Author: Abdel Bari Atwan
Two attacks in less than two weeks were carried out by elements affiliated to the Islamic State on the Jordanian lands… These attacks indicate that the State has decided to declare war on Jordan one way or another, which calls for taking all measures of safety and security… The common factors between the two attacks – knowing that the Islamic State has so far not claimed its responsibility for them – can be summarized as follows:
First: Targeting two military locations… Second: The most recent attack occurred near a camp on the Syrian lands near the Jordanian borders. The camp hosts some 60,000 Syrian refugees who were denied entry to the Jordanian lands as they were suspected to include around 2,000 Islamic State members. The earlier attack occurred near a Palestinian refugees’ camp. This is an attempt at involving the refugees, including the Palestinians and the Syrians, into the conflict between the Islamic State and the Jordanian authorities in addition to planting the seeds of sedition to create a different dimension. Third: The timing of the two attacks during the holy month of Ramadan points to a religious, Islamic meaning…
Jordan was first targetted by the ‘Godfather’ of the Islamic State, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in an atrocious attack on a wedding party, Ammam 2006
We believe that the Jordanian authorities should be worried by the fact that booby-trapped cars were used in the attack on the military checkpoint in the border area of Al-Rukban on Tuesday… This is an unprecedented mode of operation in the terrorist operations targeting Jordan. We believe that this is the reason why the Jordanian monarch held a meeting that included high ranking officers from the Jordanian armed forces… The Jordanian King…knows that Jordan will be living through a tough phase on the security and military levels; and that the fire of the Syrian crisis has started to expand to Jordan…
The war between Jordan and the Islamic State, which is fighting along several fronts in Iraq (in Fallujah and soon in Mosul), Syria (in Reqqa, Aazaz, and Manbej), will be difficult and complicated in addition to being costly on the financial and human levels especially if the State decides to work on the ground and engage in secret action, which is more likely…
It is important to say that Jordan is living through some tough economic circumstances because of the “ungratefulness” of its Gulf neighbors mainly the Saudis. This caused the new cabinet to raise the prices of the main goods during the month of Ramadan, which will further exacerbate the suffering of the citizens. This could lead to a further increase in the current complains knowing that several voices within Jordan have been raised to call for opening the Jordanian-Saudi borders for the mass of Syrian refugees to flow towards the latter just as Turkey did when it opened its borders and allowed the refugees to go to Europe…
Source: raialyoum.com
