Official: Jordan In Talks With Syria Over Fighting Islamic State

 He said that since the start of the Syrian crisis Jordan has bowed to American and Saudi pressure and agreed to host a joint command room, which coordinated the opposition’s military operations, mainly in the south of Syria targeting the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

“Because of its dependency on American and Saudi financial and military aid, they couldn’t turn them down,” the official said.  Some militants who were trained in camps in Jordan ended up joining the Nusra Front and Islamic State, he said.

The string of attacks that were carried out on Jordanian soil in recent months persuaded King Abdullah that despite its many flaws, Assad’s regime is preferable to jihadi-infested anarchy, he said.

Against this backdrop, he added, Assad’s national security adviser, Colonel Ali Mamlouk, recently visited Jordan, and bilateral discussions about security arrangements along the border have taken place.

“We see the first signs of a new Jordanian policy,” he said. “It no longer provides free passage of jihadists into Syria or back from the battlefield. Jordan has a border with Iraq too, not only Syria, and it can no longer afford to have an ambivalent policy in an attempt to satisfy everybody, especially the Saudis. It now has to make a clear stand against supporting Islamic groups in Syria.”

The official said that Jordan has so far resisted Iran’s advances, which included subsidized oil and financing natural gas explorations.

“Jordan’s apprehension at the anti-Syrian coalition in no way means joining the Iranian axis,” the official stressed. “Jordan has a unique position and destabilizing it would send the entire Middle East on a radical spiral. President Trump must understand that Jordan can no longer tolerate an undecided American strategy that has already gotten many countries in the throes of IS and others.”

He said it’s unclear whether Jordan’s change of heart spells the imminent closure of the command room.

“That’s what Jordan wants to do without facing off with pro-opposition countries such as Saudi Arabia and Qatar,” he said. “Jordan is following in the footsteps of Egypt, which already declared unequivocal support for Assad’s regime. We’re also seeing indications of a similar shift in Turkey following the bouts of terror that took place on its soil. Everyone who flirted with the Syrian jihadists has been bitten and learned their lesson.”

“Jordan is considering a joint operation with the Syrian army in the south of the country to expel terrorists from the border area,” he concluded. “The question that remains is whether it will be possible while the anti-Assad command room still operates, and also depending on Israel’s reaction, because Israel too has a stake.”