Jordan foils arms plot as kingdom caught in Iran-Israel shadow war

By Samia Nakhoul and Suleiman Al-Khalidi

AMMAN (Reuters) – Jordan foiled an alleged Iranian-led plot to smuggle weapons into the U.S.-allied kingdom to help opponents of the ruling monarchy carry out acts of sabotage, according to two Jordanian sources with knowledge of the matter.

The weapons were sent by Iranian-backed militias in Syria to a Muslim Brotherhood cell in Jordan that has ties to the military wing of the Palestinian group Hamas, the people told Reuters. The hideout was seized when members of the cell, Jordanians of Palestinian descent, were arrested in late March, they said.

The alleged conspiracy and arrests, reported here for the first time, come at a time of heightened tensions in the Middle East, with US-backed Israel at war in Gaza with Hamas, part of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” network. proxy groups built over decades to oppose Israel.

The two Jordanian sources, who requested anonymity to discuss security issues, declined to say that acts of sabotage were allegedly planned, citing ongoing investigations and covert operations.

They said the aim of the plot was to destabilize Jordan, a country that could become a regional flashpoint in the Gaza crisis as it hosts a US military base and shares borders with Israel as well as Syria and Iraq, both home to Iranian-backed militias.

The sources did not specify which weapons were seized in the March attack, although they said that in recent months security services had thwarted numerous attempts by Iran and its allied groups to smuggle weapons, including Claymore mines, C4 and Semtex explosives, Kalashnikov rifles and Katyusha 107mm. rockets.

Most of the clandestine flow of weapons into the country is destined for the neighboring Palestinian territory of the West Bank occupied by Israel, according to Jordanian sources. However, some of the weapons – including those seized in March – were intended for use in Jordan by the Brotherhood cell allied with Hamas militants, they said.

“They hide these weapons in pits called dead spots, take their location via GPS and photograph their location and then instruct men to retrieve them from there,” said one of the sources, an official with knowledge of security issues, noting the smugglers’ modus operandi.

The Muslim Brotherhood is a transnational Islamic movement, of which Hamas is an offshoot founded in the 1980s. The movement says it does not advocate violence, and the Jordanian Brotherhood has operated legally in the kingdom for decades.

Jordanian authorities believe that Iran and its allied groups such as Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah are trying to recruit young radical members of the kingdom’s Brotherhood to their anti-Israel, anti-US cause in an attempt to expand the regional network. of Tehran’s aligned forces, according to the two sources.

A senior representative of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood confirmed that some of its members were arrested in March in possession of weapons, but said that everything they did was not approved by the group and that he suspected they were smuggling weapons into the West Bank instead of planning to acts in Jordan. .

“There is dialogue between the Brotherhood and the authorities. They know that if there are errors, it is not MB’s fault, just individuals and not MB’s policy”, said the representative, asking not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Another senior Brotherhood figure, who also requested anonymity, told Reuters that the arrested cell members were recruited by Hamas chief Saleh al-Arouri, who masterminded the Palestinian group’s operations in the West Bank from exile in Lebanon. Arouri was killed by a drone strike in Beirut in January, in an attack widely blamed on Israel.

Spokespeople for the Jordanian government and the U.S. Department of Defense declined to comment for this article, while the Iranian Foreign Ministry was not immediately available. Israeli officials from the Prime Minister’s Office and the Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Over the past year, Jordan said it has thwarted many attempts by infiltrators linked to pro-Iranian militias in Syria, who it says crossed its borders with rocket launchers and explosives, adding that some of the weapons managed to pass through undetected. Iran has denied being behind such attempts.

IN A CORRECTION: KING ABDULLAH OF JORDAN

King Abdullah of Jordan is walking a tightrope.

Most of its 11 million inhabitants are of Palestinian origin, because Jordan welcomed millions of Palestinian refugees who fled their homeland in the turbulent years following the founding of Israel. The Gaza crisis has put him in a difficult position, struggling to reconcile support for the Palestinian cause with a long-standing U.S. alliance and decades-old recognition of Israel.

The war has sparked widespread public outrage, with calls from protesters to cut ties with Israel and street demonstrations erupting last week.

Last month, after Jordan joined a US-led effort to help Israel shoot down salvos of drones and missiles fired by Iran, critics posted fabricated images on social media of the king draped in an Israeli flag with comments such as “traitor ” and “western”. puppet”.

The disconnect between the government’s position and public sentiment has never been more pronounced following the drone shootings, according to Jordanian journalist Bassam Badari.

“There was discontent,” he said. “Jordan used to skillfully maintain an equal distance from all countries in the region, but with its intervention Jordan has aligned itself with the American axis.”

Adding to Abdullah’s concerns, any tension with the Brotherhood could also carry risks, said two Jordanian politicians who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. The group has broad popular support in the country.

Jordanian authorities have not spoken publicly about the alleged weapons plot and arrests.

One of two Jordanian sources with knowledge of the alleged plot said intelligence officials called 10 senior Brotherhood figures to inform them that they had busted a cell acting as a bridge between their movement and Hamas.

‘THERE IS NO JORDAN OPTION’

Jordan’s decision to join Western powers in shooting down Iranian drones headed for Israel was partly motivated by fears among officials that the kingdom could be sucked into Iran’s strategic fight against Israel, according to Saud Al Sharafat, a former brigadier general in Jordan. General Directorate of Intelligence.

“The Iranians have instructions to recruit Jordanians and penetrate the Jordanian arena through agents,” he added. “Their recruitment efforts reach across all segments of society.”

Another motivating force for Jordan, according to many officials and diplomats in the region, was the unprecedented attack on a US military base in Jordan in January by Iran-aligned groups based in Iraq, which left three US soldiers dead. dead and 40 injured. The attack was reportedly in support of Hamas in its war with Israel.

A diplomat close to Tehran said Iranian ambition to establish a proxy position in Jordan dates back to Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard who was assassinated by the US in 2020.

Soleimani believed that given Jordan’s strong ties to the US and the West, building an allied group capable of countering Israel was crucial to Tehran’s strategic ascendancy in the region, the diplomat told Reuters.

Hostility between Iran and Jordan dates back to 2004, following the US-led invasion of Iraq, when King Abdullah accused Iran of trying to create a “Shia crescent” to expand its regional power.

King Abdullah defended his decision to shoot down the drones as an act of self-defense, not carried out for the benefit of Israel. He warned that “Jordan will not be a battleground for either party.”

The military intervention was also intended to signal to the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Jordan was a crucial buffer zone for regional security, according to the two Jordanian politicians.

The Jordanian monarchy supports the establishment of a Palestinian state. Although some right-wing politicians in Israel have viewed Jordan as an alternative Palestinian state, King Abdullah has repeatedly warned that there is no “Jordanian option.”

“The official position is that a two-state solution is not just in the interest of the Palestinians,” said Marwan Muasher, a former Jordanian foreign minister and vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a think tank with headquarters in Washington. .

“It is also in Jordan’s interest because it will establish a Palestinian state on Palestinian soil, rather than a state on Jordanian soil.”

(Reporting by Samia Nakhoul and Suleiman Al-Khalidi; additional reporting by Dan Williams in Jerusalem and Idrees Ali in Washington; Editing by David Gauthier-Villars and Pravin Char)