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

    Jordan has foiled a suspected 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 cell of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan that has links to the military wing of Palestinian group Hamas, the people told Reuters. The cache was seized when members of the cell, Jordanians of Palestinian descent, were arrested in late March, they said.

  • US Secretary of State to travel to Jordan, Israel after Saudi Arabia visit

    US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Israel and Jordan on a trip through Wednesday, the State Department announced, after the US and Israeli leaders discussed hostage-release talks.

    Blinken will travel to both countries, a State Department official confirmed as the top US diplomat refuelled Sunday in Ireland on his way to a previously announced stop in Saudi Arabia.

  • Jordan’s Stability in Spotlight Following Iran’s Attack on Israel

    Iran’s unprecedented attack on Israel and the prospect of escalating hostilities has threatened to embroil Jordan, a key Western ally and a country regarded by Gulf states as pivotal to their own security. When the Islamic Republic fired a barrage of missiles and drones at Israel on Saturday night, Jordan helped shoot down some that flew over its capital Amman, with Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi saying the kingdom saw the projectiles as posing “a real danger” to its territory.

  • Path of Least Cost: Assuaging Public Protests in Jordan

    The Jordanian government is in a quandary over how to maintain a public posture of criticizing Israel’s conduct of the war while remaining on good terms with the United States—Jordan’s largest aid provider—and holding on to what has always been a cold peace with Israel. In January, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi was among a rare few Arab officials who publicly supported South Africa’s case of genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Last November, Safadi announced that Jordan would not sign an energy-for-water agreement with Israel, and the government withdrew its ambassador from Tel Aviv in protest of the Israeli war on Gaza.

  • From Gaza to the Syrian Border, Jordan Is Increasingly in the Line of Fire

    UNRWA in Jordan provides key services to more than 2 million registered Palestinian refugees in the kingdom. This includes services in ten refugee camps, in 169 schools serving 119,000 students, and in 25 medical clinics and other health centers. Jordanian officials therefore have urged the United States and other countries to reverse their funding freezes, especially now in the heat of the ongoing war in Gaza and the broader regional crises.

  • Houthi bypass: Quietly, goods forge overland path to Israel via Saudi Arabia, Jordan

    Israel-based freight forwarder Mentfield Logistics is among the companies involved in establishing a commercial trade route circumventing the Red Sea by sending goods from the ports of Dubai and Bahrain overland on trucks passing through the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, and ending at Israeli ports. A second Israel-based firm, Trucknet, has also set up such a route.

  • Commentary: What Will the United States Do after the Drone Strike in Jordan?

    While some sort of U.S. military action this week can be expected, the prospect of the United States brokering another temporary ceasefire in Gaza will remain the main focus of White House efforts. An agreement in Gaza would lower the regional temperature, rebuild cooperation with U.S. allies in the region, and put some wind in the sails of U.S. diplomacy.

  • After drone attack on U.S. forces in Jordan, Pentagon sees ‘escalation’ but not ‘widening’ of war

    “I wouldn't say that the conflict is spreading … But this attack was certainly escalatory,” Singh told reporters, adding that Iran “bears responsibility” for Sunday’s attack because of the decision to arm the groups that carried out the attack. But she stopped short of saying Iran played a direct role in planning, directing, or approving the strike.

  • Commentary: Is America’s Tower 22 in Jordan ‘ground zero’ for a new battlefront in the Middle East?

    The killings have transformed the third flashpoint in the region, repeated attacks on US troops and facilities in the Middle East, from the least to the most alarming minefield. It now outstrips – at least, for Americans – daily violence on the Israel-Lebanon border and Houthi piracy in the Red Sea. Responding to the attack with firmness, yet also without intensifying a drift towards regional conflict, will be the most challenging spill-over yet of the October 7 crisis for the Biden administration.

  • 3 US troops killed, 25 wounded in Iran-backed drone attack in Jordan

    Three US military personnel were killed and at least 34 wounded when a one-way attack drone struck a base in northeast Jordan near the Syrian border on Sunday. The lethal incident marks the first time US troops have been killed in the near-daily rocket and drone barrages on bases they use in Iraq and Syria, sharply increasing the likelihood that the United States will be drawn into a lethal cycle of retaliation with Iran-backed militias in the region. There have been more than 160 such attacks since Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip began following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas. Until now most had been thwarted by US ground-based air defenses, US officials have said. Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2024/01/3-us-troops-killed-25-wounded-iran-backed-drone-attack-jordan#ixzz8QDbc9g4W