from Beirut. Brian Murphy in Washington and Mustafa Salim in Baghdad contributed to this report. | Naylor reported from Beirut. Brian Murphy in Washington and Mustafa Salim in Baghdad contributed to this report. |
| Related stories on the Islamic State: | Related stories on the Islamic State: |
| - The Islamic State is failing at being a state | - The Islamic State is failing at being a state |
| - The Islamic State was dumped by al-Qaeda a year ago. Look where it is now. | - The Islamic State was dumped by al-Qaeda a year ago. Look where it is now. |
| - The Islamic State and its war against history | - The Islamic State and its war against history |
| - What led to the Islamic State’s terrifying rise | - What led to the Islamic State’s terrifying rise |
| - Map: How the flow of foreign fighters to Iraq and Syria has surged since October | - Map: How the flow of foreign fighters to Iraq and Syria has surged since October |