With fewer aid workers going into Syria in the aftermath of the beheading of two British aid volunteers a few months ago, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is apparently running out of aces against the U.S.-led Coalition in terms of hostages.

According to the New York Times, since the air strikes started in August, the number of Western hostages held by the ISIS dwindled from 23 to only four who are of international prominence and whom they could use to further their extremist propaganda.

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The decline in number of hostages was worsened with wrong strategy that the jihadist group adopted when it went ahead with the decapitation of Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto despite attempts by both Japan and Jordan to negotiate through Iraqi tribe leaders.

The execution of the two Japanese captives only harvested them international wrath and a vow from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to take revenge. It also failed to release Sajida al-Rishawi, a female Iraqi suicide bomber detained in Jordan, in exchange for freedom for the Jordanian pilot captured by the ISIS.

The extremist group also failed to raise more money since Japan didn't pay the $200 million ransom that ISIS was demanding.

Abe, in response to the threat by decapitator jihadi John that ISIS would "carry on and cause carnage wherever your people are found," drove Tokyo to further cooperate with the international community in making the terror group pay the price for the blood of the military contractor and journalist in their hands.

More importantly, this third wave of decapitations helped change the outlook of many Jordanians who previously tend to believe they were fighting a war that was not theirs. What changed their outlook was the gory images of Goto's execution.

Terrorism analysts say the ISIS may not care about what western countries and their allies think, but Jordan's public pulse is important to them as they have been looking to expand into that country.

Oraib al-Rantawi, director of the Al-Quds Center for Political Studies, noted that since the day that Jordan sided with the Coalition, some Jordanians criticized the country's participation, while some felt it would be better to wage the war on terror in other soil, not Jordan's.

With "Moaz in every bedroom in Jordan now," said Nail al-Amoun, the Jordanian MP from Karak - the hometown of detained pilot 1st Lt.  Moaz al-Kasasbeh, instead of ISIS dividing the nation, it united them to rally behind the government.

Clark McCauley, a psychology professor at Bryn Mawr College and an expert in political radicalization, observed that the Japanese hostage debacle, for which ISIS got nothing, is proof that the jihadists are their own worst enemies.

He foresees ISIS eventually alienating and losing its base as it pays dearly for its costly mistakes.

Meanwhile, the pilot's fate remains unclear because ISIS did not show proof he is still alive and there was no mention of the aviator when jihadist John decapitated Goto.

TagsJordanian Pilot, Jordan, ISIS, Kenji Goto