Damascus: Daesh’s gruesome murder of a captured Jordanian pilot is the consequence of Amman’s support for Syrian rebels, Syrian media said on Wednesday.
The commentary in newspapers close to the government echoed long-standing claims by Bashar Al Assad’s regime that Jordan is backing “terrorists” by supporting rebels.
It came a day after a video purporting to show Jordanian pilot Muath Al Kaseasbeh being burnt alive in a cage by militants from Daesh.
“The fire of the terrorist group burnt the Jordanian after Amman facilitated... the entry of thousands of Salafists across its border so they could fight alongside armed groups against the Syrian Arab army,” the daily Al Watan wrote, using a term for fundamentalists.
“Jordan is reaping the results of its support for terrorism,” added the Al Baath daily.
Syria’s government deems all those seeking Al Assad’s ouster “terrorists” and has long accused opposition backers like Jordan, Turkey and Gulf nations of fomenting extremism.
Syria’s foreign ministry on Wednesday condemned Kaseasbeh’s murder but called on Amman to cooperate with the Syrian government against “terrorism”.
It described the execution as a “despicable, terrorist crime” and urged “the government of Jordan to cooperate in the fight against terrorism like that of Daesh and Al Nusra Front (Al Qaida’s Syrian branch)”.
Jordan is participating in a US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against Daesh in Syria and Iraq.
Damascus has grudgingly accepted the strikes on its territory, but said the coalition will fail to defeat Daesh unless it cooperates with Al Assad’s government.
