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Jordan Thwarts Terror Plans, Including Against Israel
Members of a cell accused of involvement in a shooting attack in 2016 sit behind the bars during their trial at the military State Security Court in the Jordanian capital of Amman on November 13, 2018. (Khalil Mazraawi/AFP via Getty Images)

Jordan Thwarts Terror Plans, Including Against Israel

Intelligence agency also nabs a second cell that intended to attack tourists in the kingdom

Five Jordanian citizens are on trial in the kingdom’s State Security Court for planning suicide attacks against Israeli targets in the West Bank, a Jordanian judicial source revealed on Tuesday.

The defendants were arrested in February after Jordan’s General Intelligence Directorate discovered their alleged plans but the affair was only made public now.

They are charged with threatening to carry out terrorist acts using explosive materials, making explosive materials intended for unlawful use, and recruiting people to join armed groups.

The ringleader reportedly recruited four other Jordanian citizens in 2017, and then the five accused allegedly “planned to enter the West Bank and detonate explosive devices against buses and trains and explosive belts against other Israeli targets.”

A trusted source based in Amman spoke to The Media Line under condition of anonymity for security reasons. A second, separate terrorist cell was also recently caught, the source said. These arrests were only made public on Thursday, and were related to ISIS, which planned to commit suicide attacks in Umm Qais, a Jordanian tourist town that overlooks the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights, the source continued.

The cell that was arrested in February “was referred to the State Security Court yesterday, as they were planning to commit operations in the West Bank,” the source said, adding that one of its members received training in the Gaza Strip and then returned to Jordan to recruit and train the cell.

Mahmoud Kharabsheh, a lawyer and a former member of the Jordanian parliament, told The Media Line the kingdom was targeted by terrorist organizations both internally and externally and that this was not a new phenomenon. “Amman has played a major role in countering terrorism not only in the region but also in general, which made the kingdom a target for those terror groups,” he said.

Kharabsheh clarified that all of the arrests were carried out before the coronavirus crisis but only revealed now because the security and intelligence services wanted to continue their investigations before going public.

“The cells were arrested before the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic but were announced now as the case matured,” he said.

The terrorists intended to attack the General Intelligence building in Zarqa, a city located 15 miles northeast of Amman, in addition to Umm Qais and the tourists there, Kharabsheh said. “According to my information, the real number of the terror operations that were thwarted in Jordan is many times what has been officially announced,” he added.

Kharabsheh said that Jordan was targeted for a variety of reasons, chief among them the kingdom’s “solid positions and moderate policy, in addition to its leading role in defending Islam and countering terrorism, not only internally, but also regionally.

“In addition, Amman adheres to international legitimacy resolutions, which are something terror groups fight against, and together with its role in curbing these organizations abroad, for instance in Iraq, this made Jordan a target for these groups,” he said.

Kharabsheh further said that there were parties that hated Amman and the kingdom because of the Hashemite guardianship of Islamic and Christian holy sites, “and also because of Jordan’s solid positions on the Palestinian case, especially its rejection of the circumvention of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, and of the Israeli annexation of the West Bank.”

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