ISIS had pushed Jordan to bring a convicted terrorist, Sajida al-Rishawi, to the Turkish border by 5:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m. ET) Thursday. If they didn’t, the group said, a Jordanian pilot, Moaz al-Kassasbeh would be killed, followed soon thereafter by a Japanese journalist Kenji Goto.
Three people. From three different places. At one crucial moment in one very dangerous part of the world.
Jordanian officials have said they are willing to swap al-Rishawi for the pilot. But the terror group has yet to meet Jordan’s key condition: proof that al-Kassasbeh is still alive.
“At this point, we want to emphasize that we have asked for proof of life, and we have not received anything as of yet,” government spokesman Mohammed al-Momani said Thursday afternoon, about an hour before the purported deadline.
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Wednesday night brought yet another deadline: deliver al-Rishawi to the Turkish border by sunset Thursday, or al-Kassasbeh and Goto would die.
The relentless back-and-forth has raised hard questions about whether ISIS is truly negotiating, and whether Jordan made a mistake to try.
“They are attempting to elevate themselves into some sort of status as a political movement and a state,” Hertling said. “They are not. They are terrorists.”
CNN’s Barbara Starr, Anderson Cooper and Jim Sciutto contributed to this report.
