Muslim Outrage Grows Against Islamic State But Questions Linger Over Next Steps In Fight

By Liz Sly and Hugh Naylor February 4 at 12:54 PM

BAGHDAD — Declarations of outrage swept the Middle East on Wednesday as a region already steeled to the brutality of the Islamic State expressed horror at the group’s killing of a Jordanian pilot by setting him on fire.

The region’s leaders have denounced the militant group on many occasions in the past, but the spectacle of an Arab pilot being burned alive in a cage triggered some of the harshest reactions yet.

Images of the grisly killing of Lt. Muath al-Kaseasbeh were broadcast on TV channels around the region, and the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat headlined its coverage with a single word: “Barbarity.”

“This killing really strikes at home for audiences across the region. Most of the people executed by [the Islamic State] have been foreigners, but this time it was an Arab Muslim man,” said Labib Kamhawi, a political analyst based in the Jordanian capital, Amman. “That has had a bigger impact on people.”

Despite the condemnations, however, this latest atrocity is unlikely to sway many opinions in the already polarized region, said Hisham al-Hashimi, an expert on the group who advises the Iraqi government.

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