( CNN ) The barbaric , elaborately stage-managed video that showed Jordanian pilot Moath al-Kasasbeh being burned alive was a calculated move by ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to weaken the resolve of Jordan and other Sunni Arab powers that have joined the U.S.-led coalition against the terror group . But the early signs indicate the video , which may have been shot a month ago , has had the opposite result , creating a significant backlash from Sunnis in the region . Spreading terror has worked before for ISIS , allowing it to punch above its weight . In the weeks before launching an assault on Mosul , Iraq , in June , the group released a series of gory videos showing the militants brutalizing and killing Iraqi soldiers they had captured . It put the scare in the Iraqi army . When ISIS fighters attacked Mosul , Iraqi soldiers turned and fled despite greatly outnumbering the attackers . Al-Baghdadi was no doubt hoping to pull off the same trick this time . The release of the video to coincide with Jordanian King Abdullah II 's visit to the United States may have been deliberate -- the optics of the Jordanian King in Washington served ISIS ' narrative of the kingdom being a vassal of the `` Crusaders . '' But ISIS appears to have badly miscalculated . Al-Kasasbeh was from a prominent Sunni tribal family in Jordan , and his killing has sparked outrage . And if support in Jordan for King Abdullah 's involvement in the anti-ISIS coalition was lukewarm before , it is now red-hot . There has also been outrage across the Sunni Arab world , with the head of Egypt 's Al-Azhar University , Sunni Islam 's most prestigious center of learning , reportedly calling for ISIS fighters to be crucified . Indeed , while the video has electrified ISIS ' most hard-line supporters around the world , and will likely help persuade foreign fighters to join it rather than al Qaeda , it is also likely to shrink its potential pool of recruits . The reality is that burning to death a fellow Muslim is so at odds with mainstream Islamic teaching that even some ISIS sympathizers may have second thoughts . It 's a point underscored in November when Sulaimaan Samuel , a mentor in a UK Home Office scheme to prevent radicalization , said ISIS ' beheading of British aid worker Alan Henning was putting off young British Muslims from joining the group . In the long run , ISIS ' brutality is not a winning strategy , as al Qaeda has recognized . Exactly a year before the release of the video of the Jordanian pilot being burned alive , al Qaeda 's general command severed ties to ISIS for its excess brutality and killing of Muslims . In the coming weeks , Jordan is likely to step up its air campaign against ISIS in Syria and Iraq . But its greatest contribution to the anti-ISIS coalition will likely be its significant intelligence gathering capabilities in those two countries , which we can expect to be expanded . Jordan intelligence played a key role in gathering intelligence that led to the U.S. airstrike that killed Jordanian ISIS founder Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Iraq in June 2006 . Of course , such expanded action carries the risk that ISIS and its supporters will retaliate with attacks in Jordan . The pre-dawn executions of Sajida al-Rishawi , an ISIS female icon who was part of a team that killed almost 60 in hotels in Amman in 2005 , and Ziad Karbouli , an al-Zarqawi aide captured in 2006 , has deeply angered the group . Plus , Jordan already had a significant home-grown radicalization problem -- as many as 2,000 Jordanians are believed to have traveled to Syria and Iraq to fight , many with ISIS . Meanwhile , several Jordanian fighters appeared in an ISIS video released last year calling for King Abdullah to be slaughtered . In addition , last summer saw significant pro-ISIS demonstrations in Zarqa ( al-Zarqawi 's birthplace near Amman ) and Ma'an ( a southern desert tribal town ) by extremists excited by ISIS ' declaration of an Islamic caliphate . Altogether , there are an estimated 9,000 pro-jihadi extremists in the kingdom , according to The Associated Press , and analysts fear that number is growing due to high unemployment and other socioeconomic problems that are creating a fertile atmosphere for recruitment . Another worry is the presence of extremists among the 620,000 Syrian refugees who have fled to Jordan . All that said , the picture in Jordan is not all gloomy -- its overwhelmingly Sunni population at least has meant there is relatively little sectarian tension . And the brutal burning to death of one of their own has also mobilized Jordan 's conservative tribes against ISIS . But in taking the fight to ISIS and its supporters inside and outside the kingdom , one thing is clear -- King Abdullah will need every ally he can get .
Al-Baghdadi : Video of ISIS pilot being burned alive a calculated move . But Sunnis video has created significant backlash from ISIS in region , he says . In the long run , ISIS ' brutality is not a winning strategy , UK Home Office says .