By Samia Nakhoul and Suleiman Al-Khalidi
AMMAN (Reuters) – Jordan has 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, two sources said Jordanians close to the case.
The weapons were sent by Iran-backed militias in Syria to a Muslim Brotherhood cell in Jordan that has ties to the military wing of the Palestinian group Hamas, the sources told Reuters. The cache was seized when the members of the cell, Jordanians of Palestinian origin, were arrested in late March, they said.
The alleged plot and arrests, reported here for the first time, come at a time of extremely high tensions in the Middle East, with US-backed Israel at war in Gaza with Hamas, part of the Iranian network of the “Axis of Resistance”. proxy groups have formed over the decades to oppose Israel.
The two Jordanian sources, who requested anonymity to discuss security matters, declined to specify what 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 because it hosts a U.S. military base and shares borders with Israel as well as Syria and Syria. Iraq, both home to Iranian-backed militias.
The sources did not specify what weapons were seized in the March raid, but said that in recent months security services had thwarted numerous attempts by Iran and its allied groups to bring in smuggled weapons, including Claymore mines, C4 and Semtex explosives, Kalashnikov rifles and 107mm Katyushas. rockets.
Most of the clandestine flow of weapons entering the country was destined for the neighboring Palestinian territory in 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 Muslim Brotherhood cell allied with Hamas militants, they said.
“They hide these weapons in pits called dead spots, take their position via GPS and photograph their position, then order the men to retrieve them,” said one of the sources, an official with knowledge of security issues, referring to to the modus operandi of smugglers.
The Muslim Brotherhood is a transnational Islamist movement, of which Hamas is an offshoot founded in the 1980s. The movement claims not to advocate violence and Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood has operated legally in the kingdom for decades.
Jordanian authorities believe Iran and its allied groups like Hamas and Lebanese Hezbollah are trying to recruit young, radical members of the Muslim Brotherhood for their anti-Israel and anti-American cause in an effort to expand the regional network of forces. aligned from Tehran, 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 whatever they did was not approved by the group and that he suspected that They were smuggling weapons to the West Bank rather than planning actions in Jordan. .
“There is a dialogue between the Muslim Brotherhood and the authorities. They know that if there are mistakes, it is not the Muslim Brotherhood, but only individuals and not the policies of the Muslim Brotherhood,” said the representative , on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the subject.
Another senior Muslim Brotherhood official, who also requested anonymity, told Reuters that the arrested cell members were recruited by Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri, who led the Palestinian group’s operations in the West Bank since his exile in Lebanon. Arouri was killed by a drone strike in Beirut in January, an attack widely attributed to 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 had foiled numerous infiltration attempts linked to pro-Iranian militias in Syria that it said crossed its borders with rocket launchers and explosives, adding that some weapons managed to pass through without being detected. Iran has denied being behind such attempts.
IN A RELAXATION: THE KING OF JORDAN ABDULLAH
King Abdullah of Jordan walks a tightrope.
Most of its 11 million people are of Palestinian origin, as Jordan hosted millions of Palestinian refugees fleeing their homeland during the turbulent years following Israel’s founding. The Gaza crisis has put him in a difficult position, struggling to reconcile support for the Palestinian cause with a longstanding U.S. alliance and decades-old recognition of Israel.
The war has sparked widespread public anger, with calls from protesters to cut ties with Israel and street demonstrations breaking out last week.
Last month, after Jordan joined U.S.-led efforts to help Israel shoot down salvos of drones and missiles fired by Iran, critics posted concocted images on social media of the king wrapped in an Israeli flag with comments such as “traitor” and “Western”. puppet”.
The gap between the government’s position and public opinion has never been more pronounced after the shooting down of drones, according to Jordanian journalist Bassam Badari.
“There was discontent,” he said. “Jordan skillfully stood equidistant from all countries in the region, but with its intervention, Jordan aligned itself with the American axis.”
Adding to Abdullah’s concerns, any tension with the Muslim Brotherhood could also carry risks, said two Jordanian politicians who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. The group enjoys broad popular support in the country.
Jordanian authorities have not spoken publicly about the alleged weapons plot or the arrests.
One of two Jordanian sources with knowledge of the alleged plot said intelligence officials called 10 senior Muslim Brotherhood officials to inform them that they had arrested a cell that served as a bridge between their movement and Hamas.
“NOTHING LIKE A JORDAN OPTION”
Jordan’s decision to join Western powers in shooting down Iranian drones bound for Israel was partly motivated by officials’ fears that the kingdom could be drawn into Iran’s strategic fight against Israel, according to Saud Al Sharafat, former Jordanian brigadier general. Directorate of general information.
“The Iranians are instructed to recruit Jordanians and enter the Jordanian arena through agents,” he added. “Their recruiting efforts span all segments of society.”
Another motivating force for Jordan, according to many officials and diplomats in the region, was the unprecedented attack on a U.S. military base in Jordan in January by Iran-aligned groups based in Iraq, which left three dead and 40 wounded among American soldiers. The attack was allegedly aimed at supporting Hamas in its war against Israel.
A diplomat close to Tehran said Iranian ambition to establish a proxy presence in Jordan dates back to Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards assassinated by the United States in 2020.
Soleimani believed that given Jordan’s close ties to the United States and the West, creating an allied group capable of fighting Israel was crucial to Tehran’s strategic ascendancy in the region, the diplomat said. to 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 “Shiite crescent.” to expand its regional power.
King Abdullah defended his decision to shoot down the drones as an act of self-defense, not in Israel’s interests. He warned that “Jordan will not be a battlefield for either party.”
The military intervention was also intended to signal to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government that Jordan was a crucial buffer zone for regional security, according to the two Jordanian politicians.
The Jordanian monarchy supports the creation of a Palestinian state. As some right-wing politicians in Israel consider Jordan becoming 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 only in the interest of the Palestinians,” said Marwan Muasher, former Jordanian foreign minister and vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. a think tank based 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)
