ISIS publishes ‘interview’ with captured Jordan pilot

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria group has published what it says is an interview with a Jordanian pilot it captured after his plane crashed in Syria last week.

In the comments attributed to the pilot, he says his plane was hit by a heat-seeking missile, endorsing the jihadist group’s version of events, which has been rejected by both Jordan and the United States.

The purported interview published by the ISIS online English-language magazine Dabiq on Monday is accompanied by photographs of First Lieutenant Maaz al-Kassasbeh, 26.

In it, he is quoted as discussing how the air strikes in Syria are coordinated between the countries of the U.S.-led coalition.

He says his role was to destroy anti-aircraft weapons on the ground and to provide cover for the strike aircraft.

Kassasbeh was captured by ISIS on December 24 after his F-16 jet crashed while on a mission against the jihadists over northern Syria.

His father, Safi al-Kassasbeh, has urged ISIS to show “mercy” and treat his son as a “guest.”

The crash was the first warplane from the U.S.-led coalition lost in combat since air strikes on ISIS began in Syria in September, and marked a major propaganda victory for the Sunni extremist group.

Jordan is among a number of countries that have joined the U.S.-led air raids against ISIS, which has declared a “caliphate” straddling large parts of Iraq and Syria.