The Jordanian military is increasing its presence along the border with neighboring Iraq today, after the nations’ only border crossing was captured on the Iraqi side by ISIS.
Jordanian officials say they have effectively halted all traffic through the crossing, and truck drivers who have returned from Iraq reported the once busy Amman-Baghdad highway is now full of checkpoints from various Sunni tribal factions throughout Anbar.
With several strong Salafist movements already active in Jordan, the Hashemite kingdom is afraid that an ISIS incursion could quickly snowball, as it has in Iraq.
ISIS is keen to expand anywhere they can, but Jordan might be a particularly fertile ground for expansion, and a meaningful one since ISIS got its start as al-Tawhid wal-Jihad (later renamed al-Qaeda of Iraq), founded and run by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz
- Turkish Airstrikes Kill 35 Kurdish PKK in Northern Iraq - June 17th, 2018
- Afghan President Offers Extension as Ramadan Ceasefire Expires - June 17th, 2018
- Saudi Warplanes Strike Airport in Yemen's Hodeidah - June 17th, 2018
- ISIS Suicide Bombers Kill 54 in Two Days in Eastern Afghanistan - June 17th, 2018
- US Denies Attacking Syrian Military Site Near Iraqi Border - June 17th, 2018
I really wish ISIL does attack Jordan. That is the only way for these despotic rulers in the ME will understand that when they stirred up the pot in Syria it'll come back home to roost. Play with fire and you will get burnt.
ISIL (the International Society for Individual Liberty — isil.org) has never attacked Jordan or anyone else. I have to wonder if the US State Department's decision to steal that acronym instead of using ISIS or something else to refer to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant wasn't an intentional ploy to confuse people.