Special to WorldTribune.com

AMMAN — Jordan has reported renewed air strikes on Islamic State of Iraq and Levant.

Officials said the Royal Jordanian Air Force employed its F-16 multi-role fighters to attack ISIL positions in neighboring Syria. They said the air strikes on Feb. 5 through Feb. 7 were meant to retaliate for ISIL’s execution of a Jordanian air force pilot several weeks earlier.

Jordanian state television confirmed the air strikes on ISIL but did not elaborate. King Abdullah, pointing to roaring warplanes above, pledged to avenge the ISIL execution of Lt. Muath Al Kaseasbeh.

“‘Through their heinous acts they’re hoping to frighten Jordanians, but all they did is to make us angry and united and very determined to rid this world of this evil,” Jordan’s Queen Rania said on Feb. 6.

“This is the beginning of an ongoing process to eliminate [ISIL],” Jordanian Interior Minister Hussein Majali said.

At least 55 ISIL fighters were said to have been killed. ISIL said one of the Jordanian strikes killed a female U.S. hostage.

“We are upping the ante,” Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said. “We’re going after them wherever they are, with everything that we have.”

In an interview on the U.S. network CNN, Judeh did not provide details of the air strikes. But he said the Hashemite kingdom would continue attacks on ISIL.

“But it’s not the beginning, and it’s certainly not the end,” Judeh said.

In late December 2014, Jordan suspended its participation in combat operations in the U.S.-led war against ISIL. The suspension was ordered after ISIL captured Al Kaseasbeh, whose F-16 crashed in northern Syria.