1. Muath Safi Yousef al-Kasasbeh was a Jordanian fighter pilot who was captured and burned to death by the Islamic State militant group after his F-16 fighter aircraft crashed over Syria.
15 Facts About Muath al-Kasasbeh
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Muath Safi Yousef al-Kasasbeh was one of eight children, including an elder brother, Jawdat Safi al-Kasasbeh, born to Issaf and Safi Yousef al-Kasasbeh, a retired education professor, in Al Karak, Jordan.
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Muath al-Kasasbeh's uncle, Fahed al-Kasasbeh, was a Major General in the Royal Jordanian Army.
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In 2009, Muath al-Kasasbeh graduated from the King Hussein Air College and joined the Royal Jordanian Air Force.
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Muath al-Kasasbeh completed his F-16 training in the Royal Jordanian Air Force, and by 2012, had qualified as an operational F-16 pilot and was assigned to No 1 Squadron at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base.
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At the time of his capture, Muath al-Kasasbeh was a first lieutenant.
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Muath al-Kasasbeh was posthumously promoted to the rank of captain.
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The plane Muath al-Kasasbeh was piloting, a Lockheed Martin F-16 formerly used by the Royal Belgian Air Force, crashed after suffering from mechanical problems on 24 December 2014 during a bombing raid on a brick factory during the military intervention against the Islamic State.
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Muath al-Kasasbeh ejected and parachuted into a lake near Raqqa, Syria.
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Muath al-Kasasbeh was quickly captured by Islamic State militants and pulled from the water.
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On 30 December 2014, Muath al-Kasasbeh appeared in a detailed interview with ISIL's Dabiq magazine.
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Muath al-Kasasbeh's family applied pressure on the Jordanian government to arrange for his release.
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The Jordanian government insisted on proof that Muath al-Kasasbeh was still alive before proceeding with a swap.
14.
Muath al-Kasasbeh's killing was recorded on video and shown near the end of a 22-minute "snuff film" entitled Healing the Believers' Chests, credited to the ISIL official Al Furqan Media Foundation and distributed via a Twitter account known as a source for ISIL propaganda and on video-sharing sites.
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Muath al-Kasasbeh is to be charged with acts of terrorism and various war crimes.