Jordan pounds Islamic State targets inside Iraq, Syria

Show Caption Hide Caption King Abdullah arrives in murdered pilot's hometown Jordanian King Abdullah hugs the father of murdered pilot Muath al-Kaseasbeh during a visit to the pilot's hometown.

Jordan launched an intense air attack Thursday on Islamic State targets in Syria and for the first time inside Iraq as part of its broad response to the extremist group's killing of a Jordanian pilot by burning him alive.

Jordan TV said the planes that carried out the attacks flew over Karak, the hometown of the dead pilot, in a symbolic gesture on their return to their base.

"This is a war the world cannot afford to lose,'' Jordanian King Abdullah II said in a statement released by Jordan's Embassy in Washington. "But to win it, all of us must be in it, to stand as partners in the fight against today's threats and to go beyond, to build the conditions for humanity to live together in peace.''

Jordan's foreign minister, Nasser Judeh, said the attacks were expanded to targets in Iraq. Up until now, Jordan has struck the Islamic State extremists in Syria but not Iraq as part of a U.S.-led military coalition.

"We said we are going to take this all the way. We are going to go after them wherever they are, and we're doing that," Judeh told Fox News.

The new strikes came after Abdullah vowed to wage a "harsh war" against the Islamic State in the wake of a video purporting to show the captured fighter pilot, Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh, 26, being burned alive in a cage.

The king visited the family of al-Kaseasbeh in his hometown to pay his respects as the fighter jets roared overhead. The king pointed to the jets as he sat next to the pilot's father, Safi al-Kaseasbeh, the Associated Press reported.

The young pilot was captured near Raqqa when his F-16 fighter jet went down in December. The Islamic State controls about one-third of Syria and a third of Iraq.

Dozens of of fighter jets took part in the strikes on training centers and weapons storage sites, Jordan's military said.

State TV showed video of the attacks, including fire and smoke after the bombs' impact. It showed Jordanian troops scribble messages in chalk on the missiles. "For you, the enemies of Islam," one message read.

In a blunt warning to the group, Jordan's military issued a statement on state TV saying, "This is the beginning, and you will get to know the Jordanians." It said strikes will continue "until we eliminate them."

The gruesome killing of the pilot caused outrage across the Middle East, and Jordan executed al-Qaeda-linked Iraqi prisoners Sajida al-Rishawi and Ziad al-Karbouli before dawn Wednesday, hours after the video was released. The Islamic State had demanded the release of Rishawi, a would-be suicide bomber.

In Washington, leading members of Congress have called for increased U.S. military assistance to the kingdom. The United States provides Jordan with $1 billion annually in economic and military assistance.

NATO defense ministers agreed Thursday to more than double the size of the alliance's Response Force and create a quick-reaction force of 5,000 troops to meet simultaneous challenges from Russia and Islamic extremists.

In Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the decision will "ensure that we have the right forces in the right place at the right time." NATO will "be able to defend all allies against any threat, from the east or from the south."

NATO's total Response Force was increased from 13,000 to 30,000 troops, and its new rapid reaction force should be able to deploy within 48 hours, Stoltenberg said.

In a report issued Wednesday in Geneva, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child said the Islamic State militants are systematically killing, torturing and raping children and families of minority groups in Iraq. The committee called on Iraqi government forces to do more to protect them.

The agency said it has received reports of "several cases of mass executions of boys, as well as reports of beheadings, crucifixions of children and burying children alive."

Iraq's military has struggled in its fight against the extremists, and the government has pleaded repeatedly for more weapons and training.

Contributing: Jane Onyanga-Omara in London; the Associated Press