Jordan Expands Islamic State Bombing Raids Into Iraq After Pilot Burning Death

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Jordan is escalating its offensive as the coalition prepares to expand its air campaign in the months leading up to a large-scale military offensive to wrest from the Islamic State control of Iraq’s second-largest city, Mosul, said Patrick Megahan, a military affairs research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Coalition officials said an offensive led by Iraqi government troops and Shiite militias — many with close ties to Iran — were reportedly making steady progress Monday in the assault on the central city of Tikrit, the hometown of former dictator Saddam Hussein.

“Overall, this frees American and other allies’ resources to perhaps conduct more strikes,” he said.
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Aside from airstrikes, “Jordan could provide significant contributions in intelligence,” Mr. Megahan said. “With [the Islamic State] right across the border and a large Syrian refugee population living in Jordan, that perhaps better positions Jordan, more than anyone, to collect human intelligence on what is happening in Syria. Jordanian special forces and ground forces could also be valuable if needed.”

There also is concern that Jordan may get dragged even deeper into a cultural war that is destabilizing other countries in the region. In the past few months, Islamic State supporters have sprouted up in fragile states such as Afghanistan and Libya. Last week, the terrorist group gained the support and allegiance of Boko Haram, which has members based in Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria.
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